South Umpqua Headwaters Precontact Reference Conditions Study

Areas of Special Interest

Skookum Pond, evening, South Umpqua River, Douglas County, Oregon, April 20, 2010. (B. Zybach).

The following list of 25 bounded areas was compiled because of their special interest to the 2010 "Upper South Umpqua Headwaters Precontact Reference Study" project. The determinations were made following discussions among project principals that focused on the study’s research design, combined knowledge of the landscape, personal field observations, and detailed considerations of relevant historical documents, including: written and oral histories, aerial and terrestrial photographs, original land survey records, current and historical maps, and government reports.

The resulting “Areas of Special Interest” were then systematically selected, based primarily on geographical location, geological formation, cultural and historical significance, and vegetation type. Every effort was made to select a widely diverse group of locations that would best represent the entire study area (see "Note" below). The primary research purpose of these areas is to provide a practical means to sample and test key portions of the study in greater detail, so that findings might by generalized with some confidence over the entire landscape. In this manner, future aerial and terrestrial photographs, tree ring counts, direct field observations and measurements (e.g., Dubrasich 2010), timber cruises, tax maps, and other methods can be used to more closely examine these key locations for similar projections. The principal purpose of establishing these "reference conditions" is to provide measures of both desired and changing landscape conditions that can be refined over time for forest planning and management considerations. These may be most evident for management purposes related to wildfire mitigation, wildlife habitat creation and maintenace, economics, and recreational visitors. 

Icon	Name	TSP	RNG	SEC	Acres
	500 Road	31 S.	1 W.	05-06	257
	Abbott Butte	30 S.	2 E.	23	448
	Acker Ranch	29 S.	1 E.	27, 35	359
	Alder Flats	29 S.	1 E.	01-02	190
	Ash Valley	29 S.	1 E.	04, 08-09	597
	Bald Ridges	31 S.	1 E.	02, 10-11	877
	Beaver Lake	30 S.	1 W.	33-34	577
	Collins Ridge	30 S.	1 W.	02, 11	731
	Devils Knob	31 S.	1 W.	23	349
	Donegan Prairie	30 S.	2 E.	28, 33	600
	Fish Lake	29 S.	3 E.	05-06	285
	Five Lakes	28 S.	2 E.	20-21	547
	French Junction	27 S.	3 E.	32	450
	Grasshopper Complex	29 S.	3 E.	07, 18	458
	High Prairie	28 S.	3 E.	23	251
	Huckleberry Lake	31 S.	2 E.	05	436
	Pickett Butte	30 S.	1 W.	29	525
	Pup Prairie	29 S.	3 E.	20, 28	624
	Quartz Mountain	28 S.	1 E.	02-03	446
	Section 36	28 S.	1 W.	36	640
	Skookum Pond	29 S.	2 E.	33	184
	South Umpqua Falls	29 S.	1 E.	10-11	172
	Squaw Flat	30 S.	1 E.	10-11	756
	The Forks	30 S.	1 W.	18	347
	Whiskey Camp	30 S.	1 E.	31	436

Note: Because of the intended purpose of this study -- to assemble and document precontact land use and vegetation pattern reference conditions – particular attention has been placed on selecting special interest areas that might best represent precontact (“pre-1826”) conditions, or contain information by which such conditions might be more readily inferred or determined: such as relict plant populations (including old-growth trees and other persistent vegetation patterns) or archaeological remains. For that reason, selection bias was given to known and suspected seasonal Indian villages, campgrounds, and other primary precontact destinations; such as likely hunting, fishing, gathering, trading, and food growing and processing sites.

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