Cache Creek, WY

Location

43° 26' 24.936" N, 110° 40' 15.564" W
Brief Site Description: 
Cache Creek in WY is one of the approximately 50 stations in the Hydrologic Benchmark Network (HBN)
Detailed Site Description: 

The Cache Creek HBN Basin is in the Middle Rocky Mountains physiographic province (Fenneman, 1946) in western Wyoming (Figure 24. Map showing study area in Cache Creek Basin and photograph of the landscape of the basin). The HBN station is 3.9 km southeast of the town of Jackson, Wyo., at a latitude of 43×27'08'' and a longitude of 110×42'12''. Cache Creek drains about 27 km2 of steep mountain and canyon terrain in the Gros Ventre Mountains. Basin elevations range from about 2,100 to about 3,100 m. The ecoregion of the basin is classified as the Southern Rocky Mountain Steppe-Open Woodland-Coniferous Forest-Alpine Meadow Province (Bailey, 1995). Timber covers about 80 percent of the north-facing slopes and 50 percent of the south-facing slopes. On the south-facing slopes, subalpine fir, lodgepole pine, and Engelmann spruce are the dominant timber species. Subalpine fir, Douglas fir, and lodgepole pine timber species dominate the north-facing slopes. Grass, forbs, and brush cover the remaining area up to timberline. Underbrush includes mountain big sagebrush, whortleberry, huckleberry, and pinegrass (Sandra Key, U.S. Forest Service, written commun., 1997). Cache Creek is tributary to Flat Creek, which is tributary to the Snake River.

http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/circ1173/circ1173c/pdf-c/chapter13c.pdf

Field Site Type: 
US affiliate
Registration: 
Unregistered
Network(s): 
TBD
Study Start Date: 
1965 to 1995
Mean Annual Precipitation: 
400 millimeters / year
Average Summer Temperature: 
16°C
Average Winter Temperature: 
-9°C
Land Cover: 
Evergreen Forest
Grassland/Herbaceous
Geology: 
unconsolidated materials
shale
sandstone
metasediments
Soil Order: 
Unknown
Hydrology: Name: 
Cache Creek
Hydrology: Surface water stream order: 
First Order
Hydrology: Surface water - Stream Flow Performance: 
Perennial
Hydrology: Groundwater: 
Unknown
Climate: 
Temperate
Sub-Climate: 
Humid
Group visibility: 
Public - accessible to all site users