United States zz on-A.-A Sc~t.'s Department ' S~~s, -. i'-Va/ of Agriculture Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region . United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region 1999 ROGUE RIVER WATERSHED ANALYSIS MARIAL TO AGNESS ITERATION 1.0 I have read this analysis and find it meets the Standards and Guidelines for watershed analysis required by the Record of Decision for Amendments to Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Planning Documents Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl (USDA and USDI, 1994). Signed: /s/Michael Frazier Date: September 24, 1999 District Ranger Gold Beach Ranger District Siskiyou National Forest TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page Introduction 1 Key Findings 3 Aquatic Ecosystem Narrative 5 Riparian Ecosystem Narrative 31 Terrestrial Ecosystem Narrative 39 Social Aspects Narrative 57 Appendix A - Subwatersheds Appendix B - Maps References List of Preparers LIST OF TABLES Table Title Page Table 1 Land Ownership 1 Table 2 Management Areas 2 Table 3 Subwatersheds by US Geologic Service Hydrologic Unit Code 2 Table 4 Geologic Rock Types 6 Table 5 Rogue River Water Quality Limited Segments 14 Table 6 Water withdrawal Permits for Rogue River Tributaries Streams and 17 Springs Table 7 Timber Harvest and Roads by Watershed Analysis Areas 19 Table 8 7- Day Average Maximum Temperature 22 Table 9 Riparian Condition 37 Table 10 Distribution of Interior Late-Successional Forest Blocks within the 41 Rogue River (Marial to Agness) watershed. Table 11 Special Habitat Sites 42 Table 12 Habitat Trends for Selected Indicator Species 46 Table 13 Historic Elk Habitat (1940) 47 Table 14 Current Elk Habitat (1995) 47 Table 15 Road Closures 51 Table 16 Potential Candidates for Seasonal or Permanent Closure 52 Table 17 Roads List 73 Table 18 Roads Summary 73 INTRODUCTION The Rogue River Watershed Analysis, Marial to Agness, Iteration 1.0, was initiated to analyze the aquatic, terrestrial, and social resources of the watershed. The watershed analysis was completed by an interdisciplinary team using the six step process outlined in Ecosystem Analysis at the Watershed Scale (Version 2.2, August 1995). The analysis includes the entire defined portion of the watershed, but focuses more detail on National Forest land. This document has the following components: the aquatic ecosystem, the terrestrial ecosystem, and social aspects. The information gathered and analyzed will be used to guide future resource management, and ensure that Aquatic Conservation Strategy objectives and other Standards and Guidelines contained in the Record of Decision for Amendments to Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Planning Documents Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl (USDA and USDI, 1994) will be met on Federal lands. Rogue River Basin The Rogue River is the third largest river in Oregon, after the Columbia and the Willamette. It is one of three rivers that originate in the interior Cascade Range and flow westward to the ocean. From its source in the high Cascade Mountains in southwestern Oregon near Crater Lake National Park, the Rogue River flows over 200 miles before entering the Pacific Ocean near the town of Gold Beach, Oregon. The Rogue River Basin contains approximately 5,160 square miles, 97 percent in Oregon and 3 percent in California. Within Oregon, the basin includes nearly all of Jackson and Josephine Counties, a large part of Curry County, lesser portions of Klamath and Douglas Counties, and a small portion of Coos County. It also includes very small portions of Siskiyou and Del Norte Counties in northwest California. (See Vicinity Map and Site Map.) Rogue River Watershed, Marial to Agness (River Mile 48.5 to River Mile 27) This portion of the Rogue River watershed includes the Rogue River from the mouth of Mule Creek, but not including Mule Creek, to the mouth of the Illinois River, but not including the Illinois River. All streams entering the Rogue River between these two points and the land drained by those streams are included in this watershed analysis. (See Table 1 and Land Ownership Map). Table 1. Land Ownership Ownership Acres Percent USDA Forest Service 78,507 96 USDI Bureau of Land Management 872 1 State of Oregon 217 <1 Private 1,828 2 Total 81,424 100 Management Direction Direction for management of the National Forest land is provided by the Siskiyou Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP, USDA, 1989) as amended by the Record of Decision and Standards and Guidelines for Management of Habitat for Late-Successional and Old-Growth Forest Related species Within the Range of the Northern Spotted Owl (ROD, USDA and USDI, 1994). Management areas for National Forest lands within the Rogue River, Marial to Agness watershed, are listed in Table 2 and on the Management Areas Map. The definitions and management strategy for these areas can be found in the ROD and in the LRMP. The area addressed by the Rogue River, Marial to Agness Watershed Analysis includes the Shasta Costa Creek watershed which was designated as a Tier 1 Key Watershed in the ROD. Detailed information concerning this watershed may be found in the Shasta Costa Watershed Analysis (WA) completed in 1996. There are no other Key Watersheds within the Rogue River, Marial to Agness watershed. Other Watershed Analyses covering portions of this analysis area are Foster-Twomile Interim WA completed in 1996, and Stair Creek WA completed in 1999. The Foster-Twomile WA is incorporated in Appendix A – Subwatersheds, Shasta Costa and Stair Creek are included in overall data and watershed descriptions, but are not analyzed in detail in this document. Table 2. Management Areas Management Area Acres Percent Wilderness 25,185 32 Wild River 207 Botanical 409 Unique Interest 88 Supplemental Resource 3,895 5 Late-Successional Reserve 48,723 62 Total 78,507 The US Geologic Survey (USGS) divided the United States into hydrologic units codes (HUC) according to the river system the land drains into. The USGS assigned numbers to the first four 2-digit fields. This Watershed Analysis area lies within the Hydrologic Unit Code 17100310, defined as: Field 1 17 Pacific Northwest Region (primarily Oregon, Washington, and Idaho) Field 2 10 Oregon-Washington Coastal Field 3 03 Southern Oregon Coastal Field 4 10 Lower Rogue Other agencies have further divided these HUC watersheds into subwatersheds and smaller drainages. Agencies are moving toward a single set of boundaries and watershed numbers. At the time of this analysis, the subwatersheds included have different numbers assigned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Forest Service. Table 3. Subwatersheds FIELD 5 FIELD 6 FIELD 5 FIELD 6 EPA NAME STREAMS FIELD 7 EPA EPA USFS USFS USFS 05 23 USFS Wild Rogue 01 S Stair Creek Stair Creek all 02 U (portion Upper River Blossom Bar Creek 3 excluding Mule Burns Creek 4 Creek) Johnson Creek 1 Paradise Creek 2 unnamed streams 1,5 03 L Lower River Brushy Bar Creek 4 Clay Hill Creek 6 Dans Creek 1 East Creek 8-9 Fall Creek 5 Flora Dell Creek 3 Slide Creek 1 Tate Creek 7 Watson Creek 2 unnamed streams 1,4 06 22 Rogue-Illahe 01 F Foster Creek Foster Creek all 02 M Rogue-Illahe Billings Creek 8 Lone Tree Creek 8 Scott Creek 4 Slide Creek 5-7 Twomile Creek 3 Waters Creek 1,8 unnamed streams 03 S Shasta Costa Shasta Costa Creek all KEY FINDINGS The geomorphology of the Rogue River, Marial to Agness, watershed is controlled by complex geologic relationships between rock types and structures (faults, fractures and folds). Topography and erosion processes are directly related to these relationships. Large, (covering up to several thousand acres) naturally occurring slump/earthflows, and the debris slides associated with them, are the predominant sediment producers to the stream systems. Hillslope stability and riparian areas are recovering from management related disturbances from 1960 through 1980. This recovery plus the inherent resistance of the many bedrock controlled channels in the system, minimized the impacts of 1996 storm events. Intensive (clear-cut) logging appears to reduce the stability and increase the rate of movement on large, deep-seated slump/earthflows underlain by the Lookingglass Formation. Stream channel morphology and sediment transport and deposition processes are dominated by the large slump-earthflow features and debris slides in Billings, Foster, Twomile, Waters, Shasta Costa, and Snout Creeks. Sediment from these natural features is also responsible for periods of unseasonal turbidity in these streams. Stream temperatures are warmer than optimum for fish in many of the streams in this analysis area. Salmon and trout play an important role in the ecology, economy, politics, history and culture of natural and human systems in and near the watershed. The mainstem Rogue River between Marial and Agness is a major migration corridor for anadromous fish. It is a link between the coast range, inland valleys and southern Cascade Mountains. Few adults spawn in the mainstem, and redd success here is naturally very low. Powerful winter flows turn the gravels and destroy fish eggs. Shasta Costa and Foster Creeks are the only tributaries in the watershed with extensive low- gradient reaches capable of producing salmon and steelhead in abundance. Stair Creek is unique in that it provides extensive resident trout habitat. The numerous small, steep face tributaries to the Rogue River generally produce a small number of steelhead and cutthroat in their lowest reaches. They can be important slack-water refuges from high winter storm flows in the mainstem. They are important sources of cool water to the mainstem during the summer. The world's largest known population of the plant Leach's Brodiaea occurs in the Shasta Costa Creek watershed. The largest populations of Bolander's onion and bensonia in Oregon are found here, as well as the only known population of the moss subspecies Encalypta brevicolla var.