Newaukum Creek Basin Characterization Project Report
July 2007

About this Report

Newaukum Creek plays a vital role in supporting the productivity of threatened fish species and also supports biological production in the Green River by contributing water, sediments, organic matter, food energy, and nutrients. In addition to its ecological value, the Newaukum Creek basin supports important rural and urban economies and communities that rely on agriculture and forestry. Sustaining and improving the biological productivity of the Newaukum Creek basin in this growing community requires an understanding of the basin as a system.

This technical report characterizes historic and present conditions, identifies ecological alterations and knowledge gaps, and anticipates future changes in the Newaukum Creek basin. The report is intended as a reference document to inform basin management objectives and the planning and implementation of fish and wildlife habitat restoration projects by landowners, private sector organizations, nonprofits, and agencies, within the context of regional plans for habitat restoration as well as salmon recovery.

Authors: Latterell, J; J. Vanderhoof, J. Burkey, J. Bethel, K. Johnson (King County, DNRP, Water and Land Resources Division)

Pages: 222

Funding: King Conservation District, WRIA 9 Forum of Local Governments, US Army Corps of Engineers, King County

Viewing the Report

This report is provided in Adobe PDF format. You will need Adobe Acrobat to view the document. If you do not have this software, you can download a free copy of Adobe© Acrobat© Reader

Download the Report

Due to the size of the report, it has been broken down by section for faster downloading.

Cover, Table of Contents, and Executive Summary (1 MB)

Chapters 1 - 3 (141 KB)

Chapters 4 -7 (2.2 MB)

Chapters 8 - 10 (258 KB)

References and Appendix A - Hydrology (127 KB)

Appendix B - Historical Photo Comparisons (4.1 MB)

Appendix C - Water Quality Monitoring (57 KB)

Appendix D - Landcover for Wildlife and Forest Characterization (56 KB)

Appendix E - Wildlife Lists (82 KB)

Appendix F - Final Preliminary Assessment Screening for Newaukum Creek Habitat Restoration (1.2 MB)

List of Figures (Additional figures are located in main document)

Figure 1. Map of Newaukum Creek basin

Figure 2. Stream courses and sub-watersheds

Figure 5. Map of average annual precipitation

Figure 6. Map of basin geology

Figure 7. Map of glacially sculpted bedrock knobs near Boise Ridge

Figure 8. Map of drumlins on Plateau

Figure 9. Map of basin topography

Figure 10. Map of alluvial fan on the North Fork of Newaukum Creek

Figure 11. Map of landslide topography in the Ravine

Figure 12. Map of land use designations

Figure 23. Map of current wetlands

Figure 24. Map of historic wetlands indicated by General Land Office maps

Figure 26. Map of impervious surfaces

Figure 28. Map of change in 10-year flood frequency in current and ‘future’ landcover scenarios

Figure 30. Map of difference between current and historic high pulse range

Figure 31. Map of water quality sampling stations

Figure 37. Map of special status lands

Figure 41. Map of biotic integrity scores at sampling stations

Figure 42. Map of probability of fish presence in streams of the Upper Basin

Figure 44. Map of forest types

Figure A1. Map of surficial geology for hydrological analyses

Figure A2. Map of slope distributions

Figure A3. Map of ‘current’ and ‘future’ landcover.

Figure D1. Map of landcover for wildlife and forest characterizations.

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Department of Natural Resources and Parks
Water and Land Resources Division

Updated: Jul. 17, 2007