North Umpqua River Area – State Wildlife Action Plan

The North Umpqua River Area COA (119 mi²) is located on the eastside of Roseburg and includes a significant stretch of the North Umpqua River and its tributaries, as well as surrounding riparian and upland habitats. This COA is adjacent to the Umpqua River and South Fork Umpqua River and Tributaries COAs.

Recommended Conservation Actions

Maintain or enhance in-channel watershed function, connection to riparian habitat, flow and hydrology.
Maintain or enhance wetland and off-channel habitats.
Maintain and restore existing habitat and ecological function, ensuring sufficient habitat complexity for wildlife.
Maintain and enhance existing oak woodland habitat through means such as controlled fire.
Work with partners to seek land acquisition to benefit Columbian White-tailed deer habitat. Address connectivity concerns for Columbian White-tailed deer and Columbian Black-tailed deer.
Address conifer encroachment upon natural meadows and Oregon white-oak/ Oregon Ash habitats.

Local Conservation Actions and Plans

Potential Partners

Special Features

General

Area includes many important river confluences.
Area includes a significant amount of the ecoregion’s Grassland and Oak Woodland habitats.
Area provides significant habitat for the Western Purple Martin and other songbirds.
Important habitat for many frogs, salamanders, and turtles.
This area has been changed by fire and increased intensive viticulture/agriculture in recent years. The Archie Creek Fire intensely burned ~130,000 acres of Rock Creek Basin in 2020.
There has been a focus on oak woodland/savannah habitat restoration and protection in the region in recent years.

Protected Areas

North Bank
Popcorn Swale
Whistler’s Bend County Park

Previously Associated With

Previously Associated with (2006 COAs)
- KM-01 (Umpqua River area)
Size Change from 2016 boundaries: -62.0 mi² (34% decrease)

Specialized Local Habitats

Forest openings

Ecoregions

Klamath Mountains

The Klamath Mountains ecoregion covers much of southwestern Oregon, including the Klamath Mountains, Siskiyou Mountains, the interior valleys and foothills between these and the Cascade Range, and the Rogue and Umpqua river valleys. Several popular and scenic rivers run through the ecoregion, including the Umpqua, Rogue, Illinois, and Applegate rivers. Historically, this ecoregion is known …

West Cascades

The West Cascades ecoregion extends from east of the Cascade Mountains summit to the foothills of the Willamette, Umpqua, and Rogue Valleys, and spans the entire length of the state of Oregon. It is largely dominated by conifer forests, moving into alpine parklands and dwarf shrubs at higher elevations.

Key Habitats

Grasslands

Grasslands include a variety of upland grass-dominated habitats, such as upland prairies, coastal bluffs, and montane grasslands.

Late Successional Mixed Conifer Forests

Late successional mixed conifer forests provide a multi-layered tree canopy, including large-diameter trees, shade-tolerant tree species in the understory, and a high volume of dead wood, such as snags and logs.

Natural Lakes

Natural lakes are relatively large bodies of freshwater surrounded by land that were formed through geological processes, such as glacial scouring, tectonic movements, volcanic activity and river meander cutoffs. In Oregon, natural lakes are defined as standing water bodies larger than 20 acres, including some seasonal lakes. Depth is not a reference for characterization of …

Example of Oak Woodlands, which is a Strategy Habitat within the State Wildlife Action Plan

Oak Habitats

There are several oak habitat types in Oregon, where oaks comprise most of the canopy. These can include oak woodlands, oak forest, oak chaparral, and riparian oak. Oak savanna is covered in the Grasslands Key Habitat. Oaks may also co-dominate a canopy in oak/fir, oak pine, and oak hardwood habitats.

Flowing Water and Riparian Habitats

Flowing Water and Riparian Habitats include all naturally occurring flowing freshwater streams and rivers throughout Oregon as well as the adjacent riparian habitat.

Ducks on a wetland in Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area, Oregon

Wetlands

Wetlands are habitats that are inundated or saturated by surface water or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support vegetation typically adapted for life in sodden soil conditions. While dominated by periods of inundation, the natural ecological cycle may also include dry intervals. Permanently wet habitats include backwater sloughs, oxbow lakes, peatlands, …