April 4, 2005
Greetings from Seely Creek!
It has been a while since we have written because we have been so busy implementing restoration projects, which have been ongoing for the past few years. Most of the projects outlined in our Watershed Assessment Plan have been completed. We have been funded and will implement our last project from this proposal this fall.
Over the last few years the Seely Creek Bioengineers Casandra Taliaferro, Terri Klemenstine, and Georje Holper have constructed numerous brush dams, branch-packing erosion control projects, and rock structures throughout the watershed. Now that we have had a chance to monitor these structures over a number of years, we are continually amazed at what an elegant, simple solution they are to stabilizing serious gully-type erosions. They help to slow the water sown, filter sediment, allow vegetation to grow, and stabilize actively down-cutting channels. One of the great beauties of this technique is that any able-bodied person can build them, and many find them fun to construct. Ideally we like to coordinate our bioengineering work with fire hazard reduction. We use the limbs and brush removed for fire hazard to build the branch structures.
The bioengineering team also took their skills to the new Tooby Community Park in an ongoing project to stabilize some massive gullies that drain directly into the nearby Eel River. We are hoping to host some educational workshops in the fall of 2005 that teach landowners restoration techniques, including branch-packing and brush dams.
In the riparian zones of Seely Creek we have planted more than 21,000 conifers, and we stopped counting at 3,000 willows and cottonwood seedlings. Georje has been experimenting with California cottonwood by taking cuttings and planting them similar to willow sprigging, with really successful results. She was stoked when she recently inspected some of the sites and found that the cottonwood was five to six feet tall after only one year, with very high survival rates.
Seely Creek Fish Sightings
"Paradise is waiting to happen. It is the natural state of things. It is our own interferences that prevent it from happening naturally. What we have had to mitigate in the watershed is our own unconscious anthropocentric way we view and use land.",--Girl Georje upon seeing the coho salmon spawning in the junkyard.
Since watershed restoration is so new as a scientific field, no one knows exactly what to expect, such as how long it will take and if we will even see results in our lifetime. In areas of the watershed where we have done extensive restoration, we are finding that the tributaries that used to run muddy in the smallest of moderate storms are now running clear in the heaviest of the big storms. We have had no major slides on Seely Creek road in a number of years, whereas the community used to get closed in at least twice a year.
It was a great and joyous surprise to find fish spawning this year in a structure by the junkyard near the creek's mouth. A few years ago we did a project in this area. For years the main Seely Creek road was collapsing into the creek. There was a logjam and it was an impassible fish barrier. We ended up removing about 80 yards of sediment, old cable, batteries, and other junk. Fish and Game required a log structure to be built, though no one expected results from it. In fact, a certain resident claimed that there had never been fish running that fork of the creek. To our amazement and great surprise, in January 2005, a pair of coho was observed spawning at the log structure. The certain resident when informed said, "They're not supposed to be there."
Richard Gienger and Shanon Taliaferro were recently in the upper spawning reaches of Seely Creek checking out project sites that were completed a few years ago. That day Shanon had his fish eyes on. "Lo and behold," fish were spotted spawning in the gravel bed. Richard, always well prepared, took video footage of three enthusiastic spawning salmon. The photos were sent to various guys with fish eyes. The consensus was they were indeed coho salmon. This is huge news for Seely Creek because it is the first documented coho sighting in the upper spawning reach. A few days later Shanon, Georje Holper, and Ben Wilson did a spawning survey and found four intact coho carcasses. DNA scale samples were taken and sent to Wildlife Biologist Campbell Thompson for further study. We are now working on a plan to implement spawning surveys in Seely Creek, which has been a black hole in Department of Fish and Game information base. It is one of the only creeks that has never had spawning surveys conducted, though the old-timers frequently mention that historically it is a strong fish-bearing creek.
Fire Safety and Water Conservation
The fire hazard reduction projects continue throughout the watershed. A shaded fuel break now extends a third of a mile along a ridge. Various responsible homeowners have reduced the fuel loads around structures and along roadsides. Tim Metz has a large-scale fire hazard reduction plan for the watershed in the works.
We would like to thank Chief Tim Olsen of the Beginnings Volunteer Fire Department, who was a guest speaker at one of the annual Seely Creek Road Association meetings. He informed the community about the safety of fire hazard reduction. He provided the residents with the guide "Living with Fire, A Guide for the Homeowner," put out by the Pacific Northwest Fire Coordinating Group. This guide details fire safety specifications and is available from the Beginnings Volunteer Fire Department. One issue Tim emphasized is notifying the fire department of where you live, how to get there, how much water you have, if you have a pond, etc. There is a fire protection survey available that allows you to detail all this information to them, which is kept strictly confidential.
Kudos to Shanon, Cameron, and Lars for being the first in the watershed to order the new 40,000-gallon Outback water tanks. Two tanks will be installed this month. About seven different homesteads plan to install these tanks this year. These tanks have a gutter option that allows for the collection of rainwater, ideally eliminating the need for using springs and the creek as a water source. These tanks can also be outfitted to be compatible for fire trucks. We would like to once again emphasize the importance of water conservation. Every drop of water we use during the summer is taking it out of the thirsty creeks. The goal is to stop taking water out of springs that feed the creek by mid-June. Bettye Etter recently told us that as late as 1971 Seely Creek was a big flowing creek with a lot of water. The advent of homesteaders moving in has significantly diminished the flow. Even if you are blessed with an abundant water source, please be conscientious and conservative with your water use. The life of everything on Earth is connected to that supply of water.
Thanks to the hard-working restoration crews and to all the residents who are making changes in their lifestyles to accommodate fish and other living beings in the watershed. Special thanks as always to Richard Gienger, our mentor and continual inspiration.
For more information:
707/923-2502
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Seely Creek Watersheds Association (SCWA)
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TOC for Forest & River News, Winter 2005