November 15, 2006
Working in and around rivers and streams comes naturally to the Mattole Salmon Group (MSG). And with the help of local landowners, state and federal agencies, and volunteers during 2006, we marked the 25th consecutive year of fish monitoring performed throughout the Mattole River watershed by the MSG.
The MSG is a community-based non-profit group that works to maintain and restore native Chinook, coho, and steelhead in the Mattole watershed. We were the first watershed-wide, entirely citizen-run effort in the Pacific Northwest to begin restoring native salmon runs and the river they depend upon. Our watershed is located in one of wettest and most seismically active areas in the country, near the King Range National Conservation Area in Southern Humboldt County, on the northwestern "Lost Coast" of California.
Our group works to keep genetically unique salmon in existence in a habitat that has been gravely compromised in recent years due to a variety of land-use practices. We conduct monitoring and research to provide information about the Mattole River salmon runs; and we work to restore habitat to counter some of the harmful effects of human impacts, including the accumulation of sediment in the river and its tributaries, and the loss of riparian growth. Our goal is to achieve self-sustaining salmon runs.
In past years monitoring of fall-run adults was conducted with surveys of spawning grounds. While spawner surveys continue, the MSG spearheaded a pilot study this year with the intention of acquiring a quantitative estimate of adult Chinook returns in the Mattole River and its tributaries, utilizing standard mark-recapture techniques. The catch totals for 2005-06 (the fourth wettest year on record!) adult California Coastal Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawtscha), Southern Oregon/Northern California Coastal Coho Salmon (Onchorhynchus kisutch), and Northern California Steelhead (Onchorhynchus mykiss) were 39 Chinook, 11 coho, and 1 steelhead.
The MSG traps not only spawning adults, but downstream migrating juvenile salmon as well. This spring and summer we monitored the descendants of the fall spawners that headed out to the ocean. The most notable thing about this year's cohort of sea-going salmonids was the high number of coho juveniles. We also witnessed young salmon and steelhead taking cover under our four new instream habitat-enhancing structures. These large log and boulder structures were built this summer in Squaw Creek, the fifth-largest tributary to the Mattole and an important area for spawning and cool-water habitat. Many of these habitat structures were also built upriver near the headwaters over the summer. We have plans for future structures in more areas of the river and in the Mattole estuary, where we have been monitoring water quality all season.
The MSG has plans to expand restoration and other efforts throughout the Mattole River watershed for years to come. These goals could not be accomplished without the hard work of Campbell, Drew, and devoted community members. Thanks!
For more information, please contact Tom Campbell at PO Box 188, Petrolia, CA 95558 or (707) 629-3433; or visit our website at www.mattolesalmon.org
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Mattole Salmon Group
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TOC for Forest & River News, Fall 2006