Oregon Lake Inventory:
East Sutton Lake, Lane County, Oregon

Introduction

East Sutton Lake is one of a group of lakes located on dunal topography near Florence, Oregon. West Sutton Lake is connected to East Sutton through a narrow 200-foot long five-foot deep channel. Surface inflow to East Sutton Lake is through Rath Creek and several small, unnamed tributaries. Outflow is through the channel, into West Sutton Lake where it mixes with water from Mercer Creek, and finally out Sutton Creek. Sutton Creek reaches the Pacific Ocean in two miles.

The lakes in this system, like several others on the Oregon Coast, were formed through the blockage of coastal stream valleys by advancing sand dunes. This process occurred following the Pleistocene Epoch, a period in which lower reaches of coastal streams were inundated by rising sea levels. Advancing sand dunes subsequently dammed the mouths of the valleys and formed the lakes (Cooper 1958). The modern lakes in the system; Mercer, West Sutton, and East Sutton, have water surface elevations above sea level, but deepest contours below sea level.

Private land and residences surround much of East Sutton Lake but access is provided by boat from West Sutton Lake. The Suislaw National Forest maintains a boat launch near the outlet from West Sutton Lake, part of the Sutton Lake Recreation Area. Fishing is good for stocked rainbow trout, native cutthroat trout, smallmouth bass, perch and bluegill. Coho salmon also inhabit the system during portions of their lifecycle.

Watershed Characteristics

The surface of East Sutton Lake covers a small percentage of its total watershed area, only 3.8 % (figure 1). The remainder of the watershed is composed of forest, non-forested vegetation (marshland), and urban-agriculture (residential areas) (table1). Only a small portion contains barren land (sand dunes) and urban areas. Forests in the watershed are young and consist of a large percentage of hardwood and mixed hardwood/conifer forest. Road density is 29 meters per hectare, a similar value to other Oregon coastal watersheds included in this study. Precipitation is high on the steep slopes of the lake’s coast range watershed. The high point in the watershed is 449 meters at Cape Mountain.

Figure 1.

Table 1.

Figure 2.

Morphometry

East Sutton Lake has the characteristic dendritic shape of a blocked valley (figure 3). The shoreline drop is less dramatic than other dune lakes, but still falls to a depth over four meters rather quickly. The deepest point measured, 10.2 m, lies in the flat south central portion of the lake. Relatively shallow sections exist in the northern arm and in the tips of the other arms. The mean depth is 6.2 meters.

Figure 3.

Water Quality

Several water quality parameters were measured in East Sutton Lake during the summer of 2001 (methods link). A summary is provided in table x. East Sutton’s trophic state based on Secchi disc depth, chlorophyll a concentration, and total phosphorus concentration ranged from index values of 42 to 52. These values are mostly within the mesotrophic range. Historic data for comparison with these values is scarce, but researchers at Portland State University did sample the lake during the spring of 1982. Calculated index values were slightly higher that in 2001 (figure 4).

Oxygen was depleted in the hypolimnion during the two visits when thermal stratification was present. Vertical profiles of temperature, oxygen and other parameters are included below. The mixing depth of the East Sutton Lake was considerably shallower than that of the West Sutton Lake during the stratified season. This is probably due to higher exposure to prevailing winds in the west basin. Tannic acid equivalents were higher than in the west basin, likely due to watershed characteristics.

Water clarity and sediment quality were sufficient to support dense beds of submerged macrophytes such as Elodea canadensis, Najas spp., and Utricularia vulgaris. Elodea canadensis, a species that can be problematic, is particularly dense. Floating leaved macrophytes surround shallow areas near the shoreline. Species present include Nymphaea odorata, Nuphar lutea, Brasenia schreberi, and Potomogeton spp.

Table 2.

East Sutton Lake, 2001 Data

APRIL 17

JULY 18

SEPT. 16

Resources

Cooper, W. S. 1958. Coastal Sand Dunes of Oregon and Washington. N.Y. Geol. Soc. Am. Memoir 72. New York, NY. 169 pp.