The 16 studied streams were located in distinctive vegetation classes within Salinas, Cahabon, and Polochic watersheds. Lachuá stands for Parque National Laguna Lachuá, a national park protecting a rainforest area. Biotopo stands for Biotopo Universitario “Mario Dary Rivera” para la Conservación del Quetzal, a national protected area of cloud forest that is administrated by the University of San Carlos of Guatemala. Totonicapan stands for Parque Regional Altos de San Miguel Totonicapán, a communal protected area of pine and oak forest. Sacmoc, El Amay, and Rubel Chaim are farms non-officially designated as protected areas by their owners. Streams in Huehuetenango were on the borders of farms and small villages, presented transitional evergreen forest between lowland rainforest and highland pine and oak forest. Vegetation class according to Méndez (2008).