Assessment - Southern Oregon Digital Archives

HISTORICAL CONDITIONS
INTRODUCTION
Before modern humans laid foot in the Williams area, the landscape had somewhat of a
different appearance than it does now. The upper elevations in the watershed were forested
along narrow, steep side slopes of canyon streams. Ample vegetation shaded
winter snowpack, allowing it to melt slowly and keep more water in streams over the
drier summer months. Mid-elevation canyons drained into wide floodplains, and the
valley floor served as a floodplain for Williams Creek and its many tributaries. Willow
thickets lined much of the water’s edge in lower stream reaches, and wetlands covered
much of the low-lying areas. There were numerous beaver whose dam construction added
fine woody debris to the creek, created sloughs and backwaters, pools, and hiding cover
for fish. The more sinuous stream channels slowed the velocity of water and provided
ecological complexity to the aquatic systems of the area.
Williams Creek and its tributaries offered over 71 miles of prime habitat for native fish:
chinook and coho salmon, steelhead, rainbow and cutthroat trout, pacific lamprey,
suckers and sculpin. The riparian vegetation consisted of large fire-adapted conifer
species such as ponderosa pine and cedar. Cottonwood, maple, alders, and other
hardwoods provided shade and kept water temperatures cool. Nourished by ample water
and an adaptation to fire, these streamside trees matured to large proportions and upon
death, loaded the streams with large woody debris (BLM 1996).
Native Americans
The first humans were present in Southwest Oregon approximately 10,000 years ago.
The Williams Creek Watershed was frequented by the Dakubetede (Applegate
Athapascan) people who lived off the wealth of the land fishing, hunting, and gathering
native plants in a subsistence-based lifestyle. The multitude of wetlands that existed in
the valley probably provided them with much of their food: camas root, cattails, and other
aquatic flora and fauna. In upland areas, manzanita and madrone berries, hazel nuts,
tanoak acorns, tarweed, and sunflower seeds, as well as wild game provided important
food sources (Pullen 1996).
Williams Creek Watershed Assessment 27