Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) is conducting the water-erosion control task of the Hanford Protective Barriers Program to assess barrier stability against soil erosion and slumping. The purpose of the barriers is to protect shallow-burial waste sites at the Hanford Site from water infiltration, biointrusion, and surficial erosion for up to 10,000 years. These aboveground, mounded structures will consist of layered, fine-grained sediment and rock designed to direct surface- and ground-water pathways away from the buried waste. The fine-grained sediment for the barrier will be obtained from the McGee Ranch on the Hanford Site. The purpose of the FY 1989 field work was to test two hypotheses concerning the behavior of McGee Ranch soil: runoff may occur on very dry, fine-grained sediment prior to complete saturation and rainsplash is an important erosional process for this type of sediment. This report describes plot construction, sediment sampling, and calibration testing of the rainfall simulator. Baseline stratigraphic and sedimentologic data include bulk density and textural properties of sediment in the test plots. Baseline precipitation data consist of predetermined raindrop sizes, rainfall intensities, plot coverage, and operational data for the simulator. 10 refs., 3 figs., 4 tabs.