An Integrated Approach To Expanding Salmon Populations

Eel River Salmon Restoration Project
September 2, 2008


The Eel River Salmon Restoration Project has focused on maintaining and expanding salmon and steelhead populations in the South Fork of the Eel River, the watershed that we call home. Beginning in the early 1980's, our initial work was supported in large part through funding provided by California commercial salmon fishermen and fisherwomen by way of the Salmon Stamp Program. This funding allowed us to develop a small-scale hatchery program, utilizing native coho salmon and Chinook salmon eggs obtained from a fyke entrance trap fished on a weir near the mouth of Redwood Creek, which flows through the small community of Briceland. Efforts were made to maintain as diverse a genetic base as possible by splitting egg lots and fertilizing the eggs of each female with numerous males of different age. The natal fish were planted back into their natal watershed. Planted fish were tagged or marked to allow us to both track their survival and better protect the genetics by limiting in-breeding of our "hatchery" fish, thusly minimizing our hatchery influence.

Students engaged in "Salmon in the Classroom." in 2004 Photo: courtesy ERSRP archives

Recognizing that hatcheries are "not the answer" to maintaining and enhancing a species, we also integrated habitat restoration and public education into our program. Various grant programs enabled us to address restoration and education through site specific watershed-based projects and programs. Putting "watershed appropriate" salmon eggs into local classrooms was one of the direct benefits of our trapping activities. Students learned about the life histories and habitat requirements of "their" salmon and learned about what they could do to make conditions better for salmon and steelhead. Some of the former students involved in this program later went on to pursue college education and developed careers devoted to environmental sustainability and protection as a result of their participation in this educational program. Sadly, our ability to trap and take even a limited number of eggs for educational purposes has been suspended by authorities working for the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) and National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries (formerly National Marine Fisheries Service). While support for this educational program is still strong among community members, teachers, parents, and students, we will have to wait for the agencies to recognize the importance of this watershed-based education program. Our fish trap sits idle on the bank of Redwood Creek while agency personnel ponder the value of watershed-based education?

While salmon and steelhead are sediment dependent species, the qualities of sediment can be either positive (clean appropriately sized spawning gravel beds) or negative (gravels choked with silt and sand). Habitat quality is key to survival and expansion of coho salmon, Chinook salmon, and steelhead populations.

By the time you are reading this article we will be busy on two projects, funded through the CDFG Restoration Grant Program, to reduce fine sediment input into fish bearing tributaries of the South Fork Eel River. On Leggett Creek, we will be excavating a failing bank and placing logs to deflect flows away from the bank, reducing sedimentation of valuable spawning and rearing areas downstream. On Redwood Creek, we will be re-excavating a sediment catchment basin which has become filled with thousands of cubic yards of sediment originating on a large landslide, which we refer to as the "Blue Goo Slide". The sediment will be redistributed upslope and plated later this year with willow cuttings and conifer seedlings.

We would like to thank both Working Assets Telephone Service Provider and the Cereus Fund for providing funding for our tree planting activities. Their support allows us turn the sediment that we have kept out of the creek into a new forest with all the benefits that a growing forest provides for our local watershed-based community, including humans, animals and plants. The place we all call home.

For more information: www.hits.org/salmon98



This article can be found online at www.treesfoundation.org/publications/article-331

Forest & River News is produced by Trees Foundation. For more information contact:
Eel River Salmon Restoration Project
PO Box 589
Miranda CA 95553
Phone: (707) 923-9109