Great Basin Naturalist

Volume 50 Number 3 Article 5

10-31-1990

Conservation status of threatened fishes in arnerW Basin, Oregon

Jack E. Williams Division of Wildlife and Fisheries, Bureau of Land Management, Washington, D.C.

Mark A. Stern The Nature Conservancy, Portland, Oregon

Alan V. Munhall Bureau of Land Management, Lakeview, Oregon

Gary A. Anderson Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Lakeview, Oregon

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Recommended Citation Williams, Jack E.; Stern, Mark A.; Munhall, Alan V.; and Anderson, Gary A. (1990) " of threatened fishes in arnerW Basin, Oregon," Great Basin Naturalist: Vol. 50 : No. 3 , Article 5. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn/vol50/iss3/5

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Western North American Naturalist Publications at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Basin Naturalist by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Creat &Isio N:l.luraUst 50(3), 1900, pp. 243-248

CONSERVATION STATUS OF THREATENED FISHES IN WARNER BASIN, OREGON

1 l 3 Jack E. Williams , MarkA. Stern \ Alan V. Munhall , and Cary A. Anderson""

A8S'TRACT.-Two fedemlJy listed fisbes, the Foskett speckled daceand Warnersucker, are endemic to Warner Basin in south central Oregon. The Foskett speckled dace is native only to a single spring in Coleman Valley. Anearby'spring was stocked with dace in 1979 and 1980, and now provides a second population. The present numbers ofdace probably are at their Wgbest levels since settlement ofthe region. 'The Warner sucker historically occurred throughout much of the , but its distribution and abundance have been reduced by construction ofreservoirs and irrigation and the introduction of predatory game fishes. Lentic have become dominated by introduced fishes, particularly white , black crappie, and brown bullhead. The largest remaining IXlPulation ofWarner suckers occurs in Hart , where successful reproduction was documented but there is no evidence of recruitment to the adult population. Two threatened fishes inhabit separate val­ Deep (= Warner) Creek near Adel. The leys in Warner Basin, Oregon. In Coleman Warner sucker was listed as threatened pri­ Valley the only native fish is the Foskett marily because of fragmentation of stream speckled dace, Rhiuichthys osculus ssp., habitats by irrigation diversion dams and the which occurs in Foskett Spring along the west establishment of large populations of intro­ margin oftbe Coleman Lake bed. The lake is duced piscivorous fishes in lentic habitats dryexcept during years ofexceptional rainfall. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1985b). The dace was listed as threatened because of Long-time residents recalled that during small population size, trampling of its re­ the 1930s large numbers ofspawning Warner stricted by cattle, and subsequent suckers (referred to as "redborse") ascended degradation ofthe springpool area (U.S. Fish Honey Creek far into upstream canyon areas and Wildlife Service 1985a). (Andreasen 1975). By the 1970s the species To provide a refuge population free of range was fragmented by numerous irriga­ tion diversion dams on the lower reaches of the effects of intense livestock grazing, 50 streams tributary to Pelican, Crump, and dace from Foskett Spring were transplanted Hart (Andreasen 1975, Kohetich 1977, on 14 November 1979 into an unnamed spring Swensen 1978, Coombs et a1. 1979, Hayes (now known as "Dace Spring") on Bureau of 1980), which block spawning runs from the Land Management (BLM) land approxi­ lakes into streams. mately 1.5 km south of Foskett Spring. An­ Coombs et al. (1979) found that although other 50 dace were transferred into the spring habitats bad been fragmented resident stream on 26 August 1980. A reprodUcing population populations still persisted. Nearly two-thirds subsequently established in Dace Spring, and ofall adult suckers (198 of300) were captured more than 300 dace ofthree size classes were by Coombs et a1. (1979) in the canal between observed there in 1986 (BLM Lakeview Dis­ Anderson and Hart lakes, immediately north trict, unpublished data). of the spillway. Adult and larval The presumed historical range ofthe War­ suckers also were captured in Snyder Creek, ner sucker, warnerensis, con­ in Honey Creek above the at Plusb, at sisted of the main (Pelican, the mouth of Honey Creek in Hart Lake, at Crump, and Hart) and other accessible lakes the south end ofWarner Valley in Twentymile and sloughs in Warner Valley, and low- to Creek between the south end of the valley moderate-gradient reaches of tributary floor and the confluence with Twelvemile streams. The species description by Snyder Creek, and in Twelvemile Creek immediately (1908) was based on specimens collected from above and below the O'Keefe Diversion Dam.

IDivi$ioll ofWiJdlile and Fisheries. Bureau ofLand r.bn~tne1lt, 18th <\ C Sb'eets, N. W.• \\~biopon, D. C. 20240. :iJhe Nature Conser'vallCy• .L205 Northwest 25th ....vetlue, Portand, ~ mlO. 1Jureau of L.nd M~g(:roent.BoJIISl. Lakeview. Oregoo 97630. ~('goD DepanmentofFlsh and \'t1Idlife. 8oJI12l4, Lakeview, Oregon 97630.

243 244 J. E. WILLIAMS ET AL. [Volume 50

In 1980 Coombs and Bond (1980) sampled lakes by use oftraps, gill nets, and seines, and Z2 sites throughout the basin, capturing 46 from streams with dip nets, trap nets, elec­ Warner suckers at 4 localities: Honey Creek troshocker, kick nets, and seines. Most fishes between Hatt Lake and the datn at Plush, were identified, measured, and returned to canals ofDeep Creek at the eastend ofPelican their habitat. Voucher specimens or those ac­ Lake, the spillway immediately north ofHart cidentally killed during collecting are housed Lake, and Swamp Lake. In 1983 Smith et al. at the Wildlife and Fisheries Museum, Uni­ (1984) captured 1 adolt Warner sucker in versity of California, Davis. Opercles from and 2 juveniles (approximately five suckers were aged according to the meth­ 130 mm total length [TL]) in Deep Creek ods described by Scoppettone (1988). Visual between Adel and the falls. In 1987 an adult observations were made of spawning Warner Warner sucker was caught by an angler along suckers in Honey Creek. the slongh just south of Flagstaff Lake a. E. Williams, personal observation). FOSKETI SPECKLED DACE This paper summarizes the current status ofthese two threatened fishes, as determined In 1987 the BLM acquired Foskett Spring by surveys conducted from 1987 to 1989. and the surrounding 65 ha, ofwhich approxi­ Other native fishes ofWarner Valley include a mately 28 ha were fenced to exclude cattle. local rorm of redband trout (Oncorhynchus The dace population at Foskett Spring has mykiss ssp.), tui chub (Gila birolor), and the since expanded to the spring pool its outflow, common form of speckled dace (R. o.culus). and downstream marsh. Baseline water qual­ The Warner Valley redband trout largely has ity and vegetation monitoring at Foskett and been displaced by introduced trout and is Dace springs were initiated by BLM in 1987. listed as "ofspecial concern" by the American TI,e following data collected on 28 September Fisheries Society (Williams et al. 1989). 1988 from Foskett Spring and Dace Spring, respectively, exemplify the two habitat simi­ HABITAT DESCRIPTION AND SURVEY METHODS larities: air temperature 19 and 17 C, water temperature 17 and 16 C, dissolved oxygen The Warner Basin comprises 6858 sq km in 5.3 and 5.9 mg/I, conductivity 350 and 250 sonth central Oregon and small portions of mohs/cm, pH 8.1 and 8.2, alkalinity 114 and northeastern Californiaand northwestern Ne­ 99 mg/l CaC03, hardness 40.0 and 24.7 mg/l, vada (Fig. 1). Drainage is internal and is di­ and turbidity 1.4 and 1. 8 NTU. vided between Coleman Valley and the much The dace population maintains itself at larger Warner Valley. Coleman Valley is a Dace Spring despite a tendencyfor vegetation separate drainage in the southeastern part of to choke outmost open water. The introduced the basin and receives sparse runoff. Observa­ population has expanded by movementoffish tions oCthe Foskett speckled daceand its habi­ through a connecting pipe into a livestock tatin Coleman Valley were made from 1987 to watering trough just east of the spring. No 1989. Standardized transects were estab­ other fish occur in Coleman Valley. lished along Foskett Spring and its outflow to monitor vegetation recovery following cessa­ WARNER SUCKER tion of grazing, and to qnantify atnonnts of open-water habitat. Surveys on Twentymile Creek above and In Warner Valley all water flows into a se­ below the Dyke Diversion Datn located I ries of north-south oriented shallow Jakes, adult and 2 larval Warner suckers in 1988. sloughs, and potholes. During periods with Additional 1987 and 1988 surveys failed to above-average precipitation, as occurred dur­ locate Warner suckers elsewhere in Twelve­ ing the early 1980s and again in 1989, these mile Creek (including sections in Nevada and lakes fill from the south and eventually over­ Oregon upstream of the Nevada border), the flow into the northern part ofthe valley. Only canal north ofHart Lake, the slough between the three most southerly lakes, Pelican, Flagstaff Lake and Mugwump Lake, the Crump, and Hart, are permanent. Fish col­ slough between Lower Campbell and Catnp­ lections in Warner Valley were made from bell lakes, or Stone Corral Lake. In April 1987 to 1989. Samples were collected from 1989, 28 adult suckers were captured at the 1990] THREAmNED WAIlNEIlBASIN FISHES 245

OREGON

Warner Basin

Alldt"fJOII I. t N • HurLol!.f

oeep Cr.

• CnlJu,Ru.. . Adell

, ~Cok_1I Oregon " FOSkelt· l.llb Twelt'emile Spring ------California I Nevada

Fig. 1. The Warner Ba.<;in ofsoutb central Oregon. 246 1. E. WILLIAMS ET AL. [Volume 50

T>\IJLE L Frequency offishes collected in Warner Basin during 1987-89. All collection sites are in Lake County, Oregon, unless otherwise noted. Collections made at the same habitat arc combined. -- Large- Warner Tui Speckled White Black mouth Spotted Brown Location sucker elmh dace Troue crappie crappie bass bass bullhead

Twelvemile Cl\ 40,j (Washoe Co" NV) 1\velvemile CC 591 51 Dyke Diversion Canal 1 Irrigation canal along 1 I 1 1\ventymilc Cr. • Twentymile Cr. G 25 854 " 2 4 Greaser Heservoir 476 1 2 Deep Creek 400 40 Hart Lake 70 12 1620 14 1 449 lower Honey Creek 69 upper Honey Creek 19 canal north ofHart Lake 7 -" 31 30 1 Anderson Lake ", 10 1 Flagstaff Lake slough 27 107 59 40 sloul{h between Lower 82 39 Campbell and Campbell Campbell Lake :l7I 95 Stone Corral Lake 17 5 Total caught 1'9"" 649 22·69 96 2183 lOG 2 1 607 Relative catch (%) 2.5 10.7 37.4 1.6 26.0 1.7 <0,1 <0,1 IO.O "May indude nalive redband trout Jed/OJ" intmij"cod roinhow trout mouth of Honey Creek in Hart Lake, and 42 Hart Lake, or the canal immediately north of were captured along the east side of Hart the lake. Introduced flshes dominated the Lake. Fish ranged li'om :311 to 440 mm TL fauna ofHart Lake amI other lakes and sloughs (avg. 385.2, n = 70), with most 350 to 410 mm. in the valley. \iVhite crappie (Pomoxis an-flU­ Approximately 80-100 other adult Warner laris) and brown bullhead (lctalums nebuloe suckers were observed in Honey Creek be~ sus) outnumbered native fishes in our collec­ tween the most downstream diversion dam tions from Hart Lake by slightly more than and Hart Lake. These fish were in breeding 25:1. Tui chub, which historically was the condition and migrating upstream, where most abundant fish in lentic habitats, largely they were visible because flow in the creek has been replaced by white crappie. was reduced by upstream diversions. In mid­ The Warner sucker populat.ion appears to May 1989 water began spilling Irom Hart be largest in Hart Lake, but no recent recruit~ Lake into the canal toward Anderson Lake, ment could be documented. Except lor a Suckers dispersed into the canal, and 7 small numberoflarvae in lower Honey Creek, no suckers smaller than 310 nun TL were spawners were collected there in June, Stan­ found. \Vhite crappie were abundant at the dard length, TL, and age of 5 of these were 331,357,7;307,361,7;333,387,7;335,390, mouth of Honey Creek during June and may 9; and ;340, 397, 8. Larval suckers also were have preyed on sucker larvae as they drifted into Hart Lake. A single trap net set there in collected li'om Honey Creek just above the downstream-most diversion dam, indicating June collected 1530 white crappie and 20 brown bullhead. at least limited spawning upstream. Overall, \Varner suckers constituted only 2.5% of all fishes collected during 1987-89 DISCUSSION (Table 1). Nearly all suckers were found in The Foskett speckled dace appears to he Hart Lake, Honey Creek just upstream of near recovery, No exotic species are present 1990J THREATENED WARNER BASIN FISHES 247 in either spring, and the primary threats have are needed to determine the extent of any been eliminated. Some vegetation needs to remaining sucker populations. If present. be cleared from the pool at Dace Spring in however, recruitment may be prevented by order to provide sufficient open waler. Also, populations ofcrappie. fencing along the boundary of Dace Spring In conclusion, Warner suckers once were should be extended to the east to include common throughout the basin but gradually additional habitat. Continued habitat and declined from about 1900 until the early 1970s population monitoring are necessary at both as a result of agricultural development and springs because the small habitats are vulner­ placement ofirrigation structures in spawning able to slight disturbances. streams. Despite habitat fragmentation and The largest remaining population of War­ lack offish passage, recruitment to lake popu­ ner suckers appears to be in Hart Lake, where lations continued until the late 1970s, when spawning fish ascend lower Honey Creek and large populations ofpiscivorous fishes became the canal north of the Hart Lake spillway. established. Recruitment of Warner suckers Populations also may exist in Crump and Peli­ continues in stream habitats but appears from can lakes. our observations to be greatly curtailed since Successful recruitment of young into the 1979. Hart Lake population is limited by redneed Control of introduced fishes in Harl and spawning habitat in Honey Creek and large Crump lakes may be impractical because of populations of crappie. White crappie were habitat size (2928- and 3108-ha area, respec­ introduced into Hart Lake in 1971, and white tively) and large populations. Recovery ofthe plus black (P. ntgrorrwculatus) crappie were Warner sucker in Hart Lake therefore at least introduced into Crump Lake during 1972 and requires increased spawning sites and rearing 1973 (Oregon Department of Fish and Wild­ habitat. life, unpublished data). Subsequent collec­ tions of the Oregon Department of Fish and ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Wildlife indicated that white crappie, black crappie, and brown bullhead were common in Our fieldwork was aided by W. J. Berg, Crump Lake by 1978 (K. Daily, unpublished R. G. Bolton, C. A. Macdonald, J. F. data) and presumably in Hart Lake as well. Morawski, G. A. Rosenberg, L. M. Swinney, Adult white crappie commonly feed on small and R. K. White. Mark Warner ofthe Nevada fishes (Pflieger 1975); thus, their abundance at Department ofWildlife facilitated our collec­ the mouth of Honey Creek during the same tions in Nevada. Earlier drafts of this time that larval suckers were collected from manuscript benefited from reviews by J. K. the creek increases the likelihood ofpredation Andreasen, W. J. Berg, and C. D. Williams. on young-of-year suckers. Age analysis ofthe Warner suckers was kindly Seven irrigation dams on Honey Creek be­ confirmed by G. G. Scoppettone. This work tween the lake and Plush result in limited was completedwhile the senior author was on access by adults to upstream spawning areas. an Intergovernmental Personnel Act appoint­ During 1989 only two rimes between Hart ment with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Lake and the first diversion dam contained at the University of California, Davis. Our suitable gravel for spawning. Depending on sincere appreciation to Mr. Joe Flynn fur ac­ stream flows, water-diversion boards may cess to his property along Honey Creek and be placed in the irrigation structures before, for his interest in the fishes therein. during, or after the spawning run. Swenson (1978) reported that during 1978 adult suckers LITERATURE CITED migrated as far as the seventh irrigation dam at Plush before boards were installed and wa­ ANDREASEN, j. K. 1975. Systematics and status of the ter diverted for irrigation. fam.ily in southern Oregon. Unpub­ A remnant population of Warner suckers lished dissertation, Oregon State University, Cor­ may persist in Crump Lake, as indicated vallis. 76 pp. CooMBS. C. I .. AND C. E. BoND. 1980. Report ofinvestiga­ by collection in 1989 of yonng-of-year in tions on Catostomus warnerensis, fall 1979 and Twenty-mile Slough below Greaser Dam. Ad­ spring 1980. Report to U.S. Fish and Wildlife ditional surveys of Crump and Pelican lakes Service. Sacramento. Californi.a. 248 J. E. WILLIAMS ET AL. [VoJume50

CooMBS, C. I.. C. E. BOND. AND S. F. DROHAN. 1979. SNYDER. J. O. 1908. Relationships of the fish fauna ofthe Spawning and early life history of the Warner lakes of southeastern Oregon. BulJetin of the Bu· sucker (Catostomus warnerensis). Report to U.S. rcau of Fisheries 27(1907): 69-102. Fish and Wildlife Service, Sacramento, Caluor­ SWENSON, S. C. 1978. Report of lnvestigations on Cato­ nia. stomus WOfl'lCf'ensis' duringspring 1978. Report to HAYES, J. P. 1980. Fish ofWamer Valley. Pages 131-137 U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Sacramento, Cali· in C. Gilman and J. W. FemiDella, eds., Plants fomia. 27 pp. and associated with aquatic habitats of U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE. 1985a. Determination Warner Valley_ Oregon State University, Corvallis. ofthreatened status for Hutton tui chub and Fos· KOBETICH, C. C. 19n. Report on survey ofWarner Valley kett speckled dace. Federal Register 50: l23O'2­ Lakes for Warner suckers, CatQstcmws wameren­ 12306. sis. Report to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, __. 1985b. Determination that the Warner sucker is a Sacramento, California. 6 pp. threatened specie~ and designation of its critical PFUEGER, W. L. 1975. The fishes of Missouri. Missouri habitat. Federal Register 50: 39117-39123. Department ofConservation. 343 pp. WtLUA),tS. J. E., J. E. JOHNSON, D. A. HENDRICKSON, SCOPP61IONE, G. G. 1988. Growth and longevity of the S. COJ\'TRERAS.BALDEIV.S, J- D. WILLIAMS, cui·ui and longevity of other catostomids llnd M. NAVARRO·MENDOZA. D- E. MCA1.J.JSTER, Al.~D cyprinids in western North America. Transactions j. E. DEACON. 1989. Fishes of North America eo· ofthe American Fisheries Society 117: 301-307. dangered, threatened, or ofspecial concern: 1989. SMITIi, M .• T. STEINBACK. AND G. PAMPUSH. 1984. Distri­ Fisheries (Bethesda) 14(6), 2-20. bution, foraging relationships and colony dynam­ ics of the (Pelecanus Received 30 NOL'fmIber 1989 erythrorhynchos) in southern Oregon and north­ eastern California. Oregon Department of Fish RetJised 11 August 1990 and Wildlife Nongame Technical Report 83-0-04. Accepted 6 September 1990