Assessment - Southern Oregon Digital Archives

“…To develop and test variations on established management practices including partial cutting, prescribed
burning, and low impact approaches to forest harvest (e.g. aerial systems) to provide for a broad range of
forest values, including late-successional forest and high quality riparian habitat” (BLM 1995: 36).
Much of the Williams Valley, which extends along the mainstem and East and West
Forks of Williams Creek, is zoned Rural Residential (RR-5), Exclusive Farm (EF), and
Farm Resource (FR). Agricultural enterprises such as hay production, plant nurseries, and
several organic seed crop and produce farms operate on the fertile floodplain. Small-scale
animal husbandry operations in the valley include beef and dairy cows, llamas, horses,
and an ostrich/emu farm. Thirteen percent of the watershed is classified as
grasslands/agricultural land (BLM 1996).
Rural Commercial land is allocated in a portion of the ‘downtown’ area of Williams.
Several businesses and rural service facilities comprise this commercial district. A (now
defunct) lumber mill and a light industrial manufacturing business occupy the two small
Rural Industrial sites.
Although no land is zoned specifically as Aggregate Resource, at least 25 gravel pits and
quarries are dotted across the valley. Ten of these sites are located on BLM land in
upslope areas; the others are operated privately, by Josephine County or by the Oregon
State Highway Department. Josephine County manages one 40+-acre gravel site within a
riparian area along Williams Creek.
Williams Creek Watershed Assessment 5