Past management practices have left a legacy of subbasins with high road densities and young timber stands. Older roads and landings may be located on unstable mid-slopes and were constructed using sidecast waste designs. These past management practices have caused mass failures or have created sites that exhibit tension cracks showing high potential of failure. These failures cause serious impact to watershed conditions. Below the Wynoochee Dam, the river begins to descend into a broad meandering valley with gravelly glacial alluvium underlying it.
Active agriculture is found, here with beef production and dairies being the principal pursuits.
Row crop production of sweet and field corn and peas is important. Some specialty crops are also grown. A high rating requires special watershed enhancement of mitigation considerations from management activities. An inventory of watershed improvement needs has identified hundreds of sites in need of erosion control or potential sedimentation sources through slope failures. Funding has been a limitation in addressing this watershed improvement need.