September 6, 2004
Moving beyond tragedy...
On May 27, 2004, someone vandalized the Mattole Salmon Group (MSG) fish-rearing facility on Arcanum Creek in the Mattole River headwaters. Approximately 8000 baby salmon died as a result. A substantial reward has been offered for information leading to whoever did this, and the investigation by federal authorities continues. MSG and all those who care about salmon were left reeling. MSG, in emulating the river that is central to its existence, is doing its best to flow over this terrible obstruction and get on with the work at hand.
Thanks to extraordinary cooperation from the California Department of Fish and Game, the California State Coastal Conservancy, and the federal Bureau of Land Management, MSG was able to begin its instream work season two weeks early this year. This enabled us to construct a complex wood-and-boulder structure in the Mattole estuary in late June. This structure is now providing important summer rearing habitat for juvenile salmon, steelhead, and other aquatic species. Because the mouth of the Mattole closes each summer to form a lagoon, rising water levels would have delayed this project or necessitated building the structure in a less desirable location if we had not been permitted to start before the usual July 1 start of the work season.
2004 is the third year of MSG's pilot project rescuing juvenile Chinook salmon that would otherwise be trapped in the overheated lagoon on their way to the ocean. This year MSG trapped and rescued 1200 fish near our Petrolia headquarters. Our hope is that the successful rearing and release of these fish in the fall will lead to an additional 60 or more returning adults in four years.
For more information please email us at msg@mattolesalmon.org, see www.mattolesalmon.org, or call 707/629-343
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TOC for Forest & River News, Summer 2004