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design, combined knowledge of the landscape, personal field observations, and detailed considerations of relevant historical documents, including: written and oral histories, aerial and terrestrial photographs, original land survey records, current and historical maps, and government reports.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. 

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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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