Peace, Porcupines, and Stream Ecology at Clear Creek

Have you spotted a Porcupine in the woods? Still looking for your first Western Terrestrial Garter Snake? Want to see a sprawling Beaver pond? Clear Creek Road has blessed us with these unusual finds.

Tucked away on Columbia County’s southern border, Clear Creek is primarily frequented by rockhounds and elk hunters. It’s a Weyerhaeuser property, so you now need a pass, and the area is extensively clear-cut. But there are enough streams to preserve corridors of trees from the cuts, and the result in our experience is a higher than average richness in wildlife.

The dominant visual of the property is Clear Creek and its tributaries (including South Prong Clear Creek and Green Timber Creek). These creeks gurgle softly through hardwood forest without much elevation change.

One tributary opens up into an impressive beaver pond. Despite this tributary’s small size, the beavers have built layer upon layer of dams backing up water for over 400 feet. Beaver ponds provide a valuable service for spawning salmon by ensuring that sediment settles in the slow waters and is filtered out by the dam itself, causing the water to come out far clearer and thus keeping salmon eggs downstream from being smothered by soil runoff.

This beaver pond is a beaut.

This pond provides breeding grounds for an array of wildlife. I discovered a nest of duck eggs near the shore, and pond-breeding amphibians use its waters to propagate their little ones.

The Western Terrestrial Garter Snake is one of our rarer stream associates. This beautiful snake is found where streams intersect with open meadows. For some reason, it has disappeared from most areas where homes or agriculture are present. We’ve only seen them in a handful of locations, and Clear Creek happens to be one of two Columbia County localities with the most finds.

You can identify the Western Terrestrial Garter Snake by its white/yellow markings and dotted or indented dorsal stripe. All other local garter snakes have a back stripe with straight edges.

I’ll end with one of my favorite finds from last year. I was searching for ditches along the road, looking to survey pond amphibians, when I spotted a spiky form in a ravine. My first Columbia County porcupine! The portly creature lumbered away when he saw me, so I took a half hour’s break and approached more cautiously. He was out in the open again, and we could observe each other for some time.

Porcupines have been decimated in western Oregon, killed by those who think they negatively impact tree harvest. As a result, the unique rodents have become a rare sight. I felt blessed to get the chance to see one before there aren’t any more around here.

Another rare species that might be in the area, but which we haven’t seen, is the Western Fence Lizard. We’ve hypothesized that this species could be present on clearcut log cuts along the southern border of the county, so keep your eyes open! As always, enter any finds in https://www.inaturalist.org/

You can find Clear Creek by taking Timber Road off Highway 47 and driving five miles south until you reach Clear Creek Road. Turn right and follow the road ~2 miles to the end – don’t block the gate! Once again, this is a property you can only hike with a Weyerhaeuser pass.