Fall Creek is a tributary of the

Middle Fork Willamette River The Middle Fork Willamette River is one of several forks that unite to form the Willamette River in the western part of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is approximately long, draining an area of the Cascade Range southeast of Eugene, which is at th ...

in Lane County in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. Beginning in the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington (state), Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as m ...

, the creek flows generally west through the

Willamette National Forest The Willamette National Forest is a United States National Forest, National Forest located in the central portion of the Cascade Range of the U.S. state of Oregon. It comprises . Over 380,000 acres (694 mi2, 1,540 km2) are National Wil ...

to enter the Middle Fork upstream of

Jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to ...

, southeast of Springfield and

Eugene Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Gene Eugene, stage name of Canadian born actor, record producer, engineer, composer and musi ...

. The map includes mile markers along the creek to the point. The remainder is an estimate based on map scale and ruler. Along its upper and middle reaches, the creek flows by many campgrounds, picnic sites, a state park, and the Fall Creek National Recreation Trail. Fall Creek Reservoir is a man-made reservoir where the stream is impounded by Fall Creek Dam. Below the dam, the small communities of

Unity Unity is the state of being as one (either literally or figuratively). It may also refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpoo ...

and Fall Creek lie along the lower reaches. Two covered bridges carry rural roads over the creek, one at Unity and the other further downstream.

Tributaries

Named tributaries of Fall Creek from source to mouth are Buzzard, Briem, Saturn, Delp, and Ninemile creeks. Then come Gold, Pacific, Tiller, Marine, Hehe, Small, and Gibraltar creeks. Further downstream are Alder, Puma, Jones, Portland, and Andy creeks. Then come Bedrock, Slick, Timber, Boundary, and Little Gold Creek. North Fork Fall Creek is next, after which Winberry Creek enters at Fall Creek Lake. Little Fall Creek enters the

main stem In hydrology, a main stem or mainstem (also known as a trunk) is "the primary downstream segment of a river, as contrasted to its tributaries". The mainstem extends all the way from one specific headwater to the outlet of the river, although t ...

in the lower reaches below the lake.

Covered bridges

Unity Bridge The Unity Bridge (sometimes called "Unity Bridge 1") across Ruvuma River at Negomano, Mozambique, between Tanzania and Mozambique, was proposed as early as 1975, shortly after History of Mozambique#Independence, Mozambique's independence. It was ...

at Unity carries Unity–Lowell Road over Fall Creek. The bridge is about below Fall Creek Reservoir and about by water from the

mouth A mouth also referred to as the oral is the body orifice through which many animals ingest food and animal communication#Auditory, vocalize. The body cavity immediately behind the mouth opening, known as the oral cavity (or in Latin), is also t ...

of the creek. Unity Bridge was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1979. Further downstream, Pengra Bridge carries Place Road over the creek along its lower reaches. The

Howe truss A Howe truss is a truss bridge consisting of chords, verticals, and diagonals whose vertical members are in tension and whose diagonal members are in compression. The Howe truss was invented by William Howe in 1840, and was widely used as a brid ...

structure, built in 1938, was also added to the

in 1979.

Recreation

Hiking and camping

Fall Creek National Recreation Trail runs along the creek between the Dolly Varden Campground and a trailhead near Tiller Creek. Access to the generally level hiking trail is via five trailheads at different points along the route. Log footbridges span the side streams of the trail, which connects to other trails, among them Clark Butte, Cowhorn Mountain, Gold Point, and Jones. Campgrounds are found at intervals along the Fall Creek National Recreation Trail and Forest Road 18. These include Dolly Varden, Big Pool, Broken Bowl, Bedrock, and Puma. Clark Creek Organization Camp, built by the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...

in the 1930s, has sites for group camping.

State park

Fall Creek State Recreation Site, a state park at Fall Creek Reservoir, has a variety of campgrounds and day-use areas, each with amenities that vary from site to site. These include boat launches, swimming areas, picnic areas, toilets, and parking. The park is open from May through September.

Fishing

''Fishing in Oregon'' describes the creek as "beautiful" as well as popular with anglers in pursuit of fin-clipped

Chinook salmon The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Oncorhynchus, Pacific salmon. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other vernacular names for the species include king salmon, quinn ...

(''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha''), stocked

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an Fish migration#Classification, ...

(''Oncorhynchus mykiss''), and wild

cutthroat trout The cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii'' clade) is a clade of four fish species of the Family (biology), family Salmonidae native to cold-water Tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean, Rocky Mountains, and Great Basin in North America. ...

(''Oncorhynchus clarkii''). Fin-clipped Chinook salmon are hatchery fish which were stocked through 2001. Currently, their descendants and wild salmon are trapped and hauled up over the dam. Outgoing salmon were historically challenged by predation by piscivorous non-native fish such as

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus nigricans'') is a carnivorous, freshwater fish, freshwater, ray-finned fish in the Centrarchidae (sunfish) family, native to the eastern United States, eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada an ...

(''Micropterus salmoides'') and

crappie Crappies () are two species of North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Pomoxis'' in the family Centrarchidae (sunfishes). Both species of crappies are popular game fish among recreational anglers. Etymology The genus name ''Pomoxi ...

(''Pomoxis spp.'') and difficulty navigating out over the dam. A novel study published in 2019 found that by simple, low-cost draining the reservoir to streambed for a short period each year for a number of years, salmon could more easily outmigrate and non-native warmwater fish were flushed out into coldwater, riverine conditions where they could not survive. This strategy has resulted in improved outmigration of salmon and led to the gradual disappearance of two species of predatory invasive fish (largemouth bass and crappie) in the artificial reservoir. Above Fall Creek Lake, the creek is heavily stocked with rainbow trout as far upstream as Gold Creek. Salmon, steelhead (sea-going rainbow trout), and salmon also frequent the creek downstream of the dam impounding the lake. The lake previously supported populations of non-native largemouth bass, crappie,

bluegill The bluegill (''Lepomis macrochirus''), sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or, in Texas, "copper nose", is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and wetlands ea ...

s, and a few trout.

References

External links

*
Middle Fork Willamette Watershed Council
{{authority control Rivers of Lane County, Oregon Rivers of Oregon