Lostine River Watershed Assessment

Identification Information

Citation

Originator: USDA Forest Service, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, Eagle Cap Ranger District

Publish Date: September 1997

Online Link: None

BPA Project #:

Contact Information

Agency: Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board

Name: Ashley Seim

Job Position: Web Specialist

Telephone: 503-986-0186

E-Mail Address: ashley.seim@state.or.us

Description

Abstract: The Lostine River originates in the heart ofthe Eagle Cap Wilderness in the Wallowa Mountains, flowing northward through the USFS-managed wilderness and associated recreation area for about 171/ 2 miles, then through mostly private agricultural lands for the final 14 miles to its confluence with the Wallowa River. Mountain snowmelt produces high river flows through spring and early summer. Flows typically decrease in July to much lower levels during the August-March period. The Lostine River hosts three species offish listed under the ESA, Spring Chinook, Steelhead, and Bull Trout, as well as a variety of other fish species. The river also provides essential irrigation water for adjacent farmlands via a number of water diversions in its final 10 miles, many of which service water rights established by early-settler use beginning as early as the 1880s. Use of water for irrigation typically peaks in July with decreased, but 'still significant, use in the August-September period. Due to the diminished river flow in late summer and early fall, the concurrent needs for irrigation water and for instream flows for fish frequently exceed the available flows in August and September. This deficiency of water, along with other aspects of degraded fish habitat, has motivated a number of monitoring efforts and habitat studies pertaining to the impact of human activities on the Lostine River. These include monitoring of river flow rates at three gauging stations in the final 10+ miles of river(USGS,1),monitoring of irrigation flows (Dyke, 2), measurements of water quality(Menton, 3), studies of the impact oflow river flows on fish passage and habitat (R2, 4), engineering studies of candidate diversion structures and channel modifications (HARZA, 5), and a stream habitat survey of the lower river (ODFW, 6 and 16). In addition, the USFS has performed a variety of studies of the upper river, including a watershed analysis (USFS, 7), a stream habitat survey of the upper river (USFS, 8), as well as ESA Section 7 assessments of various USFS activities (USFS, 9).

Purpose: The basic purposes ofthis watershed assessment are to acquire and organize data from the many diverse sources indicated above, so as to provide a readily accessible information source to help identify and characterize features and processes in the Lostine watershed that govern fish habitat and water quality, and to better understand the cumulative effects of historical and current human activities and land-management practices in the watershed.

Time Period of Content:

Geographic Extent: Lostine River Watershed, Eagle Cap Wilderness, Grande Ronde Basin

Status: Final

Use Constraints:

Format: PDF

Data Quality Information

Lineage-Source:

Data Information

No data information was supplied.

Entity and Attribute Information

Attributes Description: Field attribute information is available in the database table field descriptions.

Is a physical copy maintained for reference at Headquarters? Unknown