Fish Conservation on Roaring Springs Ranch

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Doug Young and Ron Rhew

Endangered Species Bulletin September/October 1999

Redband Trout Habitat in Home Creek

The numerous streams flowing from Steens Mountain of southeastern Oregon into the surrounding valleys provide habitat for threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki henshawi); other species petitioned for listing, such as the Catlow and Harney Basin redband trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss sspp.); and numerous sensitive species, such as the Catlow tui chub (Gila bicolor ssp.), mountain whitefish (Prosopium williamsoni), northern pikeminnow (Ptychocheilus oregonensis), and Malheur mottled sculpin (Cottus bairdii ssp.). In addition, private and public land management activities in the Steens Mountain area affect other species of concern, such as the sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) and Columbian spotted frog (Rana luteiventris). One of the surrounding valleys, the Catlow Valley, lies west of Steens Mountain and east of Hart Mountain, and supports two sensitive fish species, the Catlow tui chub and the Catlow Valley redband trout.

Catlow Valley also is home to the approximately 300,000-acre (120,000-hectare) Roaring Springs Ranch. In August 1997, representatives of the ranch, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) agreed on a Catlow Redband Trout and Catlow Tui Chub Conservation Strategy. Their strategy was to cooperate on approaches to balancing viable ranch operations and multiple-use management of Federal lands with the conservation needs of the trout and tui chub. The agreement identified the major threats facing the Catlow redband trout and tui chub, developed specific actions to address those threats, identified the parties responsible for implementing corrective actions, developed a time frame for implementation, and designed monitoring efforts to track success. The goal of the participants is to increase the species' numbers and restore the species to at least 80 percent of their historic habitats. Significant threats will be reduced or eliminated through improvements in riparian and instream habitats.

During 1998, Roaring Springs Ranch was allowed to graze private pastures, BLM lands, and parts of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in order to provide rest from livestock grazing to almost all of the public and private stream miles addressed by the agreement. The ranch and BLM attempted to either exclude livestock from Catlow Valley redband trout streams or use those stream reaches very early in the grazing rotation. Significant riparian habitat recovery was recorded, but some problem areas remained. In 1999, the ranch completely rested all of the stream miles addressed by the agreement. Ranch and BLM management activities, extensive fencing, and off-channel watering sources significantly enhanced Catlow Valley stream habitats.

The agreement has promoted numerous other conservation activities. To reduce erosion and sediment problems, the ranch rerouted its access road out of the bottom of the upper Skull Creek drainage, an occupied redband trout stream. BLM and ranch personnel also improved livestock watering sources in pastures away from sensitive riparian areas in a number of stream drainages. In addition, they are coordinating on a large-scale prescribed fire management program that includes the reseeding of hills and river terraces and the construction of fences for post-fire rest from grazing. Last year, the BLM further protected riparian areas in Catlow Valley by rounding up some of the wild horses.

Roaring Springs Ranch and the ODFW installed an innovative fish screen on lower Threemile Creek that has low construction and maintenance costs. The screen allows continuous water diversions for ranch irrigation, while reestablishing redband trout passage from Threemile Reservoir into spawning habitats in Threemile Creek and reducing entrainment of redband trout into the ranch's irrigation system. Personnel from the ranch and Malheur National Wildlife Refuge then fenced off Threemile Creek where it crosses pastures between the new fish screen and Threemile Reservoir to protect the riparian zone.

In 1995, ODFW biologists began extensive fish surveys throughout the Catlow Valley basin. The study results provide a baseline with which to track recovery progress, as directed by the agreement. Later, in 1998, the ranch began deepening Threemile Reservoir in an effort to provide deeper, cooler water for improved Catlow redband trout habitat. Other habitat management includes reducing juniper, restoring aspen stands, and improving upland vegetation in the upper watersheds. These activities will increase streamflow for redband trout, improve wildlife habitat, and increase livestock and wildlife forage.

Also in 1998, a team of representatives from the FWS, the ranch (which also supplied its helicopter), and the BLM assessed riparian conditions on redband trout streams throughout the ranch's grazing allotment on public and private land. In 1998, ranch personnel worked with Oregon State University and Malheur National Wildlife Refuge biologists to establish water quality monitoring stations and photo point monitoring sites in upper Home and Skull creeks. The ranch, with technical assistance from the other partners, has developed a habitat restoration project for Skull Creek Meadows that will also begin to address redband trout passage needs betweeen upper Skull Creek and Skull Creek Reservoir.

Because the Catlow redband trout and Catlow tui chub occupy interspersed private and public lands, these species cannot be restored without private and public landowners working together. Roaring Springs Ranch and the other cooperators believe that fish conservation in the Catlow Valley is best accomplished through coordinated efforts like those being implemented under the agreement. After only two field seasons, the team has noted some habitat improvements, and its members are confident that the fish and their ecosystems will continue to recover.

Doug Young is a Fish and Wildlife Biologist at the FWS Central Oregon Field Office in Bend, Oregon. Ron Rhew is a Fish and Wildlife Biologist at the FWS Oregon State Fish and Wildlife Office in Portland, Oregon.