When thinking about where rain goes in a watershed, it helps to think of a watershed as a series of reservoirs. In my last blog post, I mentioned this concept--anywhere water fills up and spills can be considered a reservoir. A bucket in your backyard, a rain barrel, and a swale would be obvious ones. Less obvious would be the soil profile itself, and the surfaces of leaves on plants and trees--it takes a certain amount of rain to get these surfaces wet before they start dripping--over an entire watershed, that adds up to a lot of water. Especially a watershed with giant redwoods.
