Freshwater DataStream

Station 18C070 Description

Morse Creek is an independent drainage located between the Dungeness and Elwha rivers on the North Slope of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. The main stem of Morse Creek is 16.3 miles long with a total drainage area of approximately 57 square miles. The head waters of the creek range from 4,000 to 5,000 feet elevation in the Hurricane Ridge area of Olympic National Park and flows in a northerly direction to its mouth at the Strait of Juan De Fuca about five miles east of Port Angeles in Clallam County. The two largest tributaries are Maiden Creek (confluence at river mile 10.5) and Lake Creek (confluence at river mile 7.5). The City of Port Angeles diversion dam is located at river mile7. Morse Creek is relatively high-gradient, steep and fast flowing throughout its length. Even the lower reaches are characterized by long, steep riffles. The average gradient for its entire length is greater than 6 percent. Morse Creek has been known for its valuable salmon runs and is currently considered a high priority candidate for salmon habitat restoration. In August of 2000 the Department of Ecology's Stream Hydrology Unit installed a flow monitoring station near the mouth of Morse Creek at the request of the Elwha/Morse Watershed Management Team. The management team is comprised of a diverse coalition of stakeholder caucuses including Clallam County, the City of Port Angeles, the (Lower) Elwha Kllallam Tribe, Department of Ecology as well as private landowners, business/commercial interests, fisheries and recreation interests and environmentalists among others. The group was founded in response to the Watershed Planning Act, WA RCW Title 90, Chapter 90.82. Presently they are early in the planning process, gathering, analyzing and organizing data. One of the tasks assigned to the planning team is to develop a water budget and water balance analysis. As a result, Ecology's Stream Hydrology Unit was asked to supply flow information to assist in this effort. The Ecology flow monitoring station is equipped with a data logger and a pressure transducer for recording and measuring stage-height at fifteen-minute intervals. After taking several discharge measurements, a rating curve is determined by plotting these measured discharges against the stage heights at the time of the measurements. The rating curve and its associated regression equation, applied to the recorded stage-height measurements, produce a record of predicted flows.