Queets River - Natural History

Natural History

The Queets River is unusual in being a large river flowing through a relatively low-gradient, heavily forested alluvial valley. The forests on the western side of the Olympic Mountains have one of the highest rates of biomass production per unit area in North America. Discharge rates in the winter can be very high, sometimes with surges up to or over 100,000 cubic feet per second (2,800 m3/s). This combination results in frequent log jams and new channels. The river is not kept clear of woody debris, making it one of the few North American rivers of its size in which large log jams are common. The USGS operates a stream gage 4.6 miles (7.4 km) above the mouth of the Queets, 2.4 miles (3.9 km) downriver from the mouth of the Clearwater River. The mean annual discharge recorded over the lifetime of this gage up to 2009, is 4,347 cubic feet per second (123.1 m3/s). The peak maximum discharge was 133,000 cubic feet per second (3,800 m3/s), recorded on December 15, 1999. The maximum daily mean discharge was 91,100 cubic feet per second (2,580 m3/s), recorded on March 19, 1997. A minimum daily mean discharge of 281 cubic feet per second (8.0 m3/s) was recorded from September 25–28, 2005.