LITTLE NORTH SANTIAM WATERSHED ANALYSIS Cascade Resource Area Salem District Bureau of Land Management 1717 Fabry Road, SE Salem, OR 97306 (503) 375-5646 Team Members John DePuy Team Leader John Barber Soils/Hydrology Jim England Wildlife Biology Floyd Freeman Silviculturalist Laura Graves Human Resources/Recreation Barbara Raible Forest Ecologist/Botany Dave Roberts Fish Biologist Anita Leach USFS Sam Caliva Fire Ecologist Randy Herrin Forester Fran Philipek Cultural Resource Specialist Bruce Ahrendt GIS Wayne Barney GIS John Davis USF&W Mark Koski GIS Robert Ryan GIS _________________________________________________________________ The analysis portion of this document was done in 1997. This is an iterative document and will be updated periodically as new information becomes available. The data in this document was the best available at the time the analysis was completed. Management opportunities for this watershed must be considered in light of the checkerboard land ownership patterns of the BLM administered lands and the legislative mandates of Forest Service and BLM administered lands. _________________________________________________________________ VERSION 1.0 December 1997 TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary.............................................................................................................. Ex. Sum.-1 Chapter 1 Introduction................................................................................................... 1-1 Scoping.......................................................................................................... 1-3 Management Direction - Land Use Allocations........................................... 1-3 Chapter 2 Characterization............................................................................................ 2-1 Chapter 3 Issues and Key Questions............................................................................. 3-1 Chapter 4 Historical Conditions................................................................................... 4-1 Geologic History.......................................................................................... 4-1 Disturbance Regimes and Ecological Effects.............................................. 4-2 Chapter 5 Current Conditions....................................................................................... 5-1 Terrestrial..................................................................................................... 5-1 Special Status/Special Attention Species .................................................... 5-13 Aquatic......................................................................................................... 5-25 Human Uses................................................................................................. 5-49 Chapter 6 Future Conditions and Trends...................................................................... 6-1 Terrestrial...................................................................................................... 6-2 Special Status/Special Attention Species ..................................................... 6-7 Aquatic.......................................................................................................... 6-10 Human Uses................................................................................................. 6-17 Chapter 7 Findings and Management Recommendations............................................. 7-1 Terrestrial & SSSA.......................................................................................... 7-1 Findings................................................................................................7-1 Recommendations................................................................................ 7-4 Aquatic & SSSA................................................................................................7-7 Findings.................................................................................................7-7 Recommendations.................................................................................7-9 Human Condition..............................................................................................7-10 Findings.................................................................................................7-10 Recommendations.................................................................................7-12 Chapter 8 Data Gaps. Limitation, & Monitoring Needs....................................................8-1 i Appendices A. Acronyms.....................................................................................A-1 B. Public Scoping.............................................................................B-1 C. Terrestrial.....................................................................................C-1 C.1 Soils.............................................................................................C-1 C.2 Density Stand Management Tables and Total Acres Available for Treatment.....................................................................................C-6 D. SSSA ...........................................................................................D-1 D.1 SS Plants Searched For In the LNS WAA...................................D-1 D.2 Survey and Manage Species Known to Occur in the Cascade Resource Area..............................................................................D-7 D.3 Noxious Weeds to Search for in the LNS WAA......................D-10. D.4 Plant Species List for the LNS WAA.......................................D-12 D.5 Lichens Found on Opal Creek Field Outing by Oregon State University Lichen /Bryophyte Study Group.............................D-19 D.6 Vertebrate Wildlife Species List - LNS....................................D-22 D.7 SSSA Wildlife Species Know or Suspected - LNS WAA........D-31 D.8 Invertebrate Species - LNS........................................................D-35 E. Aquatic.......................................................................................E-1 E.1 ECA Values for LNS WAA by SWB and Precipitation Zones.E-1 E.2 Statistical Summary of Significant Differences in Water Quality Between Stations........................................................................E-4 E.3 Summary of Habitat Parameters in the LNS WAA...................E-10 E.4 ODF &W Benchmarks of Stream Habitat Parameters for “Desirable” and “Undesirable” Conditions...............................E-12 F. Human Resource Components...................................................F-1 F.1 Summary of Recorded Cultural Sites in the LNS WAA............F-1 F.2 Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS)..................................F-10 G. LNS WAA Bibliography and Resources...................................G-1 H. GIS Maps ii Figure 1. Federal Land Use Allocation..........................................................................Ch.1-5 Figure 2. Land Use Allocations (federal lands - Riparian Reserves acres included in each allocation).......................................................................................................Ch.1-7 Figure 3. Ownership Percentages in the LNS Watershed..............................................Ch.2-6 Figure 4. Comparison of Mean Fire Rotation Intervals by Elevation............................Ch.4-6 Figure 5. Comparison of Mean Fire Rotation Intervals by Aspect................................Ch.4-7 Figure 6. Plant Association Series..................................................................................Ch.5-5 Figure 7. Seral Stage for Federal Ownership.................................................................Ch.5-7 Figure 8. Seral Stage for Other Ownerships...................................................................Ch.5-7 Figure 9. Seral Stage for All Lands................................................................................Ch.5-8 Figure 10. River Profile in Feet Above Sea Level.........................................................Ch.5-27 Figure 11. Stream Density by Sub-Watershed...............................................................Ch.5-28 Figure 12. Precipitation and Discharge..........................................................................Ch.5-29 Figure 13. Exceedance and Non-Exceedance Flows......................................................Ch.5-30 Figure 14. Residual Mass Curves...................................................................................Ch.5-31 Figure 15. Sum of Runoff to Precipitation.....................................................................Ch.5-32 Figure 16. 1961 Little North Santiam Stream Hydrograph............................................Ch.5-33 Figure 17. 1995 Little North Santiam Stream Hydrograph............................................Ch.5-33 Figure 18. 1995 Seven-Day Maximum Average Water Temperature............................Ch.5-38 Figure 19. 1996 Seven-Day Maximum Average Water Temperature............................Ch.5-38 Figure 20. Equivalent Clearcut Acres (in percentage)...................................................Ch.5-43 Figure 21. Water Available for Runoff..........................................................................Ch.5-44 Figure 22. Percent Older Forests in Eastern and Western LNS.......................................Ch.6-4 Figure 23. Percent Older Forests in Western LNS by Sub-Watershed Basins.................Ch.6-5 Figure 24. Estimated Future Equivalent Clearcut Acres, Western Sub-Watersheds......Ch.6-11 Figure 25. Eastern