Upper South Yamhill River Watershed Assessment (Pdf)

Upper South Yamhill River Watershed Assessment Yamhill Basin Council (503) 472-6403 Yamhill and Polk Counties, Oregon November 2002 Funding for this document came from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) and local matching funds. Watershed Assessment Project Manager: Jeff Empfield Editors: Jeff Bash, Yamhill Basin Council Jeanine Ishii, YBC Intern, Linfield College Acknowledgements Many people generously shared their time to answer questions, provide information, proofread, and in several cases, prepared text for this assessment. They include the following contributors: Luella Ackerson, OSU Extension Linda May, resident Susan Aldrich-Markham, OSU Extension John Mercier, Grand Ronde Public Works Jim Allen, Polk County Planning Dorothy McKey-Fender, resident Jeff Baker, Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Susan Mundy, Yamhill County Public Works Jeff Bash, Yamhill Basin Council Marc Norton, Oregon Water Resources Department Kathy Blant, Spirit Mountain Development Terry Osborne, Rock Creek Water District Corporation Dean O’Reilly, Yamhill County SWCD Mark Charles, Department of Environmental June Olson, Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Quality David Primozich, Yamhill County Parks Martin Croust-Masin, Yamhill County Planning Doug Rasmussen, resident Ryan Dalton, Bureau of Land Management Bobbi Riggers, Oregon Plan Watershed Restoration Robin DeForest, Polk County Parks Inventory Jane Claire Dirks-Edmunds, resident Janet Shearer, Oregon Department of Fish and Karl Ekstrom, Grand Ronde Community Water Wildlife Association Sharon Shenk, Grand Ronde Community Water Patricia Farrell, resident Association Kathleen Feehan, Confederated Tribes of Grand Wes Shenk, resident Tony Snyder, Polk County Ronde Public Works Bill Ferber, Oregon Water Resources Department Kristen Stallman, Oregon Parks and Recreation Leonard Fisher, Rock Creek Water District Department Ted Gahr, resident Tim Stieber, Yamhill County SWCD Gary Galovich, Oregon Department of Fish and James Stonebridge, resident Wildlife Kareen Sturgeon, resident Jacqueline Groth, resident Sam Sweeney, resident Ken Hale, Natural Resources Conservation Service Warren Tausch, Bureau of Land Management Dave Hanson, resident Rob Tracey, Natural Resources Conservation Jackie Hastings, Rickreall Basin Council Service Denise Hoffert-Hay, Yamhill Basin Council Rod Thompson, Confederated Tribes of Grand Ron Huber, Yamhill County Parks Ronde Robert Jones, Spirit Mountain Wastewater District Dan Upton, Willamette Industries Linda Layden, Confederated Tribes of Grand Eugene Villwock, resident Ronde Mark Vroman, Hampton Lumber Melissa Leoni, Yamhill Basin Council Dennis and Sue Werth, residents David Like, Hampton Lumber Don Young, McMinnville Water Reclamation Dawn Marshall, Oregon Dept. of Geology and Facility Mineral Industries 1 Contents Acknowledgements 1 Table of Contents 2 Lists of Tables, Figures, and Maps 3 Abbreviations and Acronyms 4 Chapter 1—Introduction and Watershed Overview 5 Chapter 2—Historical Conditions 16 Chapter 3—Vegetation 26 Chapter 4—Riparian Areas and Wetlands 41 Chapter 5—Channel Habitat Types 49 Chapter 6—Channel Modifications 54 Chapter 7—Sediments 59 Chapter 8—Hydrology and Water Use 64 Chapter 9—Water Quality 76 Chapter 10—Fish Habitat and Barriers 87 Chapter 11—Restoration and Enhancement 97 Watershed Summary and Recommendations 105 - 2 - List of Figures Figure 1. Flow data from the South Yamhill River gaging station near Willamina 65 Figure 2. Data from Wind River gaging station near Grand Ronde 66 Figure 3. Subset of data for the South Yamhill River corresponding to Figure 2 66 Figure 4. Typical Net Flow Versus In-stream Water Rights 74 Figure 5. South Yamhil River Fecal Coliform Data from DEQ (1986-88) 81 Figure 6. Upper South Yamhill River Watershed Stream Temperatures 83 List of Tables Table 1. Examples GIS Data Layers 7 Table 2. Population and Rate of Growth with Projections for Coming Decades 9 Table 3. Geology of the Upper South Yamhill River Watershed 11 Table 4. Land Use of the Upper South Yamhill River Watershed 14 Table 5. Current Quarry Permits Held in the Upper South Yamhill River Watershed 14 Table 6. Upper South Yamhill River Watershed Natural Vegetation Patterns 27 Table 7. Land Use in the Upper South Yamhill River Watershed 35 Table 8. Yamhill County Priority Noxious Weed List 38 Table 9. Endangered and Threatened Species of Oregon 40 Table 10. Special Status Species Possibly Native to the Upper South Yamhill Watershed 40 Table 11. Sensitive Species Possibly Native to the Upper South Yamhill Watershed 40 Table 12. Riparian Vegetation in the Upper South Yamhill 45 Table 13. Channel Habitat Type Descriptions 50 Table 14. Channel Habitat Type Parameters 52 Table 15. Channel Habitat Type Restoration Potential 53 Table 16. Recent Fill and Removal Activity in the Upper South Yamhill River Watershed 58 Table 17. Precipitation Rate and Annual Probability for Various Levels of Flooding 67 Table 18. Domestic Water Consumption in the Upper South Yamhill River Watershed 71 Table 19. Selected Stream Flows in the Upper South Yamhill River Watershed 73 Table 20. Minimum Flow/Instream Water Rights (ISWR) in the Upper South Yamhill 75 Table 21. Beneficial Uses for Willamette River Tributaries 76 Table 22. Drinking Water Quality 77 Table 23. Water Quality 303(d) Listing for the Upper South Yamhill River Watershed 78 Table 24. Upper South Yamhill River Areas of Concern for 303(d) Standards 79 Table 25. Stream Temperatures 1999-2000 Grouped by NMFS Matrix Categories 84 Table 26. Native Aquatic Species in the Yamhill Basin 87 Table 27. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Observations in the Watershed 88+89 Table 28. Yamhill River Basin Stocking History 90 Table 29. Hatchery Releases of Salmonids in the Upper South Yamhill Watershed 92 Table 30. Summary of Fish Life History Patterns 92 Table 31. Suspected Spawning Areas in the Upper South Yamhill River Watershed 93 Table 32. Fish Distribution in the Upper South Yamhill River Watershed 94 Table 33. Fish Passage Barriers on Public Roads in the Upper South Yamhill Watershed 96 Table 34. Upper South Yamhill River Projects in the Oregon Plan Restoration Inventory 99 List of Maps Map 1. The Yamhill River Basin & the Chehalem Valley 6 Map 2. Landscape and Geology of the Upper South Yamhill River Watershed 12 Map 3. Historic Vegetation of the Upper South Yamhill River Watershed 31 Map 4. County Land Use Zones and Selected Current Vegetation 36 Map 5. Riparian Conditions of the Upper South Yamhill River Watershed 43 Map 6. Upper South Yamhill River Watershed Hydric Soils 46 Map 7. Channel Habitat Types of Upper South Yamhill River Watershed 51 Map 8 One Hundred-Year Floodplain of Yamhill and Polk Counties 56 Map 9. Sedimentation and Risk of Landslides 61 Map 10. Upper South Yamhill River Irrigation, Wells, and Water Quality 68 Map 11. Winter Steelhead and Cutthroat Trout Habitat in the Upper South Yamhill River 91 - 3 - Abbreviations and Acronyms BOD Biochemical Oxygen Demand BLM Bureau of Land Management CHT Channel Habitat Types CFS Cubic Feet per Second CREP Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program CREST Coast Range Equestrian Trail Association CTGR Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde DBH Diameter at Breast Height DEQ Oregon Department of Environmental Quality DOGAMI Department of Geology and Mining Industries (Oregon) DO Dissolved Oxygen DSL Division of State Lands (Oregon) EPA Environmental Protection Agency ESA Endangered Species Act EQIP Environmental Quality Incentive Program FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency GIS Geographic Information Systems ISWR Instream Water Rights LCDC Land Conservation and Development Commission (Oregon) LTA Long Term Agreement LWD Large Woody Debris LWI Local Wetland Inventory MIA Mapped Impervious Area MCL Maximum Contaminant Level MCLG Maximum Contaminant Level Goals NMFS National Marine Fisheries Service NPDES National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System NPSO Native Plant Society of Oregon NRCS Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly the Soil Cons. Svc.) NTU Nephelometric Turbidity Units NWHI Northwest Habitat Institute NWI National Wetland Inventory ODA Oregon Department of Agriculture ODFW Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife ODF Oregon Department of Forestry OFWAM Oregon Freshwater Assessment Methodology ORNHP Oregon Natural Heritage Program OPRD Oregon Parks and Recreation Department OSUES Oregon State University Extension Service OWAM Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board OWRD Oregon Water Resources Department RM River Mile SBR Sequential Batch Reactor SCS Soil Conservation Service (now the NRCS) SFI Sustainable Forestry Initiative SWCD Soil and Water Conservation District TCE Tri-chloro-ethane TMDL Total Maximum Daily Load USDA United States Department of Agriculture USGS United States Geological Survey WRP Wetland Reserve Program YBC Yamhill Basin Council - 4 - “Before us in the fading light stretched a great expanse of ancient forest northwesterly to Haystack Rock twenty miles distant at Pacific City on the ocean, north fifteen miles to Mt Hebo, the highest peak in that part of the Oregon Coast Range, and eastward beyond ten-mile-distant Grand Ronde, past Valley Junction and Willamina to farmland in the Yamhill Valley.”—Jane Claire Dirks-Edmunds, Linfield College Biologist, Saddleback Mountain, 1933 CHAPTER 1 Introduction and Watershed Overview The Upper South Yamhill River watershed assessment is a publication of the Yamhill Basin Council (YBC) and is a reference tool for watershed residents. It contains information gathered from many different

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