The pioneers arrived in 1843 and with them came cattle, sheep, wagons and people. Intensive agriculture production ensued as the bottom floor of the Willamette Valley was cleared and ditches were dug to drain standing water. With them came the trappers, loggers, salmon fishermen, miners and general ineptitude toward the Indian Nations of this land, its culture and history.
Here, the river-based culture of the Kalapuya people used the North and South Forks of the Santiam as the major source for transportation, for food and for commerce. They used cedar-built river canoes for 8,000-10,000 years.
The pioneers saw the world in a different way. The importance of the rivers was minimized and the land-based resources of furs, timber, fish, minerals and land were exploited. As a result, the ecological habitats of forbs and fauna were changed forever. Beavers were trapped, old-growth timber felled, fish were over exploited and mining towns surfaced on the slopes of the Cascades, sending tailings downstream on salmon spawning beds.
What did Santiam Valley Ranch look like before Meriwether Lewis and William Clark spent the winter at Fort Clatsop under the care of Chief Coboway in 1805-1806; before the pioneers then charted their way to Oregon known then as "River of the West?"
Speaking today in ecological terms, our farm laid on the lowest elevations of the Santiam Valley floor. With predominantly clay and slightly well-drained soils, the landscape today would be termed "wetland prairie and upland prairie."
What Did A Wetland Prairie Look Like in early 1800? Due to its heavy clay soils, one might find entire swathes of wetland prairie habitat near creeks, or slivers of wetland prairie occupying drainages and creeping into upland prairie. The wetland prairies were dominated by Tufted hairgrass (Deschampsia cespitosa), rushes (Juncus spp.), and sedges (Carex spp.). A great diversity of flowering annual and perennial forbs were present. As the pioneers ventured this way, the wet prairie became known as “Camas prairie” because of the vast purple hue and the massive abundance of the springtime Camas flower (Camassia ssp.)
Along with Camas, the arrow-shaped leaves of Wapato (Sagittaria spp.) abounded in and around seasonal pools, edges of wetlands, along rivers and in shallow ponds. A Kalapuya child or woman would slip her toes around the Wapato root in the mud, dislodge it from the bottom and toss the root into a canoe floating alongside. The bulbous root might be roasted fresh in a fire's embers or dried and later pounded into a compressed meal and served similar to our bread today or added to boiled meat. Sacajawea led the Lewis and Clark clan to the south side of the Columbia River because of the great source of Wapato, which became a frequent food during the Corp's winter diet.
The landscape exhibited endless streams and inlets along the river's edge where fish swam into sloughs and creeks, emanating from the over-spill of beaver dams. The pools created by the beavers provided abodes to a vast array of amphibians and reptiles including the Northwestern salamander, Red-legged frogs and the Western pond turtle. Thick riparian vegetation found home along the streams and edges of creeks, boasting Oregon ash, Black cottonwood, willows, Bigleaf maple, Douglas-fir and Western redcedar that grew in rich profusion. Before trapping the beavers, channeling the waterways, cutting the timber for homes, fences and firewood, and cultivating the Valley floor, here stood the 200 foot tall Black cottonwood, seven feet in diameter, with an occasional 330 foot tall Douglas-fir, eight feet or more in diameter.
As part of the Pacific Flyway, Santiam Valley Ranch was right in the north-south migratory route for birds extending from the Arctic to Antarctica. Every year, millions of migratory birds traveled some or all of this distance both in spring and in fall, following food sources, heading to breeding grounds, or travelling to overwintering sites. Skies were darkened by the migrating geese and ducks. Feathers harvested from raptors and songbirds played a role in clothing, decorations and spiritual ceremonies.
Two hundred years ago, wetland prairie covered 1/3 of the total prairie area in the Willamette Valley, today spanning from Portland to Eugene. In the past 150 years, this landscape has been reduced to 1%.
What Did An Upland Prairie Look Like in early 1800? The upland prairie occurred on moderately well-drained soils intertwining with adjoining wetland prairie. It accommodated a range of plant communities based on soil depth and seasonal moisture. The majority of plants were grasses primarily being Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis ssp. roemeri), Red fescue (Festuca rubra), Sandberg bluegrass (Poa secunda), Prairie junegrass (Koeleria macrantha), Lemmon’s needlegrass (Achnatherum lemmonii), Wheatgrass (Elymus trachycaulus), Wild blue-rye (Elymus glaucus), and California oatgrass (Danthonia californica). Flowering perennial forbs would abound throughout this landscape, complemented with bryophyte flora of hornworts, liverworts and mosses.
The upland prairie could support shrub and trees but instead remained as open prairie due to prescribed burning by the native Kalapuya people. They burned the Valley floor during late fall to enhance the production of plant species used for food and fiber and to produce a lush crop of native grasses for plentiful deer and elk. The Oregon White oak withstood the seasonal scorching and rewarded the landscape with acorns, an additional source of food. Fire scorched the Tarweed, removing its sticky tar substance and leaving its husk full of seeds and ready for harvest. Western-facing slopes were burned as well to foster the propagation of huckleberry patches.
Two hundred years ago, upland prairie covered 2/3 of the total prairie area in the Willamette Valley, today spanning from Portland to Eugene. In the past 150 years, this landscape has been reduced to 1%.
Today, upland prairies, and their counterpart wetland prairies, are among the rarest of North American ecosystems.
What Did the Rest of the Valley Look Like in early 1800? The wetland and upland prairies provided luxuriant grasslands that creeped into the forested foothills on the Valley's eastern and western flanks. There they gave way to the Savannas where the understory was usually open with grassy or herbaceous vegetation, few shrubs, and intermittent stands of Oregon White oak, Douglas-fir or Willamette Valley Ponderosa pine. Beyond, one would notice that more trees would appear as the savannas merged with Oak-Pine Forest. Here the forests were dominated by oak and pine and included various combinations of Douglas-fir, Western redcedar, Western hemlock, Bigleaf maple, Red alder, Oregon ash, and dogwood. Lastly, one could see the Coniferous Forest surrounding the margins of the Willamette Valley adjoining the Cascade and Coast Range. Majestic old growth stands dominated the landscape with magnificent beauty from the forest filled with Douglas-fir, or mixtures of Douglas-fir with Grand Fir, Incense cedar, Willamette Valley Ponderosa pine, Chinquapin, and Madrone. Here, the forest floor was covered with Oregon grape and Salal. Higher elevations added the Western hemlock, Western redcedar, Grand fir, Bigleaf maple, dogwood, Oregon White oak, and Red alder.
The open space of the Valley welcomed a plethora of mammals that easily passed from one landscape to another, from one valley to the next, and from one mountain range to the next. They included the Roosevelt elk, Black-tailed and Columbian White-tailed deer, Grizzly bear, Black bear, Mountain lion, Bobcat, Coyote, Gray wolf, Red and Gray fox, Common porcupine, Long-tailed weasel, Ermine, Common raccoon, Striped and Western Spotted skunk, American beaver, Mountain beaver, River otter, Muskrat, and many smaller mammals including voles, moles, shrews, mice, woodrat, gopher, squirrels, chipmunk, rabbits, myotis and bats.
Of these, the Columbian White-tailed deer, Grizzly bear and Gray wolf no longer wander through the Santiam Valley, freely venturing from one landscape to the next. Gone too are several bird species who once made home here -- the Black-billed magpie, the Loggerhead shrike, the Burrowing owl and the Lewis's woodpecker. (This bird was so enjoyed by Meriwether Lewis that it was given his name after the discovery of Oregon in 1805.)
Loss of habitat, lack of protected routes, and construction of fences, buildings, roadways and later the north-south Interstate highway have eliminated mammal walking routes between the Cascade Range and the Coast Range. Without access to protected causeways across the Valley floor, the impact of isolation will affect the genealogy of these species.
After two hundred years, many mammals are isolated, confined to protected 'reserves' owned by large private timber corporations or within State or federal public lands in the foothills or mountain ranges. Loss and destruction of habitat on the Valley floor has affected animals with marked decline in amphibian and reptile populations. Native flora has been affected with many species now listed on the threatened or endangered species list. The impact on mycology, or soil fungi, and its importance to the living soil is unknown. Plant and animal invaders have found a new home, as native species struggle, putting further peril on Oregon's Willamette Valley ecosystem.
Caption: Wapato (Sagitarria latifolia)