scatter creek watershed
in Southern Thurston County. Scatter Creek is an intermittent stream, and flow is discontinuous in the summer and fall months. Headwaters drain from gentle hills in Forestry, but much of the watershed is covered with excessively drained gravel soils from glacial outwash, historically covered by Prairie and Oak Woodlands. Land Use changes and Groundwater pumping have altered the hydrology of Scatter Creek. Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation fished for lamprey and salmon in Scatter Creek. The prairies surrounding Scatter Creek were cultivated for camas, berries, and other important medicinal and nutritional foods, using controlled burns to sustain the plant diversity that the prairies provide. Historically Scatter Creek was home to abundant runs of lamprey and various salmonids, with historical records depicting year-round flows and ample groundwater springs. Beaver likely had a strong historical influence on the geomorphology and hydrology of the stream. Scatter creek is now primarily a Coho Salmon stream with spawning and rearing throughout the watershed. Steelhead use the bottom of the system near where it enters the Chehalis River (at river mile 55.2). The main habitat limiting factors include stream flow losses/disconnected flows, warm water temperatures/lack of cold water refugia, and fragmented riparian areas. An intense strategic planning process was initiated as part of the Aquatic Species Restoration Program with funding from the Office of the Chehalis Basin
Relationships
- related to: nooksack watershed
- related to: prairie and oak woodlands
- related to: snohomish conservation district
- related to: Chehalis Basin
- related to: Deschutes Estuary
- related to: Lower Skykomish Floodplain
- related to: Lower Snohomish River Floodplain
- related to: Lower Stillaguamish Floodplain
- related to: Northwest Olympia Watersheds
- related to: Quilceda Watershed
- related to: South Whidbey Island
- related to: The Marshlands
- related to: West Bay Watersheds
- related to: black river
- related to: scatter creek
- related to: City of Bellingham
- related to: Community Farm Land Trust
- related to: Creekside Conservancy
- related to: Scatter Creek Sub-committee
- related to: Thurston County
- related to: French Slough Drainage Management
- related to: Green River Stormwater Retrofit Estimate
- related to: Scatter Creek Local Strategy Plan
- related to: Sno-Stilly Riparian Zone Management Strategy
- related to: Snohomish Agricultural Resilience