Biodiversity Guide - The Intertwine

egional conservation strategybiodiversity guideAppendix I Watershedsof riparian vegetation is a key contributor to highwater temperatures. Total maximum daily loadsfor these pollutants have not yet been established.Lacamas Creek below Round Lake has low dissolvedoxygen and high water temperature. In the1970s, Lacamas Lake had excessive phosphorousloading. The Lacamas Lake Restoration Projectassisted many landowners in adopting agriculturalbest management practices in order to correctthis problem. Even though specific areas of thesubbasin have excess nutrients, overall nutrientlevels are believed to be limited because of thelack of salmon carcasses. In the 1960s a papermill discharged sulfite-laden wastewater into theCamas Slough, but that water is now treated atLady’s Island facilities; sediments, though, maystill be polluted. Two salmon hatcheries, Skamaniaand Washougal, may release potentially harmfuleffluent containing antibiotics and pathogens.Elevated turbidity may be a problem in LittleWashougal, Jones, and Dougan creeks.As with other watersheds, the Washougalsubbasin has salmon issues. Historically, passagefor most anadromous fish (except steelhead) wasblocked at Salmon Falls until the 1950s, when afish ladder was built there. Anadromous fish currentlycan access a few miles upstream of SalmonFalls but are blocked at Dougan Falls, althoughsummer steelhead can negotiate the falls. Historically,the Washougal subbasin supported thousandsof fall Chinook, chum, coho, and summerand winter steelhead. Those numbers have beendrastically reduced, and today all of these speciesare listed under the federal Endangered SpeciesAct. A recovery plan was developed in 2010, theLower Columbia Salmon Recovery and Fish &Wildlife Subbasin Plan. The plan is the result of acollaborative planning initiative coordinated bythe Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board, with anumber of planning partners.Washington’s Comprehensive Wildlife ConservationStrategy identifies areas and actions tohelp sensitive habitats and wildlife species, andthe Department of Natural Resources identifiesseveral important natural areas in the Washougalsubbasin. The Green Mountain Biodiversity Areathat serves as a stronghold for black-tailed deerand an important remnant habitat located withinrapidly expanding development. Lacamas LakeBottoms provides key habitat for cavity-nestingducks and other waterfowl. The Camas BiodiversityArea includes mature timber that supportshigh numbers of Vaux’s swifts surrounding DeadLake. The headwater of North Fork LacamasCreek has abundant large snags more than 36inches in diameter. A large federally ownedarea—Camp Bonneville Military Reserve—liesalong the Lacamas Creek mainstem and the eastand north forks. The area is primarily naturalforest, although the mainstem Lacamas has arelatively narrow riparian area. Lacamas Prairiehas a rare population of Lomatium bradshawiiand is one of the region’s few remaining large wetprairies.The Washougal River riparian corridor supportshigh levels of biodiversity and is an importantwildlife movement corridor. Other corridorsinclude major streams throughout the subbasinand a BPA powerline corridor that extendshorizontally across the southern subbasin. BoylesCreek connects to the upper Washougal Riverwinter deer range to the east, just outside theboundary of the region.Spotted owls, bald eagles, and Larch Mountainsalamanders are all species of concern. Elk,deer, and goose populations in the watershed aredoing well, maintaining themselves via naturalproduction, and not imperiled at this time inthe Washougal River watershed. The Washougalsubbasin supports a diverse group of amphibiansand reptiles that includes the northwestern,long-toed, Cope’s, Pacific giant, and Cascadetorrent salamanders; tailed and Pacific tree frogsand western toad; northern alligator lizard; andrubber boa, ring-necked snake, and three speciesof garter snakes.Clark County and the Lower Columbia FishRecovery Board’s Lower Columbia Salmon Recoveryand Fish & Wildlife Subbasin Plan set generaland specific priorities for the Washougal subbasin.The recovery plan lists the most immediateThe majority of the watershed is privatelyowned forest that is steeply sloped and managedfor timber harvest. Commercial, industrial,urban, and agricultural land uses are generallylimited to the lower watershed, which includesthe cities of Washougal and Camas. The LacamasCreek drainage includes a substantial amount ofrural residential and agricultural land uses, aswell as the two cities. The westernmost portion ofthe Washougal subbasin lies within the expandingVancouver metropolitan area. Urbanizationis expected to increase in the subbasin, primarilythrough eastward expansion of the Vancouverurban region. In 2000 the human population was36,600, but the population is expected to increaseto 92,800 by 2020.Historically, the Washougal Basin was composedof 87 percent conifer forest and burnedforest, making it the third most heavily forestedbasin in the region. Oak and prairie or savannacovered about 4 percent and 5 percent, respectively.Today, the basin remains forested, with15 percent in agriculture and some urban areas(i.e., portions of Camas, Vancouver, and Washougal).Agriculture and urban cover consumedroughly equal portions of conifer forest, burnedforest, and oak. Although oak and prairie neverwere abundant historically, overall losses havebeen 95 percent and 99 percent, respectively.Past natural and human disturbances have hadsignificant impacts on fish and wildlife habitatconditions within the subbasin. The Yacolt Burn,forestry practices, dams, roads, mining, residentialand industrial development, water withdrawals,and industrial pollution from paper millshave all altered habitat conditions. Floodplainconnections have been lost along portions ofthe mainstem Washougal and its major tributaries,and aquatic and upland habitat in the lowerwatershed is fragmented. Nonetheless, the middleand upper portions of the watershed are wellforestedand provide water and fish and wildlifehabitat.Water quality issues are concentrated primarilyin the Lacamas watershed, with various streams303(d) listed for temperature, pH, dissolved oxy-priorities in this subbasin as protecting intact forestsin headwater basins, managing forest lands toprotect and restore watershed processes, managinggrowth and development to protect watershedprocesses and habitat conditions, restoring passageat culverts and other barriers, and restoringlowland floodplain function, riparian function,and stream habitat diversity. Restoration projects,partner information, and selected watershedplans are available at www.lowercolumbiasalmonrecovery.org.Clark County suggests the followingstream health strategies in the western part ofthe Washougal subbasin: conserve agriculturaland forest lands and promote healthy practices;implement development regulations to minimizeimpacts, particularly from clearing and grading;protect and restore stream channels and riparianforest in tributary streams; and minimize theimpact of surface and groundwater withdrawalsin tributary streams.Numerous agencies and organizations areactively involved in restoring the Washougal subbasin,including counties; water quality programs,such as those of the Washington Department ofEcology; and fish and wildlife habitat programs,such as those of the Washington Department ofFish and Wildlife, Clark Conservation District,Lower Columbia Fish Enhancement Group(LCFEG), tribes, landowners, Northwest PowerPlanning Council. The LCFEG partnership hasgen, and, to a lesser degree, fecal coliform. Lack includes approximately 300 acres of mature forest262 263