Tracking soil and vegetation water on the Clearwater National Forest

Laird Park is located approximately 20 kilometers (12 miles) due east of Potlatch, Idaho on the Clearwater National Forest. The property for the Laird Park campground area was donated to the United States Forest Service by Potlatch Corporation and the park dedication took place in 1937. The site was used for a couple of different studies: a tree core moisture study and a soil water content study involving soil moisture/temperature probes and piezometers. This data publication includes data from both studies.

The tree moisture study that took place was two-fold. One part of the study was completed on an area within the Laird park boundaries on grand fir (Abies grandis) specimens from 2010 through 2012, another part of the study was completed on Potlatch Corporation property with ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) from 2010 through 2011. Data include tree moisture calculated from tree cores and soil grab samples. From the tree cores, a wood moisture was estimated and tree rings counted. The soil samples which were acquired nearly every time the trees were cored provided an estimation of soil moisture and bulk density.

For the soil water content portion, piezometer water level and temperature data were recorded at 11 wells during 2011 through 2016/2017. Twenty-four hour weather data (temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, wind speed, and wind direction) were also recorded during the same time period. Soil temperature and soil moisture probes installed at depths 5 and 30 centimeters logged data at three areas: partial canopy, canopy, and the no canopy area of the weather station. Hemispheric photographs for those same three locations are also provided.
The project was initiated as a pilot project to study moisture uptake of trees, soil moisture, base flow seepage and phosphorous levels between surface and soil water reserves.