Crescent Creek is a tributary of the

Little Deschutes River The Little Deschutes River is a tributary of the Deschutes River in the central part of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is about long, with a drainage basin of . It drains a rural area on the east side of the Cascade Range south of Bend. The Littl ...

in Klamath County in 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 sover ...

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 ...

. Beginning at Crescent Lake on the eastern flank of the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...

, the river flows generally east through parts of

Deschutes National Forest The Deschutes National Forest is a United States National Forest located in parts of Deschutes, Klamath, Lake, and Jefferson counties in central Oregon. It comprises along the east side of the Cascade Range. In 1908, the Deschutes National ...

to meet the Little Deschutes between

Crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...

and La Pine. A stretch of Crescent Creek was named part of the

National Wild and Scenic Rivers System 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- ...

in 1988. Designated "recreational", the segment below Crescent Lake flows through a narrow canyon and a forest of old-growth pine. One of Crescent Creek's tributaries,

Big Marsh Creek Big Marsh Creek is a tributary of Crescent Creek in Klamath County, in the U.S. state of Oregon. The creek flows generally north from its source upstream of Big Marsh, south of Crescent Lake on the eastern side of the Cascade Range. All of Bi ...

, is also part of the wild rivers system. The upper of the Little Deschutes is part of the system too. The creek supports native

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...

, non-native

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...

and

brook trout The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae. It is native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada, but has been introduced elsewhere ...

, and other species. The healthy and remote

riparian zone A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks ar ...

along the upper creek supports a diversity of grasses,

sedges The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' wit ...

, willows, and many species of birds, mammals, and

amphibian Amphibians are tetrapod, four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the Class (biology), class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terres ...

s. Crescent Creek Campground, about west of Crescent, has nine individual camping sites, potable water, and a vault toilet. Open from mid-May through September, it is relatively remote and quiet, with opportunities for bird-watching and fishing. The flow of Crescent Creek is regulated by storage and releases of water for irrigation from Crescent Lake. 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 volu ...

operated by the

United States Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation, and formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and opera ...

at the outlet of Crescent Lake shows an average highest discharge of about to Crescent Creek in August when irrigation releases are highest. The average discharge drops to its lowest, about , in November when water is being stored.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Klamath County, Oregon Rivers of Oregon Wild and Scenic Rivers of the United States

See also

References