Crescent-Hoko Watershed

Location of the Crescent-Hoko Watershed in Washington State.  Map courtesy of the EPA.The Crescent-Hoko watershed follows the Strait of Juan de Fuca, covering 384 square miles on the Olympic peninsula from Port Angeles to Neah Bay. The system has nine major streams – the Sekiu River, Hoko River, Clallam River, Pysht River, Deep Creek, East and West Twin Rivers, Lyre River, and Salt Creek. The climate is typical of maritime regions, with dry, cool summers and mild winters with high rainfall, averaging between 60 and 110 inches per year. Precipitation is heaviest in the western part of the watershed, declining farther from the Olympic mountains. Aquifers are fed primarily by precipitation, with a small amount coming from snow-fed Lake Crescent through fractures in the bedrock.

Most of the watershed has been harvested for timber at some point in the last 100 years, and three-quarters of the land is zoned for commercial forestry.  Habitat is primarily lowland conifer-hardwood forest, dominated by Douglas fir, western hemlock, and other evergreens. Riparian wetlands are also represented. Over 200 species live in the watershed, including the spotted owl and marbled murrelet, which both depend on old-growth forest habitat and are federally protected species.

EPA watershed profile:

Related WRIA: 19

All Puget Sound WRIAs

Sources:

Lyre-Hoko Watershed Plan