Walker Branch NEON - United States of America

Basic Information
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Site Name
Walker Branch NEON
Short name
WALK
Country
United States of America
Web Address
https://www.neonscience.org/field-sites/walk
Site Manager
Bill Martin
Site Description
Walker Branch Watershed (WALK) is an aquatic field site located in the Cumberland Plateau within Roane County, Tennessee. The site is located on the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Oak Ridge Reservation. WALK is managed by the DOE, specifically by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Multiple Research Division. Walker Branch is a wadeable stream that drains a 1.1 km2 (270 acre) watershed and is surrounded by deciduous forest. The region's rivers and streams harbor some of the largest variety of fish and mollusk species in the U.S. WALK is part of NEON Domain 07 - Appalachians & Cumberland Plateau, which includes eastern Tennessee, most of Kentucky, southern Ohio, and parts of North Carolina, Georgia, Indiana, and Illinois. The Domain hosts four other NEON field sites, three terrestrial and one aquatic, three of which are located in Tennessee. WALK is colocated with the ORNL terrestrial field site.
Relationships to other sites
This site groups with:
Last modified
2025-09-18 14:09:37

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General Characteristics and Status
Site Status
Operational
Year Established
2015
Observed properties
Affiliation and Network Specific Information
Affiliation
GERI✔This site is a verified "GERI" member.
NEON✔ (WALK)This site is a verified "NEON" member.
Photos
Stream at WALK
Stream at WALK
Geographic
View in site map
Centroid/Representative Coordinates

Latitude: 35.95947 Longitude: -84.28041

Size
ca. 183.00ha
Elevation (average)
264.00msl
Elevation (min)
230.00msl
Elevation (max)
356.00msl
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Site information [.json]

Centroid/representative coordinates [.shp] [.kml] [.geojson]
GEO-BON Biome
Terrestrial
Biome
Fresh Water Rivers
Ecosystem Type
Forest
Deciduous Forest
Rivers
Fresh Water Rivers
Air Temperature: Average Annual
14.40°C
Precipitation Annual
1222.00mm
Geology
WALK is part of the Chase Group. The parent materials at the ORNL site are residuum, colluvium, and local alluvium derived from Cambrian and Lower to Middle Ordovician geologies.
Vegetation
WALK's canopy consists of a dense hardwood forest dominated by oaks and hickories. At and around WALK, there is a mixture of deciduous species in the valleys with patches of shortleaf pine (Pinus echineta) and Virginia pine (Pinus virginiana) on the ridges. Mixed hardwoods at the site include chestnut oak (Quercus prinus), tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), red maple (Acer rubrum), white oak (Quercus alba), and American beech (Fagus grandifolia). It is 90% closed canopy when leaves are out, and the understory is mostly leaves and groundcover.
Soils
Forest soils found within the WALK watershed are acidic (pH 3.5 to 4.6), very cherty, infertile, and highly permeable. They are considered ancient and are part of the soil series Fullerton cherty silt loam (5-12% slopes), within the subgroup Typic Paleudults. Other relatively common soils found in the area are Montevallo, Bodine, Minvale, Sunlight, and Etwoah.
Hydrology
WALK is a wadeable, first-order stream with eleven springs flowing into it.
Site Type
Platform
Design of Experimentation
mainly experimentation
Scale of Experimentation
catchment scale
Design of Observation
mainly observation
Scale of Observation
entire catchment
Permanent Power Supply
Yes
Accessible All Year
Yes
Permanent Operation
Yes