North Fourmile Watershed
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WATERSHED ANALYSIS REPORT FOR THE NORTH FOURMILE WATERSHED KLAMATH RANGER DISTRICT WINEMA NATIONAL FOREST KLAMATH COUNTY, OREGON 1996 TABLE OF CONTENTS I INTRODUCTION......................................................1 II CHARACTERIZATION OF THE WATERSHED.................................1 A. Social and Economic Resources................................1 1. Location and Land Management.............................1 2. Heritage Resources.......................................4 3. Timber...................................................7 4. Roads....................................................9 5. Agriculture..............................................9 6. Recreation..............................................10 B.River Basin Context.........................................10 C.Physical Features...........................................11 1. Erosional Processes and Soils...........................11 2. Hydrology...............................................12 3. Stream Channels.........................................14 4. Water Quality...........................................14 D. 1. Vegetation..............................................17 2. Plants..................................................19 3. Aquatic Species.........................................21 4. Terrestrial Species.....................................23 IIIISSUES AND KEY QUESTIONS.........................................25 IVDISCUSSION OF ISSUES.............................................28 A.Vegetation Changes..........................................28 B.Sensitive Plants............................................36 C.Upland Wildlife Habitat.....................................40 D.Erosion/Soils...............................................46 E.Flow Changes................................................50 F.Channel Condition...........................................54 G.Fish Habitat................................................57 H.Native Fish Species.........................................60 I.Riparian Reserve Management.................................62 J.Historic Railroad Sites.....................................72 V.MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS LISTED................................75 VI.REFERENCES.......................................................80 APPENDIX A. PEOPLE CONSULTED....................................... A1 APPENDIX B. SENSITIVE PLANT OCCURRENCE..............................B1 APPENDIX C. ADDITIONAL WILDLIFE INFORMATION.........................C1 APPENDIX D. WIN INVENTORY PROJECTS..................................D1 WATERSHED ANALYSIS REPORT FOR THE NORTH FOURMILE WATERSHED I. INTRODUCTION This report documents an analysis of the North Fourmile Watershed. The watershed includes the drainages of Fourmile Creek, Lost Creek, and Horse Creek, which are divided into three subwatersheds: Fourmile Creek; Fourmile Creek above Seldom Creek; and Lost Creek. The Lake of the Woods Basin/Seldom Creek and Varney Creek drainages, which flow intermittently into Fourmile Creek from the south, are not included here and will be addressed in a separate report. The purpose of the analysis is to develop a scientifically-based understanding of the processes and interactions occurring within the watershed and the effects of management practices. The analysis focuses on issues concerning values and uses specific to the area. These issues form the basis for discussions of the interactions between land-use activities, the physical environment, and its biological components. A detailed outline can be found in "Ecosystem Analysis at the Watershed Scale", Version 2.2. The analysis was conducted by a four- member core team consisting of a fish biologist, soil specialist/hydrologist, wildlife biologist, and botanist/ecologist. Many others were consulted during the process (See Appendix A). The analysis was limited by the use of existing information. Specific objectives of the analysis are to: 1.Provide information and recommendations for management and project planning. 2.Define riparian reserves necessary for maintaining hydrologic, geologic, and ecologic processes. 3.Guide restoration and monitoring work in the watershed area. II. CHARACTERIZATION OF THE WATERSHED A. Social and Economic Resources 1. Location and Land Management The 36,159-acre watershed extends from the crest of the southern Oregon Cascades and top of Pelican Butte to the marshlands near Pelican Bay of Upper Klamath Lake (Figure 1). The Fourmile Creek subwatershed drains the southern slope of Pelican Butte and includes the lower portion of Fourmile Creek, from its mouth to the confluence with Seldom Creek. The Lost Creek subwatershed extends between the crest of the Cascades on the west and the top of Pelican Butte on the east. It includes Lost Creek and Cold Springs Creek. The Fourmile Creek above Seldom Creek subwatershed lies west of the other two, and includes Fourmile Lake, the upper section of Fourmile Creek, and Horse Creek. The eastern slope of Mt. McLoughlin is included in the Fourmile Creek above Seldom Creek subwatershed. See Figure 2. 3 System (NFS) lands, the majority being on the Klamath Ranger District of the Winema National Forest. The eastern flank of Mt. McLoughlin (845 acres) lies within the boundaries of the Rogue River National 4 1 5 2 6 Forest. Tracts of privately owned land are located in the lower portions of the watershed, including the Fourmile Flat and Rocky Point areas. Private land totals 1,051 acres and includes residences, small acreages, agricultural lands, and forested lands owned by the Weyerhaeuser Company. Approximately 12,417 acres (34%) of the watershed lie within the boundaries of Sky Lakes Wilderness. Late successional reserve (LSR) R0227 is located along the southern slope of Pelican Butte and continues west and south through the watershed to the Lake of the Woods Basin. Approximately 11,018 acres of LSR are present in the watershed. Figure 3 shows the management areas within LSR. Matrix lands comprise all areas outside of LSR and wilderness. Matrix management areas include scenic, timber, riparian, developed recreation, bald eagle habitat, and semi-primitive recreation located on Pelican Butte (Figure 4). Little timber harvest or road construction has occurred in the semi-primitive recreation management area. 2. Heritage Resources Past inventory surveys have documented 45 discrete archeological sites relating to the area's history of settlement and use by both Indian and Euroamerican peoples. Additionally, some 30 miles of railroad grade is extant within the watershed, representing industrial scale exploitation of the area's timber resources. Identified themes of human occupation of the area include American Indian occupations, transportation development, and industrial scale timber exploitation, which is discussed under Issue J. a. Indian Peoples The Klamath occupied a large territory comprised of the upper Klamath Basin, as well as areas to the north and east. Divided into about five distinct groups, the Klamath are estimated to have numbered in the several thousand by the time Euroamerican exploration and settlement of the region began. While the largest populations of Klamath lay along the east and south shores of Upper Klamath Lake, a small population, the gu'mbotkni, was concentrated in the resource-rich marsh/lake shore areas near present day Rocky Point (the Klamath name gu'mbot is a geographic reference to Pelican Bay). The gu'mbotkni, like other Klamath peoples, subsisted largely on lake and marsh resources, primarily fish and water lily (wokas) seeds found in Pelican Bay, Crystal and Recreation Creeks, and elsewhere on Upper Klamath Lake. Fish thrived in these waters, particularly salmonids and suckers. Although these resources may not have been concentrated within the North Fourmile Watershed, the hydrologic systems of the watershed are likely to have affected fish stocks in Pelican Bay. Plants such as camas (Camassia quamash), epos (Perideridia sp.), and Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), found in moist/wet meadow habitats around Fourmile Creek were used to supplement the staple resources. Lists of plant resources utilized by the Klamath can be found in Spier, 1930, and Coville, 1897. A large portion of the watershed is made up of the south and west slopes of Pelican Butte. This mountain is of undetermined significance to the Klamath. As a landscape feature, Pelican Butte is visible from many surrounding areas. There are several vision quest sites, which suggest that the area was used traditionally in the past for religious purposes. One vision quest site is 7 3 8 4 9 located near the summit. Sites near the base may be places where preparatory `cleansing' took place before ascending to the top. Other sites found within the watershed typically are lithic scatters, which are locations of dispersed stone tools and debris from their manufacture. While the specific function of these sites is unclear, they probably represent locations of temporary camps, or sites where various food resources were harvested and processed. At this time, the condition of prehistoric sites (lithic scatters, vision quest sites, etc.) appears to be relatively stable and not at risk. b. Euroamerican Peoples and Transportation Routes While much of southwest and southcentral Oregon was being explored by Euroamericans in the early part of the 19th century, little documentation exists of ventures into the area between Upper Klamath Lake and the Cascade Summit (including the North Fourmile Watershed) until the 1860's. The earliest well documented push