Lower Big Butte Watershed Analysis Table of Contents 1.0 CHARACTERIZATION of the WATERSHED ................................1 1.1 PHYSICAL ASPECT .................................................1 1.1.a Regional Setting ..............................................1 1.1.b Climate .....................................................1 1.1.c Topography ..................................................1 1.1.d Geology ....................................................1 1.1.e Soils ......................................................1 1.1.f Water Rights .................................................2 1.1.g Hydrology and Water Distribution ..................................2 1.2 TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEM ..........................................3 1.2.a Forest Vegetation .............................................3 1.2.b 15% Late-Successional Forest Lands ...............................3 1.2.c Special Status Plants ..........................................3 1.2.d Noxious Weeds ...............................................4 1.2.e Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) ........................4 1.2.f Wildlife .....................................................5 1.2.g Grazing ....................................................5 1.3 AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM ..............................................5 1.3.a Fish Passage Barriers ..........................................5 1.3.b Fisheries Distribution ...........................................5 1.4 RIPARIAN ECOSYSTEM ..............................................6 1.5 HUMAN/SOCIAL ECOSYSTEM .........................................6 1.5.a Fire .......................................................6 1.5.b People and the Land ...........................................7 2.0 ISSUES and KEY QUESTIONS ...........................................8 Issue: VEGETATION ................................................8 Issue: WILDLIFE ...................................................8 Issue: AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM ........................................9 Issue: RIPARIAN ECOSYSTEM ........................................9 Issue: SOILS .................................................... 10 Issue: FIRE ..................................................... 10 Issue: TRANSPORTATION ........................................... 11 Issue: GRAZING .................................................. 11 Issue: HUMAN USES ............................................. 11 3.0 DESCRIPTION of CURRENT CONDITIONS ............................... 12 3.1 FOREST HEALTH .................................................. 12 3.1.a Matrix ..................................................... 12 3.1.b Patches ................................................... 13 3.1.c Corridors ................................................... 14 3.1.d Poverty Flat ACEC ........................................... 14 3.2 SOIL ........................................................... 15 3.2.a Erosion Processes ........................................... 15 3.3 WILDLIFE ........................................................ 16 Lower Big Butte Watershed Analysis Table of Contents 3.3.a Threatened and Endangered Wildlife Species ......................... 16 3.3.b State and Bureau Sensitive Terrestrial Wildlife Species .................. 17 3.3.c Survey and Manage and Protection Buffer Wildlife Species ............... 18 3.3.d Other Wildlife Species ......................................... 19 3.3.e Special Wildlife Habitats ....................................... 19 3.4 AQUATIC ENVIRONMENT ............................................ 20 3.4.a Stream Channel ............................................. 20 3.4.b Water Quality ............................................... 21 3.4.c Flow Regime ................................................ 22 3.4.d Aquatic Wildlife and Habitat ..................................... 23 3.4.e Fish Species and Habitat ....................................... 25 3.5 RIPARIAN ECOSYSTEM ............................................. 29 3.5.a Lower Big Butte Field Inventories ................................. 30 3.5.b Riparian Reserve Network ....................................... 31 3.5.c Riparian Reserve Seral Development ............................... 32 3.5.d Roads Within Riparian Reserves .................................. 33 3.6 HUMAN ENVIRONMENT ............................................. 33 3.6.a Fire ...................................................... 33 3.6.b Transportation System ......................................... 34 3.6.c Grazing ................................................... 35 3.6.d Human Uses ................................................ 36 4.0 DESCRIPTION of REFERENCE CONDITIONS ............................ 37 4.1 VEGETATION ..................................................... 37 4.1.a Vegetation pattern ............................................ 38 4.1.b Insects and disease ........................................... 38 4.1.c Frost ..................................................... 38 4.1.d Pocket Gophers ............................................. 38 4.1.e Noxious Weeds .............................................. 38 4.2 WILDLIFE ........................................................ 39 4.2.a Threatened and Endangered Species .............................. 39 4.2.b Special Status Species ........................................ 39 4.2.c Survey and Manage and Protection Buffer Species ..................... 40 4.3 FISH ........................................................... 40 4.4 RIPARIAN ........................................................ 41 4.5 SOILS .......................................................... 41 4.6 FIRE ........................................................... 41 4.7 GRAZING ........................................................ 42 4.8 HUMAN USES .................................................... 42 4.8.a First Nation ................................................. 42 4.8.b Euro-Settlement ............................................. 43 5.0 SYNTHESIS and INTERPRETATION of INFORMATION ..................... 44 5.1 VEGETATION/ FOREST HEALTH ....................................... 44 5.1.a Insects and Disease .......................................... 45 5.1.b Frost ..................................................... 45 5.1.c Pocket Gophers ............................................. 45 Lower Big Butte Watershed Analysis Table of Contents 5.1.d Special Status Plants ......................................... 45 5.1.e Noxious Weeds .............................................. 46 5.2 WILDLIFE ....................................................... 46 5.2.a Threatened, Endangered and Sensitive Species ...................... 47 5.2.b Other Wildlife ............................................... 47 5.3 FISH ........................................................... 47 5.3.1 Stream Channel ............................................. 47 5.3.2 Stream Temperature .......................................... 48 5.3.3 Flows .................................................... 48 5.3.4 Sediment .................................................. 48 5.3.5 Fish ...................................................... 48 5.4 RIPARIAN ........................................................ 48 5.4.1 Timber Harvesting ............................................ 48 5.4.2 Development ................................................ 49 5.4.3 Ranches and Farming ......................................... 49 5.5 SOILS .......................................................... 49 5.6 FIRE ........................................................... 50 5.7 GRAZING ........................................................ 50 5.8 HUMAN USES ................................................... 51 5.8.a Roads .................................................... 51 5.8.b Modern Developments ......................................... 51 6.0 RECOMMENDATIONS ................................................. 52 6.1 VEGETATION ..................................................... 52 Stand and Forest Health ............................................. 52 Special Status Plants ............................................... 52 Noxious Weeds .................................................... 52 6.2 WILDLIFE ........................................................ 53 Big Game ........................................................ 53 Threatened and Endangered and Special Status Species ...................... 53 Native grass/oak woodland Habitats ..................................... 54 6.3 FISH ........................................................... 54 6.4 RIPARIAN ........................................................ 55 6.5 SOILS .......................................................... 57 6.6 FIRE ........................................................... 58 6.7 GRAZING ........................................................ 59 6.8 HUMAN USES .................................................... 59 Archeological ..................................................... 59 Present Day ...................................................... 60 MAPS APPENDICES A, B, C RIPARIAN DATABASE (web) REFERENCES LIST OF PREPARERS Lower Big Butte Watershed Analysis 1 1.0 CHARACTERIZATION of the WATERSHED The purpose of step 1 is to identify the dominant physical, biological, and human processes or features of the watershed that affect ecosystem functions or conditions. The relationship between these ecosystem elements and those occurring in the river