Watershed Acreage: 23,217 acres

Land Use: Residential, Commercial forestland

Total Stream Miles: 17 miles
Anadromous Stream Miles: 17 miles

Ownership Pattern:
Heavy residential development exists at the mouth of Sherwood to RM 1 and around the shores of Mason Lake. DNR and Green Diamond Resource Company own much of riparian areas along both creeks and very limited rural residential exists on Schumocher Creek.

Watershed Description:
Wetlands that lie at the headwaters of this stream complex evolve into Schumocher Creek. The waters of Schumocher Creek meander seven miles through additional wetlands before depositing into Mason Lake, which is a high temperature, shallow lake with heavy residential development. Sherwood Creek flows from Mason Lake and then drains eight miles into a Case Inlet estuary.

The estuary on Sherwood Creek has a freshwater dike constructed in the 1950's to protect outdated shellfish beds. Heavy residential development dominants the lower mile, with a mill pond at RM 1.1. Hatchery Chinook strays are often present in the reach of the creek. DNR and Green Diamond Resource Company own from the millpond to Mason Lake. A recent SRFB project replaced two impassable culverts at RM 6.5 with a 65 foot precast concrete railroad bridge, allowing migration for all species to areas not accessed for 60 years. A DNR bridge crosses the creek at RM 7.5, where the creek turns predominately to wetlands. Mason County owns Five Pipes, a series of five culverts designed to function similar to a bridge in the hydrophilic soils.

Anderson Lake Creek is a 1.75-mile tributary to Sherwood Creek at RM 0.5. An impassable perched culvert was replaced on Anderson Lake Creek near the confluence with Sherwood with a new box culvert with streambed material distributed throughout. This tributary offers good spawning and rearing habitat, with excellent gravels and numerous pieces of LWD.

Man-made and beaver dams located at the outlet regulate the water levels of Mason Lake. The lake is also being treated for milfoil and predator species have been found in the lake.

Schumocher Creek has wetlands throughout and wetland headwaters, with a newly constructed Mason County bridge at RM 0.2, replacing a blown-out culvert Little development exists along this creek offering good rearing habitat for Coho and cutthroat. Simpson Timber Company owns the mouth of Schumocher Creek and has developed an employee park on the shoreline of the lake. The stream channel starting at the mouth of the creek, through the park has no riparian buffer and has been impacted from road crossings and other non-compatible land use activities. An active community association conducts spawner surveys on Schumocher and Sherwood creeks and operates several remote site incubators (RSI) throughout the system.

Description from the Salmon Habitat Protection and Restoration Plan for Water Resource Inventory Area 14, Kennedy-Goldsborough. For more information including salmonid stock status see the previously stated document or the Salmonid Habitat Limiting Factors Water Resource Inventory Area 14, Kennedy-Goldsborough Basin. For fish use and fish passage barriers see the map image located in pictures. For a list of priority projects and programs in this watershed see the document titled Sherwood Creek -Priority Habitat Projects and Programs.