Descriptions from the Field Report by Charles A. Durin, of the US Fish & Wildlife Service. 1981
Big Beef Creek is located on the west side of the Kitsap Peninsula in Kitsap County, Washington. The stream flows northward for a total of 18 stream km. until it enters Hood Canal approximately 8 km. northeast of the town of Seabeck. Mean stream discharge near the mouth ranges from 30 to 50 c.f.s. per year.
The Big Beef Creek drainage basin has a total area of 38 km2 (17 km2 above Lake Symington and 21 km2 below)(Cederholm and Koski, 1977). The watershed is relatively steep in some places and has a streambed slope ranging between 0.2 and 1.0 percent. The headwaters are at 500' elevation. The upper area of Big Beef Creek flows across a flat plateau with a floodplain 0.6 km. wide and average streambed slope of 0.2 percent. Along this shallow gradient, the streambed substrate contains many areas of fine material and sand, with occasional gravel riffles. Fish passage upward is possible to this area via a ladder at the dam impounding Lake Symington (Williams, 1975).
The creek then flows seaward through Lake Symington, a 32 ha. artificial lake, constructed in 1965, with a storage capacity 986,915 cubic meters.
Below Lake Symington, Big Beef Creek flows through a narrower valley with a series of side canyons for 3.2 km. The gradient is moderate in this area, with an average streambed slope of 1.0 percent. The width of the canyon floor averages 0.07 km. The streambed is predominantly gravel riffles separated by numerous pools. Below the canyons, Big Beef Creek flows 6.4 km. into Hood Canal. Seven principal tributary streams contribute to this stretch of stream, which gradually widens to a floodplain with a maximum width of 0.2 km. and average streambed slope of 0.8 percent.
A long history of poor land use has affected the Big Beef Creek watershed since the first logging in the early 1900's and continues today with extensive road construction and housing development in the watershed. Residential development of the upper watershed has occurred primarily since 1965.
Big Beef Creek has been greatly impacted by the construction of Lake Symington. Extensive sediment deposition and resultant unstable conditions in the lower creek have been caused by the dam, as well as logging, road construction, and housing development. There has been observable erosion of the stream channel throughout the lower creek since construction of the dam (Cederholm and Koski, 1977; Madej, 1978).
The Big Beef Creek estuary was altered by the University of Washington, with construction of their three fish-rearing ponds. These were built in 1967-68 on sites that were originally brackish marsh habitat and an integral part of the estuary. The Seabeck Highway spans the confluence of the estuary with Hood Canal and allows only a narrow connection for flushing action between the two waterbodies.
The University of Washington property was purchased in 1965 and research facilities were subsequently built. The fish wier was installed in 1970.
A variety of vegetation communities characterize the Big Beef Creek site. These consist of forest (deciduous, mixed, and coniferous), intertidal wetlands (brackish marsh, algae associations), freshwater wetlands (freshwater marsh, freshwater swamp, beaver ponds), and eelgrass beds.
The Big Beef Creek site is within the western hemlock zone of western Washington as described by Franklin and the forests are second or third growth, the entire site having been logged at least once since the 1900's. Climax vegetation would be characterized by western hemlock and western red cedar (Thuja plicata). Typical forests in the subclimax community, as found at Big Beef Creek, are dominated by Douglas fir a menziesii). Other tree species found at Big Beef Creek include western re cedar, western hemlock, red alder (Alnus rubra), Pacific madronne (Arbutus menziesli). and vine maple (Acer circinatum). Understory species include salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis), Oregon grape (Berberis nervosa), hazelnut (Cornuta), fringecups (Tellima grandiflora), maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum), lady fern (Adiantum felix-femina), salal (Gaultheria shallon), evergreen huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum), and wild ginger (Asarum caudatum). Most of the forests are in the early successional stages, primarily in pole stage and young forest. Some of the regenerating communities consist of mixed forest, with a larger percentage of deciduous trees than the typical coniferous forest.
Deciduous forest is found in the valley floor, within the 100-year floodplain of Big Beef Creek and along the tributary stream canyons. Primary tree species are red alder, big-leaf maple (Acer macrohllum), and vine maple. Understory species include willow (Salix s p.), salmonberry, red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa), thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus), sword fern (Polystichum munitum), and stinging nettle
Freshwater wetlands consist of beaver ponds, freshwater marshes, and freshwater swamps. The beaver ponds and swamps have some western red cedar or alder snags and other downed trees. These wetlands are predominated by, or at least surrounded by, abundant shrub cover consisting of willows, vine maple, or salmonberry. The wetter areas are mainly covered by cattails (Typha latifolia), smartweed (Polygonum sp.), soft rush (Juncus effusis), bullrush sp. (Scirpus sp.), Pacific silverweed (Potentilla pacifica), forget-me-not (Myosotis sp.), monkey flower (Mimulus sp.), creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens), water lentil (Lemna minor), and reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea).
Intertidal marshes are found in Big Beef Harbor. The higher areas are less frequently covered by the high tides and are predominated by Pacific silverweed, soft rush, asters (Aster sp.), gumweed (Grendelia integrifolia), and grasses. The lower areas along sloughs and next to mudflats consist of pickleweed (Salicornia virginica), seaside arrow grass (Triglochin maritima), seashore salt grass (Distichlis spicata), and lyngbyei's sedge (Carex lyngbyei).
Algae associations are located on the mudflats of Big Beef Harbor and along Hood Canal. Principal species are Ulva sp. and Fucus sp.
Eelgrass beds are found in the subtidal reaches of Hood Canal (Department of Natural Resources, 1974).
Black-tailed deer (Odocoileux hemionus) are present on the site. Their populations average 6-8 deer per square mile in Kitsap County (pers. comm. H. Brent). A high density deer area is described for the southern section of the University of Washington property and upper Big Beef Creek watershed (Yoshinaka and Ellifrit, 1974). Black bears (Ursus americanus) are reported to be present at the headwaters of Big Beef Creek (Yoshinaka and Ellifrit, 1974).
Beavers (Castor canadensis) are the most obvious of the medium-sized mammals present on the site. They are active along the creek banks and earthen pond borders where they have cut alders. Beaver ponds are located along both sides of the river, as well as in the upper watershed. Raccoons (Procyon lotor) live near the beaver ponds and creek. Chickarees, or Douglas squirrels (Tamiasciurus douglasi), are common forest mammals.
Small mammals active on the site include voles (Microtus sp.), which are abundant in the brackish marsh vegetation in the estuary; and Pacific jumping mice (Zapus trinotatus), which live in the nearby forest. Harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) utilize Hood Canal for feeding and travel.
The varied habitats on the Big Beef Creek site support a diversity of bird species. Different groups of species utilize the forested habitats; freshwater wetlands (including beaver ponds and swamps); intertidal wetlands (including Big Beef Harbor, salt marsh and mudflats, and the Hood Canal intertidal habitats); and marine waters of Hood Canal. Long-tern, detailed investigations have not been conducted; however, reconnaissance field work by members of the Ecological Service's staff has resulted in observations of birds using the various habitats. Knowledge of these habitat types and literature review has enabled description of other birds typical to the area.
The forests are typified by song sparrow, winter wren, rufous hummingbird, black-capped chickadee, red-breasted nuthatch, kinglets, flycatchers, warblers, and other passerines. Raptors, such as great-horned owl, screech owl, and accipiters would be expected to utilize this area. The riparian forests provide excellent cover for many bird species.
The freshwater wetlands are utilized by pileated woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, yellow-rumped warbler, song sparrow, and other passerines, belted kingfisher, mallards, and other waterfowl.
The intertidal wetlands provide excellent feeding and roosting habitat for dabbling ducks including mallard, American and European wigeon, pintail, cinnamon teal , and green-winged steal. These ducks are numerous during spring and fall migrations and winter, when hundreds are found in the inner estuary and along Hood Canal . Common and red-breasted merganser, bufflehead, and common goldeneye are the most prevalent diving ducks in these habitats. Other waterbirds include killdeer; western sandpiper; dunlin; ring-billed, glaucous-winged, and Bonaparte's gulls; belted kingfisher; and great blue heron. In the fall, red-winged blackbirds, crows, and starlings are present. Big Beef Harbor is of special importance because the University of Washington prohibits hunting here.
Birds found in the deeper waters of Hood Canal in the vicinity of the proposed project during fall and winter include white-winged and surf scoters, horned and western grebes, common and red-throated loons, and gulls.
Big Beef Creek provides exceptional spawning and rearing habitat for salmon. Returns of coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) number around 3,000 annually and chum salmon (0. keta) may number up to 3,500 annually (Williams, 1975). Coho utilize the entire drainage with the upper area above Lake Symington being the more productive. Chum utilize the lower 5 miles primarily (Williams, 1975). Adult fish moving upstream and juveniles moving downstream have been counted at a wier near the mouth of the creek since 1970.
The University of Washington uses the majority of the spawning chum salmon in their experimental work with an artificial spawning channel and hatchery. Currently, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is studying long-range upstream and downstream movements of coho salmon utilizing the fish weir.
Steelhead (Salmo gairdneri) are also found in Big Beef Creek.
Cutthroat trout (Salmo clarki) occur in Big Beef Creek, beaver ponds in the upper watershed support resident populations of cutthroat trout.
Other fish species found in the Big Beef Creek watershed include sculpins (Cottus sp.), yellow perch (Perca flavescens)(instroduced), Pacific lamprey (Entospherus stridentatus), western brook lamprey (Lampetra richardsoni), three-spine stickleback (Gastrosteus aculeatus), and black-sided dace (Apocope oscula nubila) (Cederholm and Koski, 1977).
Lake Symington has had adverse impacts on salmon habitat. High summer temperatures in the large, relatively shallow impoundment have replaced the meandering swamp where coho reared prior to impoundment. High-temperature surface runoff from Lake Symington during summer months and downstream areas near the dam have also reduced the capacity for coho rearing (Williams et al., 1975).
The lower 0.6 km. of Big Beef Creek was channelized by bulldozers in 1969 to reduce flooding of University of Washington facilities, salmon redd displacement, and loss of fish-rearing habitat (Cederholm and Koski, 1977). No attempt was made to maintain or reestablish the natural gradient, natural pools, logs, and other vegetative cover. There was also no attempt made to stabilize the man-made gravel embankments which served as a levee and road. Cederholm and Koski (1977) reported on the physical and biological effects of the stream channelization. They reported that alteration of the lower creek through channelization resulted in a highly unstable stream environment that did not fully recover after 5 years. It was merely a temporary solution to flooding which served to aggravate an already unstable watershed condition. There was extensive streambed scour and streambank erosion. The density of juvenile salmonids was greatly reduced for at least the first two summers following alteration. During the second summer following channelizatlon, the coho densities were 75 percent lower than an experimental control population; the steelhead densities (age 0 fish) were 77 percent lower and the age 1+ fish were 96 percent lower. While the coho salmon populations showed remarkable signs of recovery after three summers, the steelhead trout were slow to recover even after five summers.
Fish found in the marine waters of Hood Canal in the Big Beef Creek area would be similar to those recorded in the Bangor area reported by the Navy.
Some of the most important Pacific herring (Clupea harengus pallasi) populations in Puget Sound are found in Hood Canal. Herring spawn in Seabeck Bay, located 5 miles to the south of Big Beef Creek (Meyer and Adair, 1978).
Salmon that spawn in the creek migrate through the Hood Canal on their way to the open ocean. The smolts tend to migrate through the shallower coastal waters and feed in these areas. Salmonid outmigration studies in Hood Canal (Bax et al., 1979) revealed a delay of 3 weeks between the peak outmigration at Big Beef Creek of wild Big Beef Creek smolts and WDFW Minter Creek hatchery-reared coho smolts released into Lake Symington and peak recaptures at Bangor Annex, 6 miles to the north. This shows that the fish are spending time feeding in these shoreline areas. They are migrating far slower than chum salmon fry, which migrate from the WDF Hood Canal hatchery, to the south of Big Beef Creek, to Bangor Annex (a distance of 35 miles) in 1 to 2 weeks at that time of the year.
The extensive mudflats of Big Beef Harbor are rich in organic material and provide living space for a diverse assemblage of infaunal polychaetes, crustaceans, and mollusks, as well as other organisms characteristic of estuarine habitats. A small population of Pacific oysters, (Crassostrea gigas), exists on the southern shore.
Manila clams (is japonica) are found in the top 2-4" of this oyster bed (Nosho, 1971). Bent-nosed clams (Macoma nasuta), cockles (Clinocardium nusttallii), and the gaper clam (Tresus capax), as well as ghost shrimp (Callianassa californiensis), are abundant in the bay. Crabs (Cancer productus and Hemigrapsis nudis) scavenge the sediment in intertidal and deeper regions. In addition, an interstitial fauna comprised of copepods, amphipods, nematodes, oligochaetes, and other groups can be found in the upper few centimeters of sediment.
The mixed sand and gravel beach is inhabited by limpets, mussels, rock crabs, barnacles (and their predatory neighbors Thais emarginata), amphipods, and polychaetes. Infaunal components (clams, ghost shrimp, etc.), as well as a meiofaunal population, exist on the beach. A large commercial oyster bed, leased by the Western Oyster Co. of Purdy, Washington, lies at the mouth of the creek and extends along the beach. Young oysters are brought from Dabob Bay and deposited on the tidelands for fattening. This region is listed as a potential natural settling area for Pacific oyster spawn (Department of Natural Resources, 1974). The geoduck (Panope generosa) lives in commercially large numbers subtidally off Big Beef Harbor at depths between 10 and 50 feet.
Bax, N. J., Salo, E.O., Synder, B. P. 1979. Salmonid outmigration studies in Hood Canal Final Report Phase IV. University of Washington Fisheries Research Institute. 87 pp.
Brent, H. 1980. Personal communication of October 10. Washington Department of Game, Aberdeen.
Burt, W. H., and Grossenheider, R. P. 1976. A field guide to the mammals, third edition. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. 289 pp.
Cederholm, C. J., and Koski, K. V. 1977. Effects of stream channelization on the salmonid habitat and populations of lower Big Beef Creek, Kitsap County, Washington, 1969-73. Washington Cooperative Fishery Research Unit, College of Fisheries, University of Washington. 31 pp.
Department of Natural Resources. 1974. Washington Marine Atlas, Vol. 2, South Inland Waters.
Department of the Navy. 1974. Trident support site, Bangor, Washington, Final Environmental Impact Statement.
Franklin, J. F., and Dyrness, C. T. 1973. Natural vegetation of Oregon and Washington. USDA-Forest Service, General Technical Report PNW-8.
Hahn, P. 1979. Letter of December 24, 1979, on steelhead closures in three Hood Canal tributaries. Washington Department of Game. 2 pp.
Hitchcock, C. L. and Cronquist, A. 1976. Flora of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press, Seattle. 730 pp.
Madej, M. A. 1978. Response of a stream channel to an increase in sediment load. MS thesis. University of Washington, Seattle.
Meyer, J. H., and Adair, R. A. 1978. Puget Sound herring surveys including observations of the Gulf of Georgia SAC-ROE Fishery, 1975-1977. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Fisheries Assistance Office, Olympia, Washington. 71 pp.
Nosho, T. Y. 1971. The setting and growth of the Manila clam, Crassostrea gigas (thunberg), I. The influence of temperature and enriched seawater on the oyster-bacteria relationship. MS thesis. College of Fisheries, University of Washington. 45 pp.
Seiler, D. 1980. Big Beef Creek downstream migrant counts 1978-1980 as contained in letter of October 15, 1980.. Washington Department of Fisheries, Olympia, Washington.
Synder, B. 1980. Big Beef Creek coho escapement summary and chum escapement summary. University of Washington Fisheries Research Institute. Unpublished data. 2 pp. Vining, R. 1980. Personal communication of November 7, 1980, on commercial geoduck beds in Hood Canal. Department of Natural Resources, Olympia, Washington.
Washington Natural Heritage Program. 1980. Natural heritage data system. 3111 Seminar Building (SE 3109), The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington 98505.
Williams, R. W., Laramie, R. M., Ames, J. J. 1975. A catalogue of Washington streams and salmon utilization,, Volume 1, Puget Sound Region. Washington Department of Fisheries.
Yoshinaka, M. S. and Ellifrit, N. J. 1974. Hood Canal - Priorities for (tomorrow: An initial report on fish and wildlife, development aspects, and planning considerations for Hood Canal , Washington. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, Oregon. 97 pp.