The Lewis River Hydroelectric Projects - PacifiCorp

Lewis River Interpretive & Education Plan
Cougar Creek
Cougar Creek and the surrounding forest lands are protected by the Cougar
Conservation Covenant, the result of PacifiCorp’s agreement to purchase 800
acres of Weyerhaeuser lands around this rich stream system and protect them
in perpetuity. The covenant includes a 500-foot buffer zone around the creek to
maintain the integrity of the riparian corridor, and protects virtually the entire
Cougar drainage. Even if the land is transferred from PacifiCorp to another
entity, the conservation easement remains.
Cougar Creek is a nexus of wildlife on upper Yale Lake. It is one of several Yale
Lake streams that, together, provide sufficient spawning habitat for the lake to
host a self-sustaining population of kokanee (Lake Merwin kokanee populations
are enhanced with hatchery fish but Yale Lake’s are not). It is also the only
known bull trout spawning stream on Yale Lake.
Major Tree and Shrub
Species of the Project Area
Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)
western red cedar (Thuja plicata)
western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla)
bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum)
red alder (Alnus rubra)
black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa)
vine maple (Acer circinatum)
western hazel (Corylus cornuata)
ocean spray (Holodiscus discolor)
red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa)
red-osier dogwood (Cornus sericea)
red huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium)
willow (Salix spp.)
Oregon crabapple (Malus fusca)
Major Invasive Plants
Being Monitored
Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius)
Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum)
tansy ragwort (Senecio jacobaea)
reed canary-grass (Phalaris arundinacea)
Himalayan blackberry (Rubus discolor)
Sea Reach Ltd • 146 NE yamhill Street • Sheridan, OR draft 3 • November 2008 • page 84