km). It flows into Annie Creek about one mile (1.6 km) beyond the forest border. Once it leaves the forest, Sun Creek is tapped for agricultural irrigation; however, the Department of Forestry protects the upper reach with a “Protective Conservancy — Critical Wildlife Habitat” land use classification. Wildlife There are 269 vertebrate species that live within the Klamath-Lake District’s forest lands. This total includes 12 amphibians, 5 fish, 15 reptiles, 157 birds, and 80 mammals. Many of these species have ranges that include Sun Pass State Forest. Every five years since 1997, the Klamath-Lake District conducts a pileated woodpecker survey in the Sun Pass State Forest to monitor the health of the wildlife habitat. The results of the survey show a stable population of pileated woodpeckers are located within the forest. Forest management When the State of Oregon acquired the original of land, it had been thoroughly logged. State foresters allowed an existing understory of white fir to develop. Much of the area was an ideal new generation of ponderosa pine and sugar pine to take hold. As a result, today’s Sun Pass forest is unusually diverse compared to similar forest areas of eastern Oregon. The Klamath-Lake District made its first sale in May 1944, selling ten cords of firewood. In July 1949, the district completed its first regular timber sale. In 1955, the Board of Forestry appointed a full-time forester to manage the state forest lands in Klamath and Lake counties. During the early years of active management, most timber sales were clean-up logging and salvage sales designed to cull areas of white fir and remove pockets of insect infested or diseased trees. Commercial thinning was done in the ponderosa pine and lodgepole pine stands to encourage continued growth in those areas. The first forest inventory was completed in 1959. The inventory was updated in 1976 and expanded in 1990-91. A tree improvement program began in 1970. Its goal was to introduce genetically superior seedling into the Sun Pass forest. In 1979, tree plantations were established to provide well adapted seedling for the Sun Pass area. In 1978, the Klamath-Lake District developed a long-range plan that continues to help forest managers to balance a wide range public interests in the Sun Pass forest. Today, most of Sun Pass State Forest is covered with uneven-aged, mixed conifer stands dominated by ponderosa pine that have been shaped by selective timber harvesting.