Watershed Plan

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND This watershed plan for the Hoko-Lyre Watershed provides a comprehensive review and evaluation of vital water resources in Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 19 and lays the groundwork for future management and stewardship of these resources. Located on the Olympic Peninsula (see Figure 1-1), WRIA 19 is a beautiful and remote area with few human inhabitants, though it carries a legacy of large- scale logging throughout the region. Based on the review of water resources, this plan outlines steps for ensuring the optimum ongoing use of the watershed’s surface waters and groundwater in a way that balances water needs for human use and environmental protection. An overview of the important characteristics of WRIA 19 is provided below. Appendix A provides more detailed descriptions of WRIA 19 features that are important for consideration in a watershed plan. Figure 1-1. WRIA 19 and Subbasins 1.1 WHY WAS THIS PLAN DEVELOPED? In 1998, the Washington State Legislature created the Watershed Management Act (Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 90.82) to support local communities in addressing water resource management issues. The act established a voluntary watershed management planning process for the major river basins in the state. The goal of the planning process is to support economic growth while promoting water availability and quality. The Act encourages local governments and interested groups and citizens to assess basin water resources and develop strategies for managing them. The Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) defined boundaries that divide the state into WRIAs, which correspond to the watersheds of major rivers, and established funding for groups in each WRIA that choose to undertake the planning process (funding is broken down by phases of the planning 1-1 WRIA 19 Watershed Plan… effort, as described in Appendix B). The Watershed Management Act requires that each watershed planning process address the issue of water quantity and defines three optional planning elements: water quality, habitat, and instream flow (the amount of flow that must be left in a stream to support habitat features). If a planning group chooses to undertake any of the optional planning elements, additional funding is available. The WRIA 19 Planning Unit chose to undertake all three of the additional elements, as described in Section 1.4.2. Watershed planning conducted under the Watershed Management Act may be initiated only with the unanimous consent of the “Initiating Governments” in the WRIA, which include all counties in the watershed, the largest city or town, and the largest water utility. All tribes with reservation lands in the watershed must be invited to participate as an Initiating Government. The Initiating Governments appoint a lead agency for the planning process, decide upon the elements to be covered in the planning process, and designate a “Planning Unit,” consisting of stakeholders within the watershed. When the legislation was enacted, areas of WRIA 19 were facing problems stemming from a long history of environmental damage from logging and overfishing. Although logging practices and their associated impacts have improved over the years, the long-term effects of past practices left present-day communities in WRIA 19 to deal with problems such as poor water quality, loss of habitat (especially old-growth forest), streambank erosion, and diminishing salmon runs. The delicate balance between maintaining an economy driven by natural resource extraction and protecting natural resources is a key theme in the watershed planning effort for WRIA 19. The Planning Unit has the authority to approve or reject the watershed plan, but it cannot create obligations for entities that are not represented on the Planning Unit. Nor can the recommendations of the Watershed Plan supplant existing legislation pertaining to established forest practices. Specifically, RCW 90.82.120 states that watershed planning “shall not create any obligations or restrictions on forest practices additional to or inconsistent with” the state’s forest practices law (RCW 76.09). However, RCW 90.82 does not prevent a planning unit from proposing recommendations, such as monitoring, that can complement or assist the implementation of the forest practices law. Nor does the legislation preclude the forest industry from agreeing to undertake additional voluntary actions to protect watershed health. 1.2 HOKO-LYRE WATERSHED DESCRIPTION 1.2.1 Area Evaluated for the Watershed Plan WRIA 19 covers 384 square miles in Clallam County, extending along the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Freshwater Bay west of Port Angeles to Cape Flattery. The northernmost peaks of the Olympic Mountains make up the southern boundary of the watershed; the northern boundary is the Strait of Juan de Fuca. This plan does not address water resource issues pertaining to the Makah Reservation at the northwest tip of the Olympic Peninsula. This land is excluded as “federally reserved” based on the 1908 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in /Winters v. United States/, which states, “when the Federal Government withdraws land from the public domain for a particular purpose, by implication it also reserves whatever unappropriated water is necessary to accomplish this purpose. That reserved right carries a priority as of the date of the reservation, regardless of when the water is actually used” (Authorities and Definitions, USFWS Manual, 1993). These rights were given a priority date of “time immemorial” and are the most senior water rights in WRIA 19. Although reservation land falls outside the scope of watershed planning, both the Makah and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe have “Usual and Accustomed” hunting and fishing rights in many of the subbasins 1-2 …1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND throughout WRIA 19. The Usual and Accustomed (U&A) areas overlap with the land contained within the land defined in the WRIA 19. The Tribes have a federal right to manage natural resources on the landscape in their respective U & A’s. The Tribal rights are separate and distinct from any outcome of the WRIA 19 planning process. Management of Tribal resources, including water, in the U&A is the responsibility of the tribes as defined by their respective Treaties and the federal, state and county governments. The Tribe works cooperatively with federal, state, county and other government representatives to ensure tribal rights are protected. 1.2.2 Streams and Water Bodies WRIA 19 includes all rivers and streams that drain into the Strait of Juan de Fuca along the western part of the north coast of the Olympic Peninsula. This watershed plan provides detailed evaluation of all streams in the watershed’s nine major subbasins outside of tribal lands that flow north from the Olympic Mountains through the foothills and lowland valleys to sea level (referred to as “the Big 9”): • Sekiu River • Deep Creek • Hoko River • East and West Twin Rivers • Clallam River • Lyre River • Pysht River • Salt Creek. Several smaller streams originate in the foothills and lowlands. Lake Crescent is the only major lake in WRIA 19; it is entirely surrounded by National Park lands. 1.2.3 Land Use The dominant land use in WRIA 19 is commercial forestry. Almost the entire watershed has been harvested at least once in the past 100 years, and much of it is in its third rotation of harvest (Johnson and O’Neill, 2001). Sixty-eight percent of the WRIA is zoned for commercial forestry, of which 53 percent is privately owned and the remainder is managed by state and federal agencies (24 and 19 percent, respectively). Figure 1-2 shows the distribution of timberlands by owner category, and Figure 1-3 shows the distribution of timberlands held by the largest private owners. In addition to commercial forestry, WRIA 19 has a long agricultural tradition. Early settlers were encouraged to relocate to the Olympic Peninsula by the Donation Land Act of 1850, which granted 320 acres to a single settler or 640 acres to a family. After an early period of homesteading and farming, logging began to dominate the economy by the early 1900s, after which much of the land in the eastern, coastal areas of WRIA 19 was further converted to agriculture. The agricultural community developed important livestock, farming and especially dairy industries that Cowan Ranch (photo courtesy of Bill Drath) supplemented the forest economy (Crop and Livestock Reporting Services Bulletin, 1956). Today, 7 percent of WRIA 19 is zoned rural. Minor portions of the watershed are zoned tribal, public, industria l, tideland, or urban (see Figure 1-4). 1-3 WRIA 19 Watershed Plan… 50,000 Other 45,764 4% 45,000 40,000 35,000 State 24% 30,000 25,590 25,000 21,280 20,000 Private 53% 15,000 10,000 Timberland Area Owned (acres) 5,000 3,105 2,634 Federal 0 19% Bloedel Rayonier Merrill& Ring Ring Familty Ltd. Cascade Timberlands Figure 1-2. Timberland Ownership by Owner Class Figure 1-3. Large Private Timberland Owners (ONRC Clearinghouse for the Olympic Peninsula) (ONRC Clearinghouse for the Olympic Peninsula) Other 12% Public 6% Rural 7% Commercial Forestry 75% Figure 1-4. Zoning Distribution by Area (ONRC Clearinghouse for the Olympic Peninsula) 1.2.4 Population Early native communities on the Olympic Peninsula thrived on the abundant fish and wildlife food sources in the peninsula’s hospitable climate. By the late 1700s, approximately 4,000 Native Americans of the S’Klallam, Makah, and Ozette tribes inhabited 17 villages along the northern peninsula. By the mid-1800s, European settlers were establishing communities in what is now Clallam County, with fur trading, canning, timber and wood products, and farming as the economic base. Commercial forestry 1-4 …1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND continues to employ many people throughout WRIA 19. Other major employment categories include retail, recreation, tourism, and staffing of the Clallam Bay Corrections Center.

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