Sycan River

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Sycan River
Sycan Marsh.jpg
Aerial view of Sycan Marsh
Name origin:after Sycan Marsh, from the Klamath words saiga and keni, meaning level, grassy place [1]
Country United States
State Oregon
County Lake and Klamath
Sourcesouth of Slide Mountain and Summer Lake
 - location Fremont National Forest, Lake County
 - coordinates 42°38′50″N120°44′08″W / 42.64722°N 120.73556°W / 42.64722; -120.73556   [2]
Mouth Sprague River
 - locationnear Beatty, Klamath County
 - elevation4,311 ft (1,314 m) [2]
 - coordinates 42°27′40″N121°17′13″W / 42.46111°N 121.28694°W / 42.46111; -121.28694 Coordinates: 42°27′40″N121°17′13″W / 42.46111°N 121.28694°W / 42.46111; -121.28694   [2]
Length75 mi (121 km) [3]
Basin559 sq mi (1,447.8 km2) [4]
Discharge
 - average149 cu ft/s (4 m3/s) [5]
 - min1 cu ft/s (0 m3/s)
Wpdms shdrlfi020l sprague river.jpg
Map of Sycan River region
USA Oregon location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location of the mouth of the Sycan River in Oregon
TypeScenic, Recreational
DesignatedOctober 28, 1988

The Sycan River is a tributary, about 75 miles (121 km) long, of the Sprague River in the U.S. state of Oregon. [3] The headwaters are in highlands in the Fremont National Forest south of Summer Lake. [6] The river runs northwest into the Sycan Marsh in southern Lake County, from which it flows generally southwest to join the Sprague River near Beatty, in Klamath County. [6] The uppermost 59 miles (95 km) of the stream are part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. [7]

Sprague River (Oregon) river in the United States of America

The Sprague River is a tributary of the Williamson River, approximately 75 miles (121 km) long, in southwestern Oregon in the United States. It drains an arid volcanic plateau region east of the Cascade Range in the watershed of the Klamath River.

U.S. state constituent political entity sharing sovereignty as the United States of America

In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are currently 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory and shares its sovereignty with the federal government. Due to this shared sovereignty, Americans are citizens both of the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons restricted by certain types of court orders. Four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names.

Oregon State of the United States of America

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region on the West Coast of the United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. The parallel 42° north delineates the southern boundary with California and Nevada. Oregon is one of only three states of the contiguous United States to have a coastline on the Pacific Ocean.

Contents

Course

Near its headwaters, the Sycan River, flowing west, receives Boulder Creek from the right and the South Fork Sycan River from the left. The Hanan Trail, a hiking path, runs roughly parallel to the river along this stretch, which is part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Turning northwest, the Sycan receives Rock, Kelly, and Nixon creeks from the right before turning west again. Over the next stretch, Cummings Creek enters from the right, Rifle Creek from the left, and the Sycan leaves Lake County and enters Klamath County. Skull Creek then enters from the left and Currier Creek from the right. [6]

Downstream of Currier Creek, Paradise Creek enters from the left, and the Sycan turns northwest and then north, leaving Klamath County and re-entering Lake County. Slightly north of the border, Long Creek enters from the right. After turning west and southwest, [6] the river enters Sycan Marsh, a wetland of about 50 square miles (130 km2). [8] Continuing southwest through the marsh, the river leaves Lake County and re-enters Klamath County. Further downstream, Merritt Creek enters from the left. Meandering west and then south, the Sycan receives Blue Creek from the left, enters Sprague River Valley, receives Snake Creek from the left, and enters the Sprague River north of Beatty. [6]

Wetland A land area that is permanently or seasonally saturated with water

A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is inundated by water, either permanently or seasonally, where oxygen-free processes prevail. The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from other land forms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plants, adapted to the unique hydric soil. Wetlands play a number of functions, including water purification, water storage, processing of carbon and other nutrients, stabilization of shorelines, and support of plants and animals. Wetlands are also considered the most biologically diverse of all ecosystems, serving as home to a wide range of plant and animal life. Whether any individual wetland performs these functions, and the degree to which it performs them, depends on characteristics of that wetland and the lands and waters near it. Methods for rapidly assessing these functions, wetland ecological health, and general wetland condition have been developed in many regions and have contributed to wetland conservation partly by raising public awareness of the functions and the ecosystem services some wetlands provide.

Recreation

The river supports rainbow, brook, brown, and bull trout. The upper river offers good fly fishing for small brook trout, while brown trout are found only in the lower river downstream of the marsh. Rough forest roads provide access to parts of the lightly fished river. The lower 12 miles (19 km) is generally bordered by privately owned land, where permission is needed for access. [9]

Rainbow trout species of trout

The rainbow trout is a trout and species of salmonid native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coastal rainbow trout(O. m. irideus) or Columbia River redband trout (O. m. gairdneri) that usually returns to fresh water to spawn after living two to three years in the ocean. Freshwater forms that have been introduced into the Great Lakes and migrate into tributaries to spawn are also called steelhead.

Brook trout species of fish

The brook trout 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 in North America, as well as to Iceland, Europe, and Asia. In parts of its range, it is also known as the eastern brook trout, speckled trout, brook charr, squaretail, or mud trout, among others. A potamodromous population in Lake Superior, as well as an anadromous population in Maine, is known as coaster trout or, simply, as coasters. The brook trout is the state fish of nine U.S. states: Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia, and the Provincial Fish of Nova Scotia in Canada.

Brown trout species of brown trout

The brown trout is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes both purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, Salmo trutta morpha fario, and a lacustrine ecotype, S. trutta morpha lacustris, also called the lake trout, as well as anadromous forms known as the sea trout, S. trutta morpha trutta. The latter migrates to the oceans for much of its life and returns to fresh water only to spawn. Sea trout in the Ireland and Britain have many regional names: sewin in Wales, finnock in Scotland, peal in the West Country, mort in North West England, and white trout in Ireland.

The Nature Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that owns most of the Sycan Marsh and some of the surrounding forest, offers self-guided automobile tours of the marsh. No hunting, fishing, camping, or pets are allowed in the preserve, which has no services and few opportunities for hiking. However, the marsh, attracting thousands of migrating tundra swans, sandhill cranes, yellow rails, black tern, white-faced ibises, and other species, offers opportunities for bird-watching. Access to the preserve is by unpaved forest roads. [10]

The Nature Conservancy organization

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a charitable environmental organization, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, United States.

Tundra swan species of bird

The tundra swan is a small Holarctic swan. The two taxa within it are usually regarded as conspecific, but are also sometimes split into two species: Bewick's swan of the Palaearctic and the whistling swan proper of the Nearctic. Birds from eastern Russia are sometimes separated as the subspecies C. c. jankowskii, but this is not widely accepted as distinct, with most authors including them in C. c. bewickii. Tundra swans are sometimes separated in the subgenus Olor together with the other Arctic swan species.

Sandhill crane species of bird

The sandhill crane is a species of large crane of North America and extreme northeastern Siberia. The common name of this bird refers to habitat like that at the Platte River, on the edge of Nebraska's Sandhills on the American Plains. This is the most important stopover area for the nominotypical subspecies, the lesser sandhill crane, with up to 450,000 of these birds migrating through annually.

See also

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References

  1. ↑ McArthur, pp. 930–31
  2. 1 2 3 "Sycan River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. November 28, 1980. Retrieved April 7, 2011.
  3. 1 2 "National Hydrography Dataset". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved March 9, 2011.
  4. ↑ "Lower Sycan Watershed Analysis" (PDF). United States Forest Service. 2005. p. 2. Retrieved April 7, 2011.
  5. ↑ Palmer, Tim (2014). Field Guide to Oregon Rivers. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press. p. 239. ISBN   978-0-87071-627-0.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 United States Geological Survey. "United States Geological Survey Topographic Map". TopoQuest. Retrieved April 8, 2011. The relevant map quadrangles from mouth to source are Beatty, Spodue Mountain, Riverbed Butte Spring, Sycan Marsh West, Sycan Marsh East, Pole Butte, Riverbed Butte, Shake Butte, Harvey Creek, and Slide Mountain.
  7. ↑ "Sycan River, Oregon". National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Sycan Marsh Preserve". The Nature Conservancy. Retrieved April 8, 2011.
  9. ↑ Sheehan, p. 292
  10. ↑ "Discover Sycan Marsh" (PDF). The Nature Conservancy. 2005. Retrieved April 8, 2011.

Works cited

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