January 30, 2001
After twenty years or more of intensive bioregional efforts, the watershed concept seems to have grown strong roots here in the Mattole. People talk about the watershed as the context for education, community planning, their neighbors, and everyday life.
Aligning oneself to a place is powerful; it helps incubate innovative
cooperative land management efforts.
A primary realization from the early years of Mattole restoration
efforts was that to save salmon we would have to look beyond the
creeks and the river and into the watershed. Indeed, fire, erosion,
microclimates, land use, and geology all affect how the river runs.
Understanding this interconnectedness led to questions. How did our
lives on the land affect the river? What types of living might work
with, rather than against, natural processes? What land decisions can
help restore the river's health? In usual Mattole fashion, these
questions are being answered in the best possible way: by trying out
possibilities and by learning from one another to develop
Mattole-specific ideas about land stewardship. More and more, these
questions are being asked by residents who understand watershed
processes and want to work with them. Neighbors are getting together
to figure out how to thin forests for fire safety around their
houses, while others are busy inventorying culverts for potential
upgrades and replacements. Some people are learning how to do
instream salmonid habitat assessment, while others are busy
discussing with neighbors the need for cooperative land management.
How does the MRC fit into all this activity? We are continuing our
watershed-scale efforts in many areas: ecological education, forest
practices review, reforestation of cut-over lands, computer mapping
services (GIS), and the operation of our resource center. We offer
these programs to local organizations and landowners through
consultation, trainings, joint ventures, and cooperative efforts.
One of the most exciting cooperative efforts is the "Good Roads,
Clear Creeks" program. Together, the MRC, Mattole Salmon Group,
Sanctuary Forest, Middle Mattole Conservancy, and state and federal
land management agencies are addressing the critical amounts of
sediment entering salmon-bearing creeks in the Mattole. Sediment
problems landed the Mattole River on the government's list of
"impaired water bodies," and they are generally agreed to be a major
factor in salmon and steelhead decline. We've known for twenty-five
years that this is a problem, so it is bold for me to say that I
think the Good Roads, Clear Creeks approach will become our best
approach to this problem (given presence of many small landholdings,
history of mistrust because of land management battles, highly roaded
and erodible landscape, and fisheries restoration work).
In the Good Roads, Clear Creeks program, we will survey sediment
delivery sites (bad culverts, slumping stream banks, landslides,
gullies, and other features that might release sediment into a
waterway) on properties of willing landowners. After completing the
surveys, we will rank the sites by how much sediment they can deliver
and how cost-effective it is to treat them. The problem sites will be
treated in order of priority as funding becomes available. The
Mattole Salmon Group will assess water quality and salmon habitat
instream, before and after corrective work, to evaluate this strategy.
Sounds good so far, but it is even better. Since we will work
tributary by tributary until we have corrected problems in the whole
watershed, we can look for results where it matters: in the creeks.
If only one property owner in an area fixed erosion problems, you
might not notice much improvement in salmon habitat. If 70 to 80
percent of the land in a tributary is treated, we think it might go
far toward improving fish habitat and water quality.
A great example is in the Gilham Butte/Panther Gap area, where the
MRC is coordinating this project on behalf of local landowners and
the Middle Mattole Conservancy. We are doing this as part of the
larger Redwoods to Sea Stewardship Program, an effort to help
landowners engage in cooperative land-use planning, restoration, fuel
load reduction, and conservation-based economic activities.
The Good Roads, Clear Creeks concept will be applied to five
tributary watersheds-Middle, Gilham, Westlund, Fourmile, and Sholes
Creek. We will start inventorying lands in these watersheds in 2001,
and we aim to correct sediment delivery problems in 2002. Along the
way, we will train twenty Mattole residents in the Monschke Star
Worksheet protocol, one of two approved sediment-delivery inventory
protocols. Building local capacity to do these surveys will be
important. Our long-term goal is to inventory and treat sediment
delivery sites in all or most Mattole tributaries within five to ten
years. In each case, we will partner with a local organization or a
"landowner liaison" to ensure that local needs are met and that as
many people as possible are engaged. Participating landowners will
receive a complete report of the findings and recommendations, keyed
to their own properties.
The MRC also has been expanding the Mattole Resource Center, the best
library for information on sustainable land management, watershed
science, Mattole-specific resources, restoration efforts, and more.
The Resource Center now maintains regular office hours, Tuesday
through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Maps, timber harvest plans, files
on each Mattole tributary, reports on past projects, videos, and
periodicals also are available. We can provide, at cost, custom maps
of individual properties or specific areas from our GIS Program.
In addition to developing our existing programs, we find it
gratifying to participate in local initiatives (like Redwoods to
Sea). Inspired by a vision of long-term economic and ecological
sustainability, residents have been identifying how they will live
within the watershed. Working together as members of a watershed
community would not be possible without a strong sense of place.
This, in turn, would not have been possible without being in such a
special place, for which we all can be thankful.
Chris Larson, the MRC's new executive director, hails from the Santa
Cruz Mountains. His last job was as director of the San Gregorio
Environmental Resource Center in San Gregorio, Calif., where he was
involved in water quality monitoring, herpetological surveys, and
water rights issues. He can be reached at (707) 629-3514 or at
clarson@mattole.org.
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TOC for Forest & River News, Winter 2001