The Chetco River is a stream located in the southwestern portion of the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
. It
drains approximately of
Curry County. Flowing through a rugged and isolated coastal region, it descends rapidly from about to sea level at the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...
. Except for the lowermost , the river is located entirely within the
Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest
A rogue is a person or entity that flouts accepted norms of behavior.
Rogue or rogues may also refer to:
Companies
* Rogue Ales, a microbrewery in Newport, Oregon
* Rogue Arts, a film production company
* Rogue Entertainment, a software com ...
. The river rises in the
Kalmiopsis Wilderness
Kalmiopsis Wilderness is a wilderness area in the Klamath Mountains of southwestern Oregon, within the Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest. It was designated wilderness by the United States Congress in 1964 and now comprises a total of . , northwest of
Chetco Peak at the junction of the
Oregon Coast Range
The Oregon Coast Range, often called simply the Coast Range and sometimes the Pacific Coast Range, is a mountain range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, in the U.S. state of Oregon along the Pacific Ocean. This north-south ru ...
and the
Klamath Mountains
The Klamath Mountains are a rugged and lightly populated mountain range in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the western United States. As a mountain system within both the greater Pacific Coast Ranges and the California Coast ...
. It flows generally north, west, and then southwest, before emptying into the ocean between
Brookings and
Harbor
A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...
, approximately north of the
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
state line. The Chetco River's watershed remains largely undeveloped, protected by the Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest and the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. The upper of the river have been designated
Wild and Scenic
The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-542), enacted by the U.S. Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free- ...
since 1988.
Native Americans have lived in the Chetco River's watershed for the last one to three thousand years. Several explorers, including Sir
Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 ...
,
George Vancouver
Captain George Vancouver (22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a British Royal Navy officer best known for his 1791–1795 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of what are ...
, and
Jedediah Smith
Jedediah Strong Smith (January 6, 1799 – May 27, 1831) was an American clerk, transcontinental pioneer, frontiersman, hunter, trapper, author, cartographer, mountain man and explorer of the Rocky Mountains, the Western United States, an ...
, visited the region between the 16th and 19th centuries, and found the
Chetco people
The Chetco ( Chetco: chit-dee-ni, chit-dee-ne or Chit-dv-ne' ) are a tribe of Native Americans who originally lived along the lower Chetco River and Winchuck River in Curry County in the U.S. state of Oregon. The name Chetco comes from the word ...
inhabiting the area. Non-
indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
settlers arrived soon after gold and other
precious metal
Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high economic value.
Chemically, the precious metals tend to be less reactive than most elements (see noble metal). They are usually ductile and have a high lu ...
s were discovered in the 1840s and 1850s. The town of Brookings was founded in the early 20th century, and
incorporated in 1951. Fourteen thousand residents of Brookings and Harbor rely on the Chetco for drinking water.
Supporting a large population of
salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus '' Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Onco ...
and
trout
Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...
, the Chetco's water is of very high quality. The watershed is home to many other species, including several that are
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
to the
Siskiyou Mountains
The Siskiyou Mountains are a coastal subrange of the Klamath Mountains, and located in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the United States. They extend in an arc for approximately from east of Crescent City, California, nort ...
area. The northernmost grove of
Redwoods
Sequoioideae, popularly known as redwoods, is a subfamily of coniferous trees within the family Cupressaceae. It includes the largest and tallest trees in the world.
Description
The three redwood subfamily genera are '' Sequoia'' from coasta ...
—the
tallest trees on Earth—grow in the southern region of the Chetco's drainage basin. In total, the river is home to over 200 species of animals, and 97 percent of the watershed is forested.
Course
The Chetco River begins about east of Chetco Peak, approximately above sea level. It flows north, gathering small tributaries such as the
Little Chetco River and Babyfoot Creek. The river turns west near the
Pearsoll Peak, the highest point in the watershed. It receives Box Canyon Creek on the
left bank
In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography, as follows.
In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terra ...
, Tincup Creek on the
right bank
In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography, as follows.
In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrai ...
, and Boulder Creek on the left. It then flows south, gathering the South Fork Chetco River. A few miles farther south, the river passes through a
Redwood
Sequoioideae, popularly known as redwoods, is a subfamily of coniferous trees within the family Cupressaceae. It includes the largest and tallest trees in the world.
Description
The three redwood subfamily genera are '' Sequoia'' from coasta ...
grove. It flows between
Bosley Butte to the north and
Mount Emily
Mount Emily ( Tolowa: en-may ) is a mountain in the Klamath Mountains of southwestern Oregon in the United States. It is located in southern Curry County in the extreme southwest corner of the state, near Brookings, approximately from the Pacif ...
to the south; the latter is the impact site of one of only four bombs known to have been dropped in the continental United States by an enemy aircraft. This occurred during the
Lookout Air Raids
The Lookout Air Raids were minor but historic Japanese air raids that occurred in the mountains of Oregon, several miles outside Brookings during World War II.
On September 9, 1942, a Japanese Yokosuka E14Y ''Glen'' floatplane, launched ...
of 1942.
Turning southwest, the river flows through
Alfred A. Loeb State Park and collects the North Fork Chetco River on the right at
river mile
A river mile is a measure of distance in miles along a river from its mouth. River mile numbers begin at zero and increase further upstream. The corresponding metric unit using kilometers is the river kilometer. They are analogous to vehicle ro ...
(RM) 5 (or river kilometer (RK) 8). The Chetco becomes an
estuary
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...
about from its mouth. It passes through the communities of Brookings to the north and Harbor to the south, and discharges into the Pacific Ocean.
Discharge
The
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
monitors the flow of the Chetco River at a
stream gauge
A stream gauge, streamgage or stream gauging station is a location used by hydrologists or environmental scientists to monitor and test terrestrial bodies of water. Hydrometric measurements of water level surface elevation (" stage") and/or vo ...
at RM 10.7 (RK 17.2), which is northeast of Brookings. It opened in 1969, and continues to operate. The average flow was from a drainage area of , about 77 percent of the Chetco's total drainage basin. The maximum recorded flow was on December 22, 1964, during the
Pacific Northwest flood of 1964. The minimum flow was on October 14, 1987.
Watershed
![Chetco River](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Chetco_River.jpg)
The Chetco River drains of the southern
Oregon Coast
The Oregon Coast is a coastal region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to its west and the Oregon Coast Range to the east, and stretches approximately from the California state border in the south to the Colum ...
. About 78 percent is owned by the
United States Forest Service
The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Nationa ...
, and another 5 percent is owned by the
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's ...
. Sixteen percent is privately owned, while the remaining one percent is managed by the cities of Brookings and Harbor, Curry County, and the state of Oregon. Approximately 97 percent of the land is used for forestry, 2 percent for agriculture and rural areas, and 1 percent is urban. Gravel and minerals are mined from the lower and upper regions of the watershed, respectively.
The region is mostly mountainous, characterized by steep river valleys. Elevations in the Chetco River watershed range from sea level to at the summit of Pearsoll Peak.
Precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
averages between per year, with October through June being the wettest months. Seventy percent of
surface runoff
Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow of water occurring on the ground surface when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil. This can occur when t ...
is collected from rain, and 30 percent from rain on snow. Twenty-five separate wetlands totaling have been identified in the watershed. Temperatures average between , although the
Brookings effect
Brookings is a city in Curry County, Oregon, United States. It was named after John E. Brookings, president of the Brookings Lumber and Box Company, which founded the city in 1908. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,744.
History
F ...
(or Chetco effect; similar to a
foehn wind
A Foehn or Föhn (, , ), is a type of dry, relatively warm, downslope wind that occurs in the lee (downwind side) of a mountain range.
It is a rain shadow wind that results from the subsequent adiabatic warming of air that has dropped most of ...
) often brings localized hot weather to the Brookings area. The increase in temperature is caused by the geography of the region; cool air funnels down the Chetco River valley from the Siskiyou and Coast ranges, gradually heating up before eventually reaching Brookings as a warm wind. The mountains also shield the area from cool
marine layer
A marine layer is an air mass that develops over the surface of a large body of water, such as an ocean or large lake, in the presence of a temperature inversion. The inversion itself is usually initiated by the cooling effect of the water on ...
s. Partially as a result of this phenomenon, Brookings recorded its highest temperature ever, , on July 8, 2008.
Earthquakes are common, and large-scale ones occur around every 300 years. The
Cascadia earthquake of 1700—estimated at 8.7–9.2 on the
moment magnitude scale
The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 pa ...
—caused a
tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...
to sweep across California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, reaching Japan the next day. It was produced when the entire
Cascadia subduction zone
The Cascadia subduction zone is a convergent plate boundary that stretches from northern Vancouver Island in Canada to Northern California in the United States. It is a very long, sloping subduction zone where the Explorer, Juan de Fuca, a ...
, about long, slipped approximately in a
megathrust
Megathrust earthquakes occur at convergent plate boundaries, where one tectonic plate is forced underneath another. The earthquakes are caused by slip along the thrust fault that forms the contact between the two plates. These interplate earthqu ...
event. Another major earthquake occurred in 1873 near present-day Brookings. With a magnitude of 7.3, the quake was felt from
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
to
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
. Wind is also a factor in the region; storms can sometimes reach over . The
Columbus Day Storm of 1962
The Columbus Day Storm of 1962 (also known as the Big Blow, and originally, and in Canada as Typhoon Freda) was a Pacific Northwest windstorm that struck the West Coast of Canada and the Pacific Northwest coast of the United States on October 12, ...
brought devastating winds to nearly all of Oregon; nearby
Port Orford recorded gusts exceeding . The storm killed 38 people across the state and caused over $200 million worth of damage. The watershed often experiences wildfires, some of them major. The
Biscuit Fire
The Biscuit Fire was a massive wildfire in 2002 that burned nearly in the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest, in southern Oregon and northern California, in the Western United States. The fire was named after Biscuit Creek in southern Orego ...
of 2002 burned over of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness and surrounding regions.
As of the
2010 census, the city of Brookings had a population of 6,336, while nearby Harbor had 2,391. In total, over 14,000 residents of the Brookings–Harbor area depend on the Chetco River for drinking water. Nearby watersheds include the
Winchuck and
Smith
Smith may refer to:
People
* Metalsmith, or simply smith, a craftsman fashioning tools or works of art out of various metals
* Smith (given name)
* Smith (surname), a family name originating in England, Scotland and Ireland
** List of people wi ...
rivers to the south, the
Pistol River
The Pistol River is a coastal stream that meanders for through the Southern Oregon Coast Range to the Pacific Ocean near the unincorporated community of Pistol River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Flowing generally southwest from its origin near ...
to the north, and the
Illinois River
The Illinois River ( mia, Inoka Siipiiwi) is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River and is approximately long. Located in the U.S. state of Illinois, it has a drainage basin of . The Illinois River begins at the confluence of the D ...
, a tributary of the
Rogue River, to the north and east.
Flora and fauna
![Kalmiopsis Leachiana](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Kalmiopsis_Leachiana.jpg)
The Chetco River watershed is covered primarily by
temperate coniferous forest
Temperate coniferous forest is a terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Temperate coniferous forests are found predominantly in areas with warm summers and cool winters, and vary in their kinds of plant life. In some, needle ...
, which includes species such as
Douglas fir
The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...
,
western hemlock
''Tsuga heterophylla'', the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern Sonoma ...
,
white fir
''Abies concolor'', the white fir, is a coniferous tree in the pine family Pinaceae. This tree is native to the mountains of western North America, including the Cascade Range and southern Rocky Mountains, and into the isolated mountain range ...
,
Port Orford cedar
''Chamaecyparis lawsoniana'', known as Port Orford cedar or Lawson cypress, is a species of conifer in the genus '' Chamaecyparis'', family Cupressaceae. It is native to Oregon and northwestern California, and grows from sea level up to in th ...
,
California incense cedar
''Calocedrus decurrens'', with the common names incense cedar and California incense-cedar (syn. ''Libocedrus decurrens'' Torr.), is a species of coniferous tree native to western North America. It is the most widely known species in the genus, ...
, and
Sitka spruce.
Jeffrey pine
''Pinus jeffreyi'', also known as Jeffrey pine, Jeffrey's pine, yellow pine and black pine, is a North American pine tree. It is mainly found in California, but also in the westernmost part of Nevada, southwestern Oregon, and northern Baja Califo ...
,
knobcone pine
The knobcone pine, ''Pinus attenuata'' (also called ''Pinus tuberculata''), is a tree that grows in mild climates on poor soils. It ranges from the mountains of southern Oregon to Baja California with the greatest concentration in northern Calif ...
, and
golden chinquapin have also been identified.
Hardwood
Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...
s including
tanoak
''Notholithocarpus densiflorus'', commonly known as the tanoak or tanbark-oak, is a broadleaf tree in the family Fagaceae, and the type species of the genus ''Notholithocarpus''. It is native to the far western United States, particularly Oregon ...
,
bigleaf maple
''Acer macrophyllum'', the bigleaf maple or Oregon maple, is a large deciduous tree in the genus '' Acer''.
It is native to western North America, mostly near the Pacific coast, from southernmost Alaska to southern California. Some stands are al ...
,
red alder
''Alnus rubra'', the red alder,
is a deciduous broadleaf tree native to western North America (Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Montana).
Description
Red alder is the largest species of alder in Nort ...
, and
Pacific madrone
''Arbutus menziesii'' or Pacific madrone (commonly madrone or madrona in the United States and arbutus in Canada), is a species of broadleaf evergreen tree in the family Ericaceae, native to the western coastal areas of North America, from Br ...
are common.
Manzanita
Manzanita is a common name for many species of the genus ''Arctostaphylos''. They are evergreen shrubs or small trees present in the chaparral biome of western North America, where they occur from Southern British Columbia and Washington to Or ...
,
hazelnut
The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus ''Corylus'', especially the nuts of the species ''Corylus avellana''. They are also known as cobnuts or filberts according t ...
,
vine maple
''Acer circinatum'', the vine maple, is a species of maple native to western North America.
Description
It most commonly grows as a large shrub growing to around tall, but it will occasionally form a small to medium-sized tree, exceptionall ...
,
western skunk cabbage
''Lysichiton americanus'', also called western skunk cabbage (US), yellow skunk cabbage (UK), American skunk-cabbage (Britain and Ireland) or swamp lantern, is a plant found in swamps and wet woods, along streams and in other wet areas of the Pac ...
, and multiple species of berries and grasses make up the
understory
In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but abov ...
.
Kalmiopsis, a flowering evergreen shrub and the namesake of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, only grows in the
Siskiyou Mountains
The Siskiyou Mountains are a coastal subrange of the Klamath Mountains, and located in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the United States. They extend in an arc for approximately from east of Crescent City, California, nort ...
. Several
noxious weed
A noxious weed, harmful weed or injurious weed is a weed that has been designated by an agricultural or other governing authority as a plant that is injurious to agricultural or horticultural crops, natural habitats or ecosystems, or humans or liv ...
s have also been identified, including
gorse
''Ulex'' (commonly known as gorse, furze, or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are n ...
,
Scotch broom
''Cytisus scoparius'' ( syn. ''Sarothamnus scoparius''), the common broom or Scotch broom, is a deciduous leguminous shrub native to western and central Europe. In Britain and Ireland, the standard name is broom; this name is also used for other ...
,
blackberries
The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family (biology), family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus' ...
, and
thistle
Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the planton the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves ...
s.
The most prevalent species of the extreme southern portion of the watershed is the
coastal redwood
''Sequoia sempervirens'' ()''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607 is the sole living species of the genus ''Sequoia (genus), Sequoia'' in the cypress family Cupressaceae (formerly treated in Taxodiaceae). Common names include coast r ...
, one of the tallest types of trees on Earth. The world's northernmost redwood grove is located near the south bank of the Chetco at RM 15 (RK 24), about north of the California border. Trees here are around 300 to 800 years old, in diameter, and some exceed tall. The redwoods were heavily logged in the early 20th century. Prior to logging, the massive trees created their own
microclimate
A microclimate (or micro-climate) is a local set of atmospheric conditions that differ from those in the surrounding areas, often with a slight difference but sometimes with a substantial one. The term may refer to areas as small as a few squ ...
by capturing moisture from fog, and also by the immense amount of shade they produced. The redwoods region is less mountainous than the rest of the watershed, and
meander
A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex bank ...
ing streams are much more common.
Over 200 species of animals inhabit the river and its tributaries. Birds such as
loons,
grebe
Grebes () are aquatic diving birds in the order Podicipediformes . Grebes are widely distributed freshwater birds, with some species also found in marine habitats during migration and winter. Some flightless species exist as well, most notably ...
s, ducks,
kingfisher
Kingfishers are a family, the Alcedinidae, of small to medium-sized, brightly colored birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania, ...
s, and
bald eagle
The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...
s are known to live around streams and other regions of the watershed.
Auk
An auk or alcid is a bird of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. The alcid family includes the murres, guillemots, auklets, puffins, and murrelets. The word "auk" is derived from Icelandic ''álka'', from Old Norse ''alka'' (a ...
s,
gull
Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, m ...
s, and
tern
Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated as a subgroup of the family Laridae which includes gulls and skimmers and consists of e ...
s have been spotted around the river's mouth, and
black-legged kittiwakes nest in the area during the winter. The wildlife in the Kalmiopsis region of the Chetco watershed is more
diverse than that of any other region in Oregon. Mammals such as
American black bear
The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), also called simply a black bear or sometimes a baribal, is a medium-sized bear endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. American black bear ...
s,
black-tailed deer
Two forms of black-tailed deer or blacktail deer that occupy coastal woodlands in the Pacific Northwest of North America are subspecies of the mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus''). They have sometimes been treated as a species, but virtually all r ...
,
bobcat
The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUC ...
s,
ring-tailed cat
The ringtail (''Bassariscus astutus'') is a mammal of the raccoon family native to arid regions of North America. It is widely distributed and well adapted to disturbed areas. It has been legally trapped for its fur. It is listed as Least Co ...
s, and
gray fox
The gray fox (''Urocyon cinereoargenteus''), or grey fox, is an omnivorous mammal of the family Canidae, widespread throughout North America and Central America. This species and its only congener, the diminutive island fox (''Urocyon littor ...
es are common inhabitants of this region. The rare
Siskiyou chipmunk
The Siskiyou chipmunk (''Neotamias siskiyou'') is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. It is endemic to northern California and central Oregon in the United States.
Anatomy and morphology
The Siskiyou chipmunk is closest in appearance ...
is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
to the
Klamath Mountains
The Klamath Mountains are a rugged and lightly populated mountain range in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the western United States. As a mountain system within both the greater Pacific Coast Ranges and the California Coast ...
.
Steelhead
Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the common name of the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or redband trout (O. m. gairdneri). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia and ...
and
chinook and
coho
The coho salmon (''Oncorhynchus kisutch;'' Karuk: achvuun) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family and one of the five Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". The scientific species name is ...
salmon are the most common
anadromous fish
Fish migration is mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few metres to thousan ...
that inhabit the Chetco River. Steelhead are abundant and have been spotted in most major and minor streams. Chinook salmon usually travel as far as Boulder Creek, about halfway between the Chetco's headwaters and its mouth. Coho also generally stay in this area, but some have been found in the Granite and Carter Creek area, about above Boulder Creek.
Coastal cutthroat trout can be found all around the watershed; some migrate to the ocean, while others live in the river and its tributaries year round.
Pacific lamprey
The Pacific lamprey (''Entosphenus tridentatus'') is an anadromous parasitic lamprey from the Pacific Coast of North America and Asia. It is a member of the Petromyzontidae family. The Pacific lamprey is also known as the three-tooth lamprey and ...
,
three-spined stickleback
The three-spined stickleback (''Gasterosteus aculeatus'') is a fish native to most inland and coastal waters north of 30°N. It has long been a subject of scientific study for many reasons. It shows great morphological variation throughout its ra ...
, and various
sculpins have also been observed.
Geology
![Perid SanCarlos](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Perid_SanCarlos.jpg)
The Chetco River flows through the ancient Klamath Mountain
terrane
In geology, a terrane (; in full, a tectonostratigraphic terrane) is a crust (geology), crust fragment formed on a tectonic plate (or broken off from it) and Accretion (geology), accreted or "Suture (geology), sutured" to crust lying on another pla ...
, which is between 400 and 100 million years old, the oldest rocks in Oregon. The
Klamath microcontinent was originally located beneath the ocean near
southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...
before separating hundreds of millions of years ago.
Plate tectonics
Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large ...
pushed the microcontinent north, and bits of
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
, sea floor sediment,
subduction zones, and
coral reef
A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups.
Co ...
s gradually
accreted into small islands. Between 212 and 170 million years ago, a massive
volcanic arc
A volcanic arc (also known as a magmatic arc) is a belt of volcanoes formed above a subducting oceanic tectonic plate,
with the belt arranged in an arc shape as seen from above. Volcanic arcs typically parallel an oceanic trench, with the arc lo ...
erupted on the Klamath microcontinent, binding the islands together in a single block. The Klamath microcontinent went through a period of intense tectonic activity known as the Siskiyou
orogeny
Orogeny is a mountain building process. An orogeny is an event that takes place at a convergent plate margin when plate motion compresses the margin. An ''orogenic belt'' or ''orogen'' develops as the compressed plate crumples and is uplifted t ...
roughly 170 to 165 million years ago. The process was strong enough to force sedimentary rocks deep into the Earth's
crust, melting them into large
pluton
In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...
s of granite, which rose slowly to the surface. Shortly after, a large portion of sea floor was thrust over the older Klamath terranes; much of it is still visible atop Vulcan and Chetco peaks. This region is known as the Josephine
Ophiolite
An ophiolite is a section of Earth's oceanic crust and the underlying upper mantle that has been uplifted and exposed above sea level and often emplaced onto continental crustal rocks.
The Greek word ὄφις, ''ophis'' (''snake'') is found ...
, and contains a rare type of rock called
peridotite
Peridotite ( ) is a dense, coarse-grained igneous rock consisting mostly of the silicate minerals olivine and pyroxene. Peridotite is ultramafic, as the rock contains less than 45% silica. It is high in magnesium (Mg2+), reflecting the high prop ...
, originating from the Earth's
mantle.
The mountainous terrain of the Chetco River watershed was created approximately 130 million years ago when the microcontinent collided with the much larger
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
n continent. The process uplifted the complex and exotic terranes of the microcontinent to form the Klamath Mountains. Many
glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...
s carved
U-shaped valleys and
cirque
A (; from the Latin word ') is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from Scottish Gaelic , meaning a pot or cauldron) and (; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform ...
s during the last
ice age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...
, and several
alpine lake
Alpine lakes are classified as lakes at high altitudes in mountainous zones, usually near or above the tree line, with extended periods of ice cover. These lakes are commonly formed from glacial activity (either current or in the past) but can al ...
s still exist today.
Today,
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
,
shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...
,
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
, and
serpentine are the primary rock types in the Chetco region. Various forms of
loam
Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–sil ...
comprise its soil. Erosion levels are high due to a combination of high precipitation, steep slopes, and landslides, which can result in
earthflow
An earthflow (earth flow) is a downslope viscous flow of fine-grained materials that have been saturated with water and moves under the pull of gravity. It is an intermediate type of mass wasting that is between downhill creep and mudflow. The ...
s.
History
![1590 or later Marcus Gheeraerts, Sir Francis Drake Buckland Abbey, Devon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/1590_or_later_Marcus_Gheeraerts%2C_Sir_Francis_Drake_Buckland_Abbey%2C_Devon.jpg)
Humans have lived in the Chetco River watershed since approximately 1,000 to 3,000 years ago. The first inhabitants were perhaps ancestors of the
Chetco Indians
The Chetco ( Chetco: chit-dee-ni, chit-dee-ne or Chit-dv-ne' ) are a tribe of Native Americans who originally lived along the lower Chetco River and Winchuck River in Curry County in the U.S. state of Oregon. The name Chetco comes from the word ...
and other
Native American tribes, themselves descendants of the first humans who traveled across the
Bering land bridge
Beringia is defined today as the land and maritime area bounded on the west by the Lena River in Russia; on the east by the Mackenzie River in Canada; on the north by 72 degrees north latitude in the Chukchi Sea; and on the south by the tip of ...
from
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
over 10,000 years ago. At least nine separate villages were constructed along the Chetco River, including two on either side of its mouth. The Native Americans named the river "chit taa-ghii~-li~'".
The first
European American
European Americans (also referred to as Euro-Americans) are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes people who are descended from the first European settlers in the United States as well as people who are descended from more recent Eu ...
to visit the area may have been Sir
Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 ...
on June 5, 1579, during his
circumnavigation
Circumnavigation is the complete navigation around an entire island, continent, or astronomical object, astronomical body (e.g. a planet or natural satellite, moon). This article focuses on the circumnavigation of Earth.
The first recorded circ ...
of the world. The
Vancouver Expedition
The Vancouver Expedition (1791–1795) was a four-and-a-half-year voyage of exploration and diplomacy, commanded by Captain George Vancouver of the Royal Navy. The British expedition circumnavigated the globe and made contact with five continen ...
also explored the area in 1792. In June 1828
Jedediah Smith
Jedediah Strong Smith (January 6, 1799 – May 27, 1831) was an American clerk, transcontinental pioneer, frontiersman, hunter, trapper, author, cartographer, mountain man and explorer of the Rocky Mountains, the Western United States, an ...
and his company of
fur traders
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mo ...
camped on the south bank of the river near a Native American village. Between 1853 and 1855, many Native Americans were killed and their villages destroyed in skirmishes occurring around the same time as the nearby
Rogue River Wars. On July 9, 1856, the remaining Chetco were marched north to the
Siletz Reservation.
Oregon—and therefore the Chetco watershed—was jointly occupied by the United Kingdom and the United States after the
Treaty of 1818
The Convention respecting fisheries, boundary and the restoration of slaves, also known as the London Convention, Anglo-American Convention of 1818, Convention of 1818, or simply the Treaty of 1818, is an international treaty signed in 1818 betw ...
was signed. The
Oregon Treaty
The Oregon Treaty is a treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846, in Washington, D.C. The treaty brought an end to the Oregon boundary dispute by settling competing American and British claims to t ...
was ratified in 1846, giving the United States ownership of Oregon. Soon after, the
Oregon Territory
The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Ori ...
was established, and Oregon became a
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
on February 14, 1859.
The discovery of gold and other
precious metal
Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high economic value.
Chemically, the precious metals tend to be less reactive than most elements (see noble metal). They are usually ductile and have a high lu ...
s in the watershed brought settlers to the region in the 1840s and 1850s.
Nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow to ...
,
cobalt
Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, pr ...
, and
chromium
Chromium is a chemical element with the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in group 6. It is a steely-grey, lustrous, hard, and brittle transition metal.
Chromium metal is valued for its high corrosion resistance and hardne ...
were also mined. The town of Harbor was founded on the south bank of the Chetco River in 1891, and a ferry service across the river opened in 1904. It was shut down in 1915 when the Chetco Bridge opened. In 1912, the Brookings Lumber & Box Company moved north from the
San Bernardino Mountains
The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range tops out at at San Gorgonio Mountain â ...
in southern California to the southern Oregon coast region. The company constructed a sawmill in 1914, and founded the town of Brookings. Brookings was not
incorporated until 1951. The region remained relatively isolated due to its mountainous terrain until 1924, when
Highway 101 was extended from
Crescent City, California
Crescent City ( Tolowa: ''Taa-’at-dvn''; Yurok: ''Kohpey''; Wiyot: ''Daluwagh'') is the only incorporated city in Del Norte County, California; it is also the county seat. Named for the crescent-shaped stretch of sandy beach south of the cit ...
, to Brookings. In 1932, the
Isaac Lee Patterson Bridge was completed over the
Rogue River to the north, connecting the region to the rest of the Oregon coast. In 1917, a wharf was built at the mouth of the river. Jetties were constructed on either side of its mouth by the
in 1957.
The Siskiyou National Forest was created on October 5, 1906, protecting the entire upper portion of the Chetco watershed. The nearby Rogue River National Forest was combined with it in 2004, creating the nearly Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest. In 1964, the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
set aside over of the eastern Chetco River watershed and surrounding regions to create the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. The wilderness was expanded several times in the 1970s, and now encompasses over .
![NASA Biscuit fire](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/NASA_Biscuit_fire.jpg)
On October 28, 1988, a stretch of the Chetco River was designated a
National Wild and Scenic River
The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-542), enacted by the U.S. Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free- ...
, from its headwaters to the boundary of the Rogue River – Siskiyou National Forest. In a court case in 1994, the Chetco was determined to be navigable. In 2002, over of the eastern portion of the watershed and surrounding regions were destroyed in the
Biscuit Fire
The Biscuit Fire was a massive wildfire in 2002 that burned nearly in the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest, in southern Oregon and northern California, in the Western United States. The fire was named after Biscuit Creek in southern Orego ...
. Originally five separate fires, it was caused by several lightning strikes between July 12 and 15. By August 17, all five had burned together, creating one massive fire. It burned for over five months and was not fully extinguished until December 31.
In 2002, of land on the Little Chetco River were sold to
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
real estate developer
Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re- lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to othe ...
David Rutan, only several months after the Biscuit Fire tore through the region. He opened a gold mining camp on the site in 2007, flying in customers by helicopter. Curry County officials soon stated that the camp violated
zoning
Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...
and sanitation laws, but inspections were stymied because of the area's inaccessibility. Rutan bought several more claims in the Wild and Scenic section of the Chetco River in the following years, beginning inside the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, and ending downstream. Despite environmentalists' concerns, he proposed mining the Chetco riverbed for gold and minerals via commercial
suction dredges, permitted by the
General Mining Act of 1872
The General Mining Act of 1872 is a United States federal law that authorizes and governs prospecting and mining for economic minerals, such as gold, platinum, and silver, on federal public lands. This law, approved on May 10, 1872, codified the ...
. In 2010, the Chetco River was identified as the seventh most endangered river in America by advocacy organization
American Rivers, facing a threat of "motorized instream mining". Oregon's governor,
Ted Kulongoski
Theodore Ralph Kulongoski ( ; born November 5, 1940) is an American politician, judge, and lawyer who served as the 36th Governor of Oregon from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in both houses of the Oregon Legislative As ...
, two senators,
Ron Wyden and
Jeff Merkley, and congressman
Peter DeFazio
Peter Anthony DeFazio (; born May 27, 1947) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for , serving since 1987. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes Eugene, Springfield, Corvallis, Roseburg, Coos B ...
all asked the
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, ...
to withdraw the Chetco River from the 1872 Mining Act, thus preventing mineral mining on the river. However, Rutan forfeited his claims by not paying his annual filing fees to the
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's ...
in 2011.
Pollution
![BrookingsHarbor](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/BrookingsHarbor.jpg)
The
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is the chief regulatory agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for protecting and enhancing the state's natural resources and managing sanitary and toxic waste disposal ...
(DEQ) has monitored the Chetco River for eight different parameters that affect water quality: temperature,
oxygen saturation
Oxygen saturation (symbol SO2) is a relative measure of the concentration of oxygen that is dissolved or carried in a given medium as a proportion of the maximal concentration that can be dissolved in that medium at the given temperature. It ca ...
,
pH,
nutrient
A nutrient is a substance used by an organism to survive, grow, and reproduce. The requirement for dietary nutrient intake applies to animals, plants, fungi, and protists. Nutrients can be incorporated into cells for metabolic purposes or excret ...
s,
bacteria
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...
, chemical contaminants such as pesticides and metals,
turbidity
Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air. The measurement of turbidity is a key test of water quality.
Fluids can ...
, and
alkalinity
Alkalinity (from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is the capacity of water to resist acidification. It should not be confused with basicity, which is an absolute measurement on the pH scale.
Alkalinity is the strength of ...
. Streams that exceed the standard level are then placed on the DEQ 303d list in accordance with the
Clean Water Act. The Chetco from Box Canyon Creek to its mouth exceeded the standard level for temperature and turbidity. The North Fork, South Fork, and other tributaries were also listed for temperature and turbidity. All tributaries of the Chetco usually exceed the temperature standard. Water temperatures range from at Bosley Creek to at Willow Bar. High turbidity levels in the Chetco River watershed are usually caused by landslides, various forms of erosion, and plugged road culverts.
On the Oregon Water Quality Index (OWQI) used by DEQ, water quality scores can vary from 10 (worst) to 100 (ideal). The average for the Chetco River at RM 10.8 (RK 17.4) between 1998 and 2007 was 95 (excellent) in the summer and 90 in the fall, winter, and spring. These scores are comparable to the 1986 to 1995 results of 94 and 93. Despite the excellent ratings, the Chetco River actually ranks as the second most polluted stream in Curry County, after Floras Creek, a tributary of the
New River.
Recreation
Fishing, four-wheel driving, swimming, boating, camping, sightseeing, and picnicking are the primary recreational activities in the watershed.
Whitewater kayaking
Whitewater kayaking is an adventure sport where a river is navigated in a decked kayak. Whitewater kayaking includes several styles. River running; where the paddler follows a river and paddles rapids as they travel. Creeking usually involving s ...
is also popular in the winter months when water levels are high. Several trails are maintained throughout the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, as well as other regions in the watershed. Eight
boat launches are located on the river between its confluence with the south fork and its mouth.
Alfred A. Loeb State Park, located on the banks of the Chetco, has three cabins and 48 camping sites.
Several large parks are located in Brookings. The Azalea Park in Brookings features five species of wild
azaleas. The park was designated an Oregon State Park in 1939, but was given to Brookings in 1993. It hosts the American Music Festival from June until September. The Nature's Coastal Holiday light show is displayed in Azalea Park every December. Chetco Point Park, located near the wharf, has several
fire ring
A fire ring is a construction or device used to contain campfires and prevent them from spreading and turning into wildfires.
A fire ring is designed to contain a fire that is built directly upon the ground, such as a campfire. Fire rings have ...
s and
picnic tables, as well as views of the river, the Pacific Ocean, and the
Port of Brookings Harbor. It is home to the rare
Wolf's Evening Primrose.
See also
*
List of rivers of Oregon
This is a partial listing of rivers in the state of Oregon, United States. This list of Oregon rivers is organized alphabetically and by tributary structure. The list may also include streams known as creeks, brooks, forks, branches and prongs, a ...
*
List of longest streams of Oregon
Seventy-seven rivers and creeks of at least 50 miles (80 km) in total length are the longest streams of the U.S. state of Oregon. All of these streams originate in the United States except the longest, the Columbia, which begins in the ...
*
List of National Wild and Scenic Rivers
This is a list of the designated National Wild and Scenic Rivers in the United States. Each river has been designated by Congress, or, if certain requirements were met, the Secretary of the Interior. A designation may include multiple watercourses ...
Notes and references
Notes
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{{authority control
Rivers of Oregon
Rivers of Curry County, Oregon
Drainage basins of the Pacific Ocean
Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest
Wild and Scenic Rivers of the United States