Audio segments from Trees Radio Hour! Interview with Harry Vaughn & Jan Duncan-Vaughn of the Eel River Salmon Restoration Project July, 2004 Harry and Jan present a vision for restoring the ecological and cultural balance along the North Coast and share their optimism for watershed recovery, which includes the education of today's youth through their Salmon-In-The-Classroom projects.

ERSRP's Salmon in the Classroom educational program is directly responsible for putting the future of salmon restoration in the hands of our children. They have expanded their incubation programs to 75 classrooms, and have placed 1,875 eggs in classroom incubators this year alone. ERSRP has also been working in Redwood Creek to reduce sediment delivery by planting more than 7,000 redwood and Douglas fir trees.


ERSRP Wood Creek Project

Construction of a boulder grade control structure on the Wood Creek Project Photo: Bill Eastwood

Eel River Salmon Restoration Project is working on an interesting project on Wood Creek, a small tributary to the South Fork of the Eel River, which enters the Eel from the west near the Dean Creek Resort. This project, when completed, will increase habitat complexity and salmonid carrying capacity in a promising steelhead stream. (read more)

Tree Planting Now and Into the Future
April 25, 2011
Since we began our fisheries restoration work in the mid 1980s, tree planting has played a significant role in our efforts to restore riparian function and support the health of salmon and steelhead populations in the South Fork Eel River Basin. Some of these trees are now more than thirty feet tall and well on their way to becoming forests. Working Assets, the phone service provider, again supplied funding for 2010/2011 tree planting efforts on our recently completed Miller Creek Slide Stabilization Project and Leggett Creek Fish Passage Project. This year we planted over 600 trees, which included redwood, Douglas-fir, incense cedar, white alder and willow. In addition to recently completed restoration projects, we are pleased that the sediment basins, which were previously constructed below the Blue Goo Slide near Briceland, have again trapped and kept hundreds of cubic yards of sediment from entering Redwood Creek. The trees planted on this landslide are now becoming a dense forest, so much so that it is now difficult to take photographs that show the slide and its problems from previously established photo points. We are happy with this newly developing forest's growth, sediment trapping ability, organic litter recruitment promoting soil development and the shade provided on hot summer days from the ever expanding canopy. Raw hill-sides are now looking much better because of the forests that are developing from the thousands of trees that the Eel River Salmon Restoration Project has planted since the 1980s. (read more)


Leggett Creek Restoration Challenge: Narrow Channels and Big Wood
May 11, 2010
Leggett Creek is a treasure that got really hammered during the post-World War II logging boom. Now it's well on the way back to providing some critically needed prime habitat for steelhead trout and coho salmon. Flowing into the South Fork of the Eel River just north of Redway in Southern Humboldt County, Leggett Creek has some interesting restoration challenges. (read more)


North Coast Living: A 22-year Long Creek Restoration Concluded
December 31, 2008
Bill Eastwood and Harry Vaughn are men who take the long view. This past week, they put the finishing touches on an environmental problem that Eastwood says dates back to 1965. (read more)


An Integrated Approach To Expanding Salmon Populations
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. (read more)


Eel River Salmon Restoration Project
December 10, 2007
The Eel River Salmon Restoration Project has monitored portions of the South Fork Eel River since 1983. Our survey work focused mainly on salmon and steelhead populations. Walking the creeks during spawning season (November through March) and counting fish and redds (fish nests) is one way to track adult population trends. As well, we used various "downstream migrant" (DSM) fish-trap designs, allowing us to monitor natural production of salmon and steelhead in their native habitats. In addition, the DSM trap allows us to study "nongame" species (fish, amphibians, reptiles and crayfish) as well. From 1983 to 2005 we operated a fyke-entrance adult fish trap and weir system on Redwood Creek. This adult trap site allowed us to gather measurements from steelhead, coho salmon, Chinook salmon, and chum salmon returning to spawn. This fish trap allowed us to take fertilized eggs for our small-scale natal conservation hatchery and enabled us to supply fertilized salmon eggs to local school children for educational purposes. Sadly, due to recent government policy decisions, we are no longer operating the adult fish trap to collect data and provide salmon eggs to local area school children. (read more)


The Eel River Salmon Restoration Project
April 24, 2007
The Salmon in the Classroom Program is once again up and running in 63 classrooms throughout Humboldt County. K-12 students will learn about salmonid life histories and the habitat qualities that salmon and steelhead need to survive and thrive in our local watersheds. The steelhead eggs will come from the Mad River Hatchery. Prior to their release back into the natal stream, the Mad River, each steelhead will be marked with an adipose fin clip. This is the same mark that all Mad River Hatchery steelhead receive before release. (read more)


Eel River Salmon Restoration Project
November 15, 2006
The Eel River Salmon Restoration Project is anticipating the coming winter rainfall in bringing back the salmon to our local creeks. And thanks to the Trees Foundation Donor Advised Cereus Fund Grant, we will once again be able to provide local school children the opportunity to raise salmon and steelhead in their classrooms. (read more)


Eel River Salmon Restoration Project
April 5, 2006
Springtime is soon upon us with new steelhead hatching and tree buds bursting. The Eel River Salmon Restoration Project (ERSRP) has been busily planting trees, in anticipation of the increased daylight hours. Erosion control projects are the areas now being prioritized for planted. After this year's scouring stream flows and landslides, our group will be assessing future projects and the effects of this season's storms on previously completed projects. (read more)


Eel River Salmon Restoration Project, Small Scale Hatcheries At Risk
September 6, 2004
Will the Eel River Salmon Restoration Project (ERSRP) continue to operate its small-scale natal stock supplementation hatchery into the future? With the release of 12,413 marked fish this last June back into Redwood Creek, this question was on all of our minds. Since 1983 we have operated a natal brood stock trapping and rearing program on Redwood Creek, a tributary to the South Fork of the Eel River at Redway. Last season (2003-2004) we trapped 72 chinook salmon, 10 coho salmon, two steelhead, and one chum salmon. This provided 13,145 chinook salmon eggs for our hatchery. Funding for our hatchery has been largely provided through the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) Grant Program. Unfortunately CDFG decided to discontinue funding for our hatchery, as well as the Humboldt Fish Action Council hatchery located on Freshwater Creek, and the Mattole Salmon Support Group hatchery located on the Mattole River. No specific reasons were given by CDFG for the closure of each individual hatchery. (read more)


Kids Help Plant Millionth Fish
July 17, 2000

	Bill Eastwood pouring chinook salmon into Redwood Creek Photo: Eel River Salmon Restoration Project

The Eel River Salmon Restoration Project (ERSRP) again gained the assistance of local school children to help hatch, rear, and plant chinook salmon in Redwood Creek. This year we planted our millionth fish during school salmon planting activities. The new chiller units and 20-gallon tanks facilitated the success of this year?s ?salmon in the classroom? program. (read more)



Contact Information

Web Site: www.hits.org/salmon98
Phone: (707) 923-9109
PO Box 589 Miranda CA 95553