c [ .. r E 0 Appendix E 0 0 · s·ocial Documents [. o· b ~' 0 Reference Conditions for the Social Domain r of the Middle Fork Willamette Downstream Tributaries Watershed L Frank Carson, Recreation Forester 1995 0 Settler activities began in earnest in the Oakridge area in the mid 19th century with the settlement of the Sanford Ranch in 1860, which was later 0 subdivided in the year of 1909 into tracts for the town. Use of the natural resources in the area began with grazing and logging. In 1875, the first f] logging on the Middle Fork was done above Deception Creek for sugar pine logs by a man named Packard. Moving on up river, the Grays Creek Project y;as logged in 1905, by J.B. Hills. Stumpage price was $ 0.25 per thousand 0 board feet. The origin of the names of some of the streams and mountains are as follows: 0 ·" Bristow Prairie was named for Elijah Bristow, founder of Pleasant Hill. He hunted this prairie and his descendants were the first to run cattle there. g Coffee Pot Creek was named for a coffee pot that fell off of an emigrant's wagon and was run over by a wagon wheel. [ Packard Creek was named for a logger who took a contract for getting out [ sugar pine logs in the early 1870's. Tu.fti Mountain was named for Indian Charlie Tufti. '- Staley Ridge and Staley Creek was named for W.F. Staley. L Recreation Wheeled access to the area was first provided by the construction of the Oregon Central Military Wagon Road. Although dispersed camping took place at an early date, the developed campgrounds in this Watershed were r ~ largely constructed in the mid to late 1960's. An exception was the Campers Flat area whlcli was a well established campground used extensively by Native Americans as late as 1910. Packard Creek, and Sand Prairie 0 Campgrounds and CT Beach Boat Ramp and Picnic Area and Gingham Boat Ramp were built in response to the construction of Hills Creek Dam and pooling of Hills Creek Lake in 1961. hl c MFWDT Appendix E • 2 l r . Cline-Clark Picnic Area was constructed in 1962 as a memorial for two local boys that drowned in an accident in Advise Lake in the late 1950's. f Other campground construction during this time include Secret, Cynosure, and Campers Flat Campgrounds. Cynosure Campground was washed away r ' l during the 1964 flood as the Middle Fork Willamette channel moved. All that remains is a small area for a dispersed campsite. This campground was located between Secret and Campers Flat. An interesting note by a retired [ Forest Service employee was that during the beginning of the storm, they were driving by Cynosure campground and noticed that the river was running through the campground so they chained one of the picnic tables to a L tree to keep it from washing away. After the flood receded, not only were the picnic table and tree gone, so was the entire campground. r Recreational use within the Middle Fork Willamette Downstream Tributaries Watershed had steadily increased over the years. Estimated recreational use which largely takes place in the vicinity of Hills Creek Lake has been a G combination of estimates and counts from camping fee envelopes and survey r· "" forms. Visitation Data in Thousands of Recreation Visitor Days ~..........., -m - .C : YEAR : RVD'S :. 1985 . 85.0 ::·-i986 : 84:7-- 0 :!"1987 : 82.4 . c1988 · 9oJ> ____ :·· - ' 1989 ' 90.1 ::-1992--:"giy-·-~ : ~ ~-~~-~---iJ26& ___ _______ . 1994 122.3 It has been observed that years when Hills Creek Reservoir does not fill to full pool, recreational use such as swimming and other water sports such as water-skiing become almost nonexistent, and camping in the Packard Creek Campground drops as much as 50 percent. This not only is a reduction in recreation use but also a significant reduction in camping fee collections in the fee campgrounds. MFWDT Appendix E - 3 I· r Until the major road construction activities of the 1970's and 1980's, trails ! were the facilities that provided the access to much of the Watershed. As of the early 196Q's, and much of the district western portion of the Watershed was unroaded and many trails that had been the transportation facility were still in existence. There were at least seventeen major trails, with so me still in the current trail maintenance system, totaling 89.2 miles. These trails included: l Major Trails in the MFWDT r Trail Name Length ( ' (milesl · b Larison Rock 4.3 Larison Creek (on ridgetop) 7.4 ! I Minick Wa_y_(current Larison Creek) 5.8 Dinner Ridge 7.0 Packard Creek 5.8 Rocky Point Way 4.0 •" Grass Mountain 5.6 Johnson Meadows 4.2 Jr Indian Creek 5.4 Bristow Trail 4.4 Staley Ridge 10.7 Coal Creek Way 5.8 Moon Lake Way Stale_y_ Rid_g_e 3.0 Pine Cr~ek Way 1.7 Star 2.3 Tufti Mountain 5.1 Holland Meadows 6.9 Calapooya Trail 31.0 Total 120.1 Except for Dead Horse, Moon Lake, Pine Creek, Star, and Tufti Mountain, the trails all accessed the Calapooya Divide. These mileage's are approximate and taken from a 1950 district map. Already, roading was in the process of reducing trail mileage by this date. By the mid 1970's, much of this trail mileage had been eliminated due to logging roads being placed over the top of or segmenting these old transportation routes. It should be pointed out that at one time these historic trails, with many of the trails being built "I during the CCC era of the 1930's, were the only facilities available to provide L access to much of the Watershed. After roads provided vehicle access to the ,~. same areas originally accessed by these trails, use dropped off considerably II since these trails did not provide a recreation experience except for hunting L. MFWDT Appendix E - 4 L and there was no real need to continue to maintain the remnants of these· ,- ... trails. 1 l In 1983 an environmental analysis was written to evaluate the trails management program and write a trail operation and maintenance plan. [ The environmental analysis reviewed existing trails and dropped the maintenance of many of these trails and recommended the construction of 68.5 miles of more recreationally oriented trails across the ranger district of [, which there were 22.5 miles of proposed trail within the Middle Fork Willamette Downstream Tributaries Watershed. The longest of these r proposed trails is the Middle Fork Trail. The Middle Fork Trail extends from L the south end of Hills Creek Lake to Timpanogas Lake and is nearly completed. The 10.2 miles of Middle Fork Trail within this Watershed has [. become a popular hiking, fishing, and mountain bike trail. TR9 - Although this Watershed contained some 89 miles of trail, (1 approximately one trail per drainage for access to high ridges and mountain peaks, the impact of sedimentation was not significant since most trail treads "' are usually less than two feet in width and did present a large base surface as compared to roads. A visual review of trail location and SRI maps most of C. the trails were not locate din the highly erosive soil types. TR11- From the early 1900's to the 1960's, trails were the primary 0 transportation system when the road system began to be developed in earnest. The trail network was the access to many of the higher elevation (, and essential in moving persons throughout the Watershed. This network provided access for administrative, public transportation, and recreational needs. Lands Land uses within the Watershed are varied. There have been numerous land exchanges within the past fifty years. One of the earliest exchanges involved 1,557.5 acres of land in the Packard Creek drainage. Pop~ & Talbot, Inc. exchanged lands along Lookout Point Lake for equivalent lands in Packard Creek. In the 1954 Booth-Kelly land exchange, the Willamette National Forest acquired 1,080 acres on the Rigdon District, of which 160 acres were located u at Moon Lake. A large land exchange in 1969 with Pope & Talbot, Inc. involved 10,450 acres. The Willamette National Forest was able to acquire scattered Pope & Talbot c sections along the Middle Fork Willamette River in exchange for two blocks [ of lands located in Packard and Larison Creeks and the Simpson Creek MFWDT Appendix E - 5 ,j drainage. This exchange allowed the consolidation of lands adjacent to the· 1. Middle Fork Willamette River and gave to the Forest Service management of .-:_.. the riparian areas. I t One of the final lands acquisition in this watershed was the 1989 settlement with Pope & Talbot, Inc. default on unlogged timber sales. Rather than make r a cash settlement, P & T decided to trade a portion of their lands in lieu of ,_\ cash. Although the acreage settlement amounted to 6,519.62 acres on the Rigdon Ranger District, only 120 acres were involved in the Middle Fork Willamette Downstream Tributaries Watershed. This 120 acres included bald eagle habitat that was felt.necessary to acquire for National Forest System lands management. A major commitment of lands for the City of Oakridge Liquid Waste Disposal r Area (sewage treatment plant and irrigation area) involves 13 acres I -~ southwest of the city. This area contains the sewage treatment plant for the City of Oakridge and an irrigation area where the treated liquid waste (sludge) is spread by irrigation sprinklers. The sludge does not contain ...... significant amounts of heavy metals and is not hazardous.