The Trask River Watershed

The Trask River is one of five rivers in the Tillamook Basin draining to Tillamook Bay. The Trask Watershed encompasses approximately 175 square miles or 112,162 acres and is located primarily within Tillamook County, with small portions in Washington and Yamhill counties. Mean Annual Precipitation is 88.58 inches. The Trask River runs approximately east to west with steep, mountainous terrain rising to a height of 3,442 feet. The eastern 85% of the watershed is vegetated with coniferous forest and characterized by moderate- to steep-gradient streams and narrow valley floors with moderate to steep hillslopes. Approximately 3% of the watershed is characterized by low-gradient, medium to large streams bordered by flat ot steep slopes. The remaining 11% of the area is characterized by very low gradient, meandering streams, at times under tidal influence, and bordered by mostly flat floodplains dominated by dairy farming and urban development. Major Tributaries: Dougherty Slough Hoquarten Slough Holden Creek Mill Creek Gold Creek South Fork Edwards Creek East Fork of South Fork Bark Shanty Creek Clear Creek North Fork of North Fork Middle Fork of North Fork Cruiser Creek Elkhorn Creek Barney Reservoir, located in the Middle Fork of the North Fork subwatershed is the primary municipal water supply for the Willamette Valley cities of Beaverton, Hillsborough, and Forest Grove. The human population of the watershed is concentrated around the city of Tillamook, within the Lower Trask River. Remaining population presence consists of scattered farm residences and sparse settlement of lower and middle reaches of the mainstem. Most of the watershed is utilized for forest use (97%), with agricultural us as the next largest at 6%. The remaining 3% is a combination of urban use, rural residential and miscellaneous uses. Fish Species Present include Chinook Salmon (spring/fall runs) Coho Salmon Chum Salmon Steelhead (summer/winter runs) Cutthroat Trout (resident/sea-run) Lamprey (brook/pacific) ODFW stocks fall and spring chinook, coho and rainbow trout in the watershed out of their Trask Hatchery, located on Gold Creek. Past stocking programs existed for winter and summer steelhead, cutthroat trout and largemouth bass.- Other native fish species present include sculpin spp. and stickleback. Adult sturgeon are occassionally found in tidewater reaches. Some other aquatic Species of Concern include the northern red-legged frog, Columbia torrent salamander and the tailed frog. Key habitat for these at-risk species is found wihtin the Trask watershed. Core areas of choho habitat are located in the North Fork, South Fork, and East Fork subwatersheds. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has designated Elkhorn Creek (North Fork Trask) as a Key Watershed for the conservation of at-risk anadromous salmonids and resident fish species. Issues affecting watershed health include: 1)channelization of lowland reaches through extensive channel modifications; 2)man-made passage barriers; 3)disconnection of river from floodplains and wetlands; 4)high rates of erosion and sedimentation due to road-related mass wasting, runoff and bank erosion; 5)reduction in amounts of retention and natural recruitment of large wood to stream channels and surrounding riparian and floodplains. Water Quality Water Quality in the watershed is affected by location within the watershed. Upland water quality issues revolve around water temperature, mainly in mainstem reaches and turbidity levels, affected by erosion. In the lowlands, fecal coliform bacteria (FCB), water temperature, and dissolved oxygen (DO) are issues of main concern. The Trask River contributes proportionally more water pollution loading (bacteria, sediment, nitrogen) to Tillamook Bay than any of the other rivers in the basin. Vegetation in the watershed has changed greatly since pre-settlement. Historically, vegetation included a large amount of late-successional forest, with priairies, swamps, marshes and tidally-influenced forest in the lowlands. Uplands were mostly a mis of western hemlock, western red cedar, douglas fir, grand fir, noble fir and sitka spruce. Since then land has been cleared and harvested, wetlands drained and pastures created. A series of fires since the 1930's burned much of the remaining forest. The majority of the forested uplands have been replanted with douglas fir for timber production. The forest is currently dominated by closed canopy, even-aged conifer and hardwood stands between 25 and 47 years old. A few areas of late-successional forest remains at the northwestern edge and some mixed conifer stands are scattered throughout. The lowlands are mostly used for pasture with rurual residential and urban areas. - Riparian conditions vary with land use. The tidal mainstem is in poor condition, laking riparian habitat with dominant vegetation consisting of blackberries and non-native grasses. Riparian areas which do exist are scattered and narrow and contain a mixture of brush and young hardwoods. Forested areas contain continuous riparian vegetation consisting of dense mature and young hardwoods. The upper watershed areas contain a varied mixture of mature conifer and hardwood stands and young dense hardwood stands. Stream shade is a limiting factor in some reaches, especially throughout the lower and middle mainstem reaches, with resulting summer mainstem temperatures often exceeding standards.