Historic USGS TOPO mapsAlyssa Aaby 3/19/03 GEOG 522 Final Project The Nestucca Bay Area: Reconstructing the Historical Landscape Since the arrival of the first white settlers over 140 years ago, the physical landscape of the Nestucca Bay area has undergone significant changes. Yet, these changes are not well understood, and many questions arise pertaining to the ecological history of the area. How did the landscape reach its present state? What activities occurred on the land? How have the choices made by people influenced the landscape? In this paper, I will seek to answer these questions. In order to do so, I will examine both how and why the physical landscape has changed over time in response to these activities: agriculture, grazing, fishing, and tourism. Furthermore, I will examine how changing perceptions of the physical landscape have led people to modify the landscape in various ways. The sources used in this analysis will be early settler accounts, newspaper articles, and historic maps. Located 30 miles south of Tillamook on the Oregon Coast, the Nestucca Bay area stretches north from Cannery Hill and Oretown, to the town of Woods, and west from highway 101 to the Pacific Ocean (See Figure 1). Within this area are two population centers located along the tidal zone near the ocean, that were important in the development of the Nestucca area. The first area is that of Pacific City (earlier named Ocean Park (Taylor, 1991)) and Woods located on the Nestucca River, and the second area is Oretown located near the Little Nestucca and Nestucca Bay. These two areas 1served as the community centers for early settlers and most commercial operations. The physical landscape of this area is highly diverse. The topography of the area ranges from steep hills and mountains, to winding rivers and floodplains. This varied topography created many niches for the native plant and animal species. It also led settlers to engage in a variety of activities upon the land. As early as can be remembered, the Nestucca Indians were a well-established group within the Nestucca basin. In 1855, a treaty relegated the Indians to a reservation in the Little Nestucca River valley, which was later abolished in 1876 in favor of white settlement of the area (Taylor, 1991). Thus, during the spring of 1876, a group of settlers from Oregon City traveled from Grand Ronde over the old Gauldy trail, an early route to the Little Nestucca Valley, to file on homesteads Figure 1. A 1972 map of Nestucca Bay (Cox, 1975). (Taylor, 1991). A few months later, in June of 1876, the Nestucca Indians left the area under great pressure from the US government. By 1877, a school was opened, and a year later a post office was established in Oretown, making it the first settlement in the Nestucca region. Less than twenty years later, Woods also become a thriving population center. By 1893, Woods had a population of about 75, and a post-office with a triweekly mail via Dolph and 2Sheridan. It also had two general stores, a drug store and a small stream sawmill with about 10,000 feet B.M. capacity per day (Congress, 1893). The establishment of these towns, as well as the settlement of the area, altered the physical landscape and created a much different environment than the one observed by the first settlers. When the first white settlers arrived to the Nestucca area, the physical landscape they observed was quite different from the one observed today (See Figure 2). Figure 2. Nestucca Bay as it must have looked to early settlers. Note the relatively sparse vegetation, as well as the tree stumps in the foreground (www.pacificcity.org, 3/12/03). 3In describing the physical landscape, settlers, surveyors and local newspapers stated that the area was open and so rugged, that one homesteader looked at his claim and decided to return home (Rock, 1926). Other descriptions stated that a fire had raged through the area sometime 40 to 50 years prior, burning all the “magnificent forests” (Congress, 1893) that once covered the mountains. The accuracy of this observation is validated by a similar account printed in the The Oregonion, on August 25, 1894, which describes a great fire around the Nestucca Bay in 1845 (Morris, 1934). This might help to explainthe description of open areas, as well as the abundance of “the finest spruce and alder, some cedar and fir” (Yamhill Reporter, 1883) along the coast. This fire had also left scars upon the landscape that were observed as late as 1934: The vast deforested area today covered with ferns, brush and scattered young trees in the hills along the highway between Willamina and Hebo marks the course of a fire known from the tree ages to have occurred about 1845. The exact extent of the fire is unknown, as later fires have destroyed part of the evidence of the original fire (Morris, 1934). Based on various accounts, it is likely that this fire covered about 380,000 acres and was started when a slashing fire grew out of control. And, as the statement above suggests, this was not the only fire to burn in the Nestucca area. The image below, taken in 1924, highlights this idea. The hill in the background is bald, except for a few sparse trees. I would argue the lack of vegetation was the result of a fire, due to the condition of the remaining dead trees, as well as the underbrush vegetation. However, it is difficult to ascertain the true reason, as the quality of the photograph is poor. (Anonymous, 1971). 4Agriculture The lack of large trees due to reoccurring forest fires, combined with the flatness of the tidal lands and the rich soil led most settlers in the Nestucca area to take up agriculture as their primary pursuit (Congress, 1893). Accordingly, many of their accounts emphasize the abundance of rich agricultural soil. In addition, in order to draw settlers to the area, local papers unabashedly proclaimed how great the agricultural potentials were in the Nestucca Valley: She [Nestucca] only, as yet, a young settlement is fast coming into notice with her rich river bottoms of alluvial soil, unequaled in Oregon for its producing qualities. When the same improvement has taken place in her valleys as in those of Tillamook she will demand vessels for her produce too (Yamhill Reporter, 1883). The main produce grown was grain, hay and vegetables, followed by