Seventy-four catchments, with a total area of 790 km2 (ranging from 1 to 50 km2), drain from the Santa Ynez Mountains along the northern coast of Santa Barbara Channel. The topography of these coastal catchments is characterized as mountainous headwaters and sloping coastal plains separated by transitional foothills. From west to east, there are both elevational and land use gradients. Headwater elevations increase from approximately 300 to 1400 m, and land uses on the coastal plain and foothills change from mostly rangeland to a combination of urban and agricultural lands. Most of the annual precipitation and corresponding runoff occurs in only a few large events resulting in high peak discharges and a rapid return to near baseflow conditions. We will describe the hydrological and hydrochemical characteristics of a representative set of these streams based on our continuous measurements of stage (converted to discharge with rating curves), temperature, and samples collected weekly to bi-weekly and intensively during storms from 2002 to the present. Samples are analyzed for (a) nitrate, ammonium, total dissolved nitrogen, and particulate nitrogen; (b) soluble reactive phosphorus, total dissolved phosphorus and particulate phosphorus; (c) particulate organic carbon; (d) total suspended sediments; and (e) conductivity.