Cedar River (Washington) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Cedar River is a river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

of Washington. About 45 miles (72.4 km) long, it originates in the Cascade Range

Cascade Range

The Cascade Range is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, and the notable volcanoes known as the High Cascades...

and flows generally west and northwest, emptying into the southern end of Lake Washington

Lake Washington

Lake Washington is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle. It is the largest lake in King County and the second largest in the state of Washington, after Lake Chelan. It is bordered by the cities of Seattle on the west, Bellevue and Kirkland on the east, Renton on the south and...

. Its upper watershed

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

is a protected area called the Cedar River Watershed, which provides drinking water

Drinking water

Drinking water or potable water is water pure enough to be consumed or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard, even though only a very small proportion is actually...

for the greater Seattle area.

The Cedar River, via Lake Washington and the Lake Washington Ship Canal

Lake Washington Ship Canal

The Lake Washington Ship Canal, which runs through the City of Seattle, Washington, connects the fresh water body of Lake Washington with the salt water inland sea of Puget Sound. The Ship Canal includes a series of locks, modeled after the Panama Canal, to accommodate the different water levels...

, drains into Puget Sound

Puget Sound

Puget Sound is a sound in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and one minor connection to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean — Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and...

Course

The Cedar River originates in the Cascade Range

Cascade Range

near Abiel Peak, Meadow Mountain, and Yakima Pass, along the King and Kittitas countyline. Several headwater streams join in the high mountains, then the Cedar River flows generally west. It is impounded in Chester Morse Lake

Chester Morse Lake

Chester Morse Lake is a lake in the upper region of the Cedar River watershed in the U.S. state of Washington. The original lake surface was 1,530 feet above sea level, but when the river was dammed in 1900, the elevation was raised to 1,560 feet...

, a natural lake that was dammed in 1900 for use as a water storage reservoir

Reservoir

A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...

. The Rex River joins the Cedar in Chester Morse Lake, as do the two forks of the Cedar River, the north and south forks.

Below the lake the Cedar River flows through a smaller lake called Masonry Pool. Below Masonry Pool the Cedar River flows by two former railroad sites, Bagley Junction and Trule. Then the river exits the Cedar River Watershed at Landsburg where pipelines route water to the Seattle area.

Below the Cedar River Watershed area the river flows west and north, past the city of Maple Valley

Maple Valley, Washington

Maple Valley is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 22,684 at the 2010 census.-History:The area was first settled in 1879 by three men who were improving a trail and brought their families in. When a name for a future community was proposed, the names Vine Maple...

and Renton

Renton, Washington

Renton is an Eastside edge city in King County, Washington, United States. Situated 11 miles southeast of Seattle, Washington, Renton straddles the southeast shore of Lake Washington. Founded in the 1860s, Renton became a supply town for the Newcastle coal fields...

. At Renton the Cedar River empties into the southern end of Lake Washington

Lake Washington

. Its waters eventually enter Puget Sound

Puget Sound

via the Lake Washington Ship Canal.

River modifications and management

The upper Cedar River watershed

Drainage basin

is a protected area called the Cedar River Watershed. About 90,000 acres (364 km²) in size, it is owned by the City of Seattle

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

. The Cedar River Watershed provides drinking water for 1.4 million people in the greater Seattle area. About two-thirds of King County

King County, Washington

King County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population in the 2010 census was 1,931,249. King is the most populous county in Washington, and the 14th most populous in the United States....

uses water from the Cedar River Watershed, over 100 million USgals (378,541.2 m³) per day. The reservoirs and pipeline infrastructure is owned and operated by Seattle Public Utilities

Seattle Public Utilities

Seattle Public Utilities is a public utility agency of the city of Seattle, Washington, which provides water, sewer, drainage and garbage services for 1.3 million people in King County, Washington...

. Public access is restricted and the area is managed as a wilderness

Wilderness

Wilderness or wildland is a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. It may also be defined as: "The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet—those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with...

in order to protect water quality.

Chester Morse Lake is the main storage reservoir of the Cedar River Watershed system. Pipelines route water to the Seattle area from Landsburg, at the western edge of the protected watershed area.

Before 1912 the Cedar River did not empty into Lake Washington but rather into the Black River

Black River (Duwamish River)

The Black River, also known as the Duwamish River, was a river in King County in the U.S. state of Washington. It drained Lake Washington until 1916 when the opening of the Lake Washington Ship Canal lowered the lake, causing the Black River to dry up...

. The Black River drained the southern end of Lake Washington, flowing south then west to join the Green River

Green River (Washington)

The Green River is a long river in the state of Washington in the United States, arising on the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains south of I-90....

. The Black-Green confluence created the Duwamish River

Duwamish River

The Duwamish River is the name of the lower of Washington state's Green River. Its industrialized estuary is known as the Duwamish Waterway.- History :...

, which emptied into Elliott Bay

Elliott Bay

Elliott Bay is the body of water on which Seattle, Washington, is located. A line drawn from Alki Point in the south to West Point in the north serves to mark the generally accepted division between the bay and the open sound...

. In 1911 there was a major flood along the lower Cedar River. This prompted the city of Renton to make a diversion canal so that the Cedar River emptied into Lake Washington instead of the Black River. The diversion was completed in 1912. The Cedar River's water, via Lake Washington, still ultimately flowed into the Black River, Duwamish River, and into Elliott Bay.

In 1916 the Lake Washington Ship Canal's Montlake Cut

Montlake Cut

The Montlake Cut is the easternmost section of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, which passes through the city of Seattle, linking Lake Washington to Puget Sound. It is approximately long and wide. The center channel is wide and deep....

was finished, connecting Lake Washington and Lake Union

Lake Union

Lake Union is a freshwater lake entirely within the Seattle, Washington city limits.-Origins:A glacial lake, its basin was dug 12,000 years ago by the Vashon glacier, which also created Lake Washington and Seattle's Green, Bitter, and Haller Lakes.-Name:...

. The water level of Lake Washington dropped 8.8 feet (2.7 m), to the level of Lake Union. As a result the outlet of Lake Washington became the Ship Canal instead of the Black River. The Black River dried up and no longer exists. Thus today the Cedar River's water enter Lake Washington and then pass through the Ship Canal to Puget Sound, rather than into Elliott Bay via the Duwamish River. Anadromous fish, such as salmon, which used to migrate up the Duwamish and Black rivers to reach the Cedar River, now migrate through the Ship Canal and Lake Washington.

The upper Cedar River flows through a region of deep and porous glacial till

Till

thumb|right|Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material , and this characteristic, known as matrix support, is diagnostic of till....

. A large amount of water seeps into the ground, forming an aquifer

Aquifer

An aquifer is a wet underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well. The study of water flow in aquifers and the characterization of aquifers is called hydrogeology...

. Most of this underground water eventually returns to the surface as springs

Spring (hydrosphere)

A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...

, flowing mainly into the Cedar River as well as the Snoqualmie River

Snoqualmie River

The Snoqualmie River is a long river in King County and Snohomish County in the U.S. state of Washington. The river's three main tributaries are the North, Middle, and South Forks, which drain the west side of the Cascade Mountains near the town of North Bend and join near the town of Snoqualmie...

and Rattlesnake Lake

Rattlesnake Lake

Rattlesnake Lake is a lake in King County, Washington, located in Rattlesnake Mountain Scenic Area some east of Seattle.-History:The town of Moncton existed in 1906–1915 around the northern edge of Rattlesnake Lake. In the spring of 1915 it was destroyed by flooding caused by seepage of water from...

. This process acts as a kind of natural water filtration

Water purification

Water purification is the process of removing undesirable chemicals, materials, and biological contaminants from contaminated water. The goal is to produce water fit for a specific purpose...

system. As a result, the Cedar River is one of the few rivers in the United States used for drinking water without requiring specially fabricated filtration.

Just south of the Cedar River Watershed is a similar protected area used for drinking water: the Green River Watershed, which supplies water to the greater Tacoma

Tacoma, Washington

Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...

area.

The watershed also has an education center. Here you can learn about the issues that involves the region's drinking water, forest and wildlife.

Environmental Issues

The river has problems with invasive species, erosion, and pollution from adjacent properties and runoff. In 1996, the The Friends of the Cedar River Watershed was formed to organize comity involvement in protection of the river and its tributaries. The organization has focused on education and ecological restoration. The four main programs currently run by The Friends of the Cedar River Watershed are: Cedar River Salmon Journey, Volunteer Habitat Restoration, The Watershed Report, and Stewardship in Action.

History

Efforts to use the Cedar River as a water source began in the 1890s. A dam was built at Landsburg and water diverted into a 29 miles (46.7 km) pipeline. The pipeline sent water to reservoirs in Seattle's Volunteer Park

Volunteer Park (Seattle)

Volunteer Park is a 48.3 acre park in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, USA.-History:Volunteer Park was acquired by the city of Seattle for $2,000 in 1876 from J.M. Colman...

and Lincoln reservoirs on Capitol Hill

Capitol Hill, Seattle, Washington

Capitol Hill is the most densely populated residential district in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the center of the city's gay and counterculture communities, and is one of the city's most prominent nightlife and entertainment districts....

. The first deliveries occurred in 1901. A second pipeline was built in 1909 and a third in 1923.

Another Reservoir was constructed in the early 1900's by the City of Seattle on an ancient glacial lake bed. The city constructed a ninety-foot concrete dam and used bedrock to the west and a glacial moraine

Moraine

A moraine is any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris which can occur in currently glaciated and formerly glaciated regions, such as those areas acted upon by a past glacial maximum. This debris may have been plucked off a valley floor as a glacier advanced or it may have...

to the east as natural barriers. The reservoir was known as the Cedar Reservoir and was fed by the Cedar River Drainage. Between the hours of 12AM and 2AM on December 23, 1918 a large section of the Cedar Reservoir failed and spilled between 800,000 to 2,000,000 cubic yards of water. The discharge flowed down Boxley Creek Valley, destroying the town of Edgewick, sawmills (owned by North Bend Lumber Company), and parts of the Milwaukee Railroad. The failure did not occur at the dam, but 6,000 feet on the moraine side of the reservoir. Initial discharge rates were estimated between 3,000 to 20,000 second-feet.

By 1899 the City of Seattle had acquired ownership of most of the Cedar River Watershed. Some land remained privately owned, mainly by logging

Logging

Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...

companies and sawmill

Sawmill

A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....

s. Before 1924 large sections of the forest were cut for timber. Wildfire

Wildfire

A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, squirrel fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wilkjjofire may be used to describe the same...

s burned more forests in the wake of logging operations. In 1924 the City of Seattle began the process of managing the Cedar River Watershed with a plan of ensuring water quality for the future. Logging continued, but methods were increasingly regulated and fire precautions strengthened. The 1962 Cedar River Watershed Cooperative Agreement began the process of transferring the remaining privately owned land to the City of Seattle. In 1996 the United States Forest Service

United States Forest Service

The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...

ceded its land in the watershed to Seattle. As a result, the city is the sole owner of the Cedar River Watershed area of the upper Cedar River.

Natural history

Due to logging in the early 20th century, only about 17%, or 14,000 acres (57 km²), of the Cedar River Watershed consists of old growth forest

Old growth forest

An old-growth forest is a forest that has attained great age , and thereby exhibits unique ecological features. An old growth forest has also usually reached a climax community...

. The majority of the forest remaining today is second growth forest

Secondary forest

A secondary forest is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a major disturbance such as fire, insect infestation, timber harvest or windthrow, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident...

.

The Cedar River Watershed provides habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

for a variety of wildlife. The river provides habitat for anadromous

Fish migration

Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few metres to thousands of kilometres...

fish including Chinook salmon

Chinook salmon

The Chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, is the largest species in the pacific salmon family. Other commonly used names for the species include King salmon, Quinnat salmon, Spring salmon and Tyee salmon...

, Coho salmon

Coho salmon

The Coho salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch, is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". It is the state animal of Chiba, Japan.-Description:...

, Sockeye salmon

Sockeye salmon

Sockeye salmon , also called red salmon or blueback salmon in the USA, is an anadromous species of salmon found in the Northern Pacific Ocean and rivers discharging into it...

, and Steelhead trout

Rainbow trout

The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....

. Deforestation

Deforestation

Deforestation is the removal of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a nonforest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use....

and associated erosion

Erosion

Erosion is when materials are removed from the surface and changed into something else. It only works by hydraulic actions and transport of solids in the natural environment, and leads to the deposition of these materials elsewhere...

in the early 20th century resulted in a degraded habitat for wildlife. Starting in the late 20th century efforts began to be made to protect and restore

Restoration ecology

-Definition:Restoration ecology is the scientific study and practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human intervention and action, within a short time frame...

the river and its watershed. Salmon run

Salmon run

The salmon run is the time at which salmon swim back up the rivers in which they were born to spawn. All Pacific salmon die after spawning. While most Atlantic salmon die after their first spawn, about 5-10% return to the sea to feed between spawnings. The annual run is a major event for sport...

s have been a major topic of concern, with work underway to recreate spawning channels, proper salmon habitat zones, and fish ladder

Fish ladder

A fish ladder, also known as a fishway, fish pass or fish steps, is a structure on or around artificial barriers to facilitate diadromous fishes' natural migration. Most fishways enable fish to pass around the barriers by swimming and leaping up a series of relatively low steps into the waters on...

Course

River modifications and management

Environmental Issues

History

Natural history

Further reading