These extreme low summer flows present a significant challenge to the human and salmon populations who both depend on the river for their survival in this remote watershed on California's North Coast. To meet this challenge, Sanctuary Forest established the Mattole Flow Program in 2003 to sustain healthy instream flows for fish and people.
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The pool is isolated now, with no flow coming in from upstream or leaving downstream. The coho are trapped with nowhere to escape. The likelihood that these fish will survive the predation of otters or raccoons is low. Even if they do escape being eaten, there are the perils of increased competition for a shrinking food supply and the pool simply drying up and disappearing.
Coho salmon are listed as threatened with extinction under the California State and Federal Endangered Species Acts. It is ironic that here, in the place with the highest annual average rainfall in California, it is the lack of seasonal water which threatens to be the ultimate blow to the coho's many millennia of occupying this 300-square-mile basin.
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Two decades of conservation work by Sanctuary Forest to create a six thousand acre old-growth forest and salmon reserve in the Mattole River headwaters have helped to pull the coho from the brink of extinction. But the low flow crisis threatens to undermine those gains. Seven of the last nine years have been amongst the lowest summer flow years recorded in the fifty-seven years of recorded flows in the Mattole watershed. This significant climatic trend is exacerbated by the demands of human use of water.
Emerging from the surface of the coho pool is a black plastic pipe snaking its way up the steep river bank. One end of the pipe is found at the bottom of the pool. In acknowledgment of its shared inhabitants, it is covered with a wire mesh to prevent the induction of young fish and debris into the line. The other end is connected to a pump supplying a nearby homestead.
Like many rural areas of the North Coast, there is no municipal water supply in the Mattole and each resident maintains his or her own water system. Studies done by Sanctuary Forest indicate that human use accounts for 20-100% of all available water during the critical dry season. Pumps are often found in coho pools because humans also like the same cold, clear water that coho need to survive. There are over 40 such pumps in the mainstem of the Mattole River headwaters near the community of Whitethorn.
Idling as many of these pumps as possible during the critical low flow season of August through November is the first objective of Sanctuary Forest's Mattole Flow Program.
Low, squat, and thirty feet in circumference, they sit gleaming silver amidst the browns and greens of the surrounding meadows and forests. Looking like lost flying saucers, these large-capacity water storage tanks have become an increasingly familiar sight in the Whitethorn community. Sanctuary Forest is funded by over a half a dozen state, federal, and foundation sources to install 15 of these 50,000 gallon tanks in two critical fish habitat reaches of the Mattole River near Whitethorn. These tanks will help silence many of the pumps lurking at the bottom of coho habitat pools, threatening to drain them.
In a community where landowners cherish the freedoms afforded them by their property rights, it's a big decision to agree to curtail them. That is exactly what participants who receive a tank from Sanctuary Forest must agree to do. They sign a forbearance agreement promising not to pump from the river when the fish need the water the most. In lieu of pumping, participants use the water stored in their tank instead. The 50,000 gallons are sufficient to last a family of three 108 days, allowing for irrigation of a small garden and 2,500 gallons of fire safety water maintained in the tank.
Ken and Michelle Forden were the first landowners in the community to enter into the "storage and forbearance" element of the Mattole Flow Program, sign the agreement, and receive a tank. Ultimately, what helped them take the leap was the realization that doing their part to keep the river flowing would help sustain both fish and people.
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While the concept of storing abundant winter water for use in the dry summer is simple, it took a great deal of work to create this program. First, we had to demonstrate that enough water could be stored to create a real benefit for the river. This involved three seasons of measuring the river's flows and determining how much of those flows were used by people. Then, we had to obtain the necessary permits for water storage. This required demonstrating that water could be diverted and stored safely without harming the fish. Finally, we had
to create the forbearance agreement that will legally bind participating landowners and Sanctuary Forest to a water conservation trusteeship.
We are grateful to our many friends in the California Department of Fish and Game, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and State Water Resources control Board, who supported our efforts and encouraged us to persevere. These agencies wanted us to succeed in creating voluntary and incentive based solutions to the Mattole low-flow crisis. They hoped to help us avoid the expensive and rancorous water battles that have occurred in other river systems as a result of legal and regulatory actions.
Instead of costly lawsuits and ineffective regulations, we now see a future where the community and agencies are working harmoniously together. Through the innovative efforts of the Mattole Flow Program and the incentives it provides, we can manage the river as a vital shared resource which benefits both people and wildlife. We look forward to implementing the Mattole Flow Program and demonstrating the effectiveness of this new tool for water conservation and sustaining instream flows. We also recently published the "Water Storage Guide: Storing water to benefit streamflows and fish in North Coast creeks and rivers" (see our website).
Our community and the future of the Mattole coho depend on it. We are in a race against time for saving these fish. This year is on track to having the lowest recorded flows in the Mattole watershed in history.
The following people and organizations help fund the Mattole Flow Program: ,California State Water Resources Control Board, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, California Department of Fish and Game, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Trees Foundation Cereus Fund, Bella Vista Foundation, California State Coastal Conservancy, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Sanctuary Forest Donors, participating landowners, Ellison, Schneider & Harris, KP Title Solutions, Global Water Instrumentation, and Hach Company.
For more information:www.sanctuaryforest.org