Lowland Watersheds

Lowland Watershed

Lowland watersheds drain the rain on the glacial plateau to floodplains or Puget Sound

Salish Sea References

• Ecology Coastal Oblique Photography
• The Encyclopedia of Puget Sound provides a peer reviewed version of the wiki
• The Nearshore Map Portal
• Habitat Work Schedule Map
• PRISM Project Search
• Washington Coastal Atlas

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Lowland watersheds are located within the rain-fed glacial plateau surrounding the Salish Sea. Their streams flow into floodplains or into embayments along shorelines. They are different that headwaters in that precipitation falls as rain, and topography is defined by our glacial history, with many wetlands.

There have been limited attempts to classify lowland catchments into types, that could guide assessment and stewardship. However familiarity with multiple systems suggests some general forms. Most lowland watersheds include some sections where water flows among glacial troughs and swales, where the current stream is not responsible for the shape of the landform. In the lowlands, large areas of glacial plateau are typically a few hundred feet above sea level. Historically these areas likely supported extensive beaver wetlands, and stored a tremendous volume of winter rain. Such glacial plateau headwaters then descend to either a floodplain or shoreline through some kind of ravine. This plateau-ravine pattern may repeat several times in a system, and generally indicates the geologic youth of our post glacial landscape. Some larger basins have begun to develop a larger and more gently sloped floodplain valley near the lower reaches (for example Jimmycomelately Watershed) These are the large stream valleys, which are intermediary between the multitude of small streams, and the 16-20 large floodplain systems. In some cases, a stream is strongly associated with a large historical floodplain where agricultural development may have created more of a stream than was there historically (for example French Creek Watershed). It might be a useful project to clarify these systems, and better characterize their form and potential ecological functions and services. The Puget Sound Characterization Project does some of this work, but does not provide a multiple scale analysis.

Lowland Watershed Topics

The following topics are related to lowland watersheds:

• Fish passage barrier removal
• Riparian Buffers
• Channel migration zone
• Clean Water Act
• Wood in Streams
• Roads and Streams
• Benthic Index of Biological Integrity
• Stream Temperature and Salmon
• Watershed Planning
• Resources for Volunteer Urban Stream Restoration

Lowland Watershed Sites and Places

The following pages describe lowland watershed sites:

• Pilchuck River Watershed
• Woods Creek Watershed
• Port Townsend Ecosystem
• Snow-Salmon Watershed Ecosystem
• Terrell Creek Watershed
• Newaukum Creek Watershed
• Thomas Creek Watershed
• Fishtrap Creek Watershed
• Mission Creek Watershed
• French Slough Floodplain and Watershed
• Big Beef Watershed
• Salt Creek Watershed
• Pysht River Watershed
• Clallam River Watershed
• Hoko River Watershed
• Skookum Watershed
• Chambers Creek Watershed
• Goldsborough Creek Watershed
• Tahuya River Watershed
• Union River Watershed
• Chico Creek Watershed
• Jimmycomelately Watershed
• Filucy Bay Ecosystem
• Jim Creek Watershed
• Pilchuck Creek Watershed
• Sultan River Watershed
• Scatter Creek Watershed
• Green Cove Creek Watershed
• Decker Creek Watershed
• Indian-Moxlie Creek Watershed
• Quilceda Watershed
• Butler Cove Watershed
• Schneider Creek Watershed
• Bear Creek Watershed
• West Bay Watersheds
• Rendsland Creek Watershed
• Dewatto River Watershed
• Anderson Creek Watershed
• Seabeck Creek Watershed
• Big Beef Creek Watershed
• Tarboo Creek Watershed
• Shine Creek Watershed

Lowland Watershed Efforts

The following efforts are being implemented by workgroups in lowland watersheds:

• Snohomish Basin Forest Ecosystem Services Pilot Project
• Nisqually Watershed Ecosystem Service Transaction Pilot
• Thurston County Basin Assessment
• Woodard Creek Stormwater Retrofit Study
• Green River Stormwater Retrofit Estimate
• Riparian Restoration and Protection Initiative

Lowland Watershed Documents

The following pages cite documents about lowland watersheds:

• File:Breslow 2001 farmer perception of salmon recovery.pdf
• File:Savery & Hook 2003 habitat and chinook in pilchuck river.pdf
• File:Flint et al 2013 woods creek habitat.pdf
• File:Wright et al 2001 snohomish fecal coliform TMDL.pdf
• File:Haring 2002 snohomish wria 7 limiting factors for salmon.pdf
• Allan 2004 land use and stream ecosystems
• Hamlet et al 2001 climate change and water resources
• File:Benedict & Shaw 2012 shade benefits from hedgerow on ditched streams.pdf
• File:Roni et al 2013 DRAFT BPA columbia river restoration monitoring plan.pdf
• File:Knutson & Naef 1997 riparian management recommendations.pdf
• File:May 2003 riparian best available science puget lowland.pdf
• File:Cereghino 2015 working buffers info sheet.pdf
• File:Pollock et al 2015 beaver restoration guidebook.pdf
• Beechie et al 2010 process based restoration of rivers
• File:FCWMC 2004 french creek watershed management plan.pdf
• Stanley et al 2012 watershed assessment water model
• File:Cereghino 2015 coordinated investment snohomish framework.pdf
• File:Flint 2012 woods creek riparian action plan.pdf
• File:Johnson & Ryba 1992 king county recommendations for buffer width.pdf
• Carah et al 2014 low cost wood in streams
• Bowling & Lettenmaier 1997 forest road effects on streamflow
• File:Dupont 1935 how dynamite streamlines streams.pdf
• Montgomery 1999 process domains and river continuum
• Booth et al 2004
• File:Cereghino 2017 DRAFT riparian framework.pdf
• File:Lucchetta et al 2014 land use regulation and stream flow king county.pdf
• File:Stanley et al 2018 memo watershed characterization hydrologic condition index.pdf
• File:Quinn et al 2018 riparian science summary.pdf
• File:WDNR 2011 watershed assessment manual.pdf
• File:WFC 2007 schneider creek stream type.pdf
• File:King County 2018 bear creek watershed management study.pdf
• File:Ecology 2015 riparian restoration and protection initiative grant guidelines.pdf
• Fox & Bolton 2007 typical wood quantities in unmanaged streams
• File:Bentrup 2008 conservation buffer design guidelines.pdf

The following lowland watershed documents are uploaded to this wiki:

• Breslow 2001 farmer perception of salmon recovery.pdf
• Savery & Hook 2003 habitat and chinook in pilchuck river.pdf
• Flint et al 2013 woods creek habitat.pdf
• Wright et al 2001 snohomish fecal coliform TMDL.pdf
• Haring 2002 snohomish wria 7 limiting factors for salmon.pdf
• Benedict & Shaw 2012 shade benefits from hedgerow on ditched streams.pdf
• Roni et al 2013 DRAFT BPA columbia river restoration monitoring plan.pdf
• Knutson & Naef 1997 riparian management recommendations.pdf
• May 2003 riparian best available science puget lowland.pdf
• Cereghino 2015 working buffers info sheet.pdf
• Pollock et al 2015 beaver restoration guidebook.pdf
• FCWMC 2004 french creek watershed management plan.pdf
• Cereghino 2015 coordinated investment snohomish framework.pdf
• Flint 2012 woods creek riparian action plan.pdf
• Johnson & Ryba 1992 king county recommendations for buffer width.pdf
• Dupont 1935 how dynamite streamlines streams.pdf
• Cereghino 2017 DRAFT riparian framework.pdf
• Lucchetta et al 2014 land use regulation and stream flow king county.pdf
• Stanley et al 2018 memo watershed characterization hydrologic condition index.pdf
• Quinn et al 2018 riparian science summary.pdf
• WDNR 2011 watershed assessment manual.pdf
• WFC 2007 schneider creek stream type.pdf
• King County 2018 bear creek watershed management study.pdf
• Ecology 2015 riparian restoration and protection initiative grant guidelines.pdf
• Bentrup 2008 conservation buffer design guidelines.pdf