December 18, 2009
Flowing from the Marble, Russian, and Trinity Alps mountain ranges of far Northern California, the Salmon River is the second-largest tributary to the Klamath. Also called the Cal Salmon since there is a major river in Idaho called the Salmon, it is one of the most biologically intact river systems in the west. As the most pristine major tributary in the entire Klamath River system, it provides abundant amounts of clean, cool water into the Klamath that is crucial to the survival of migrating salmon. Despite this, the fishery of the Salmon River is a remnant of what it once was. Several species of the river's fish are at risk of extinction, and there is great need for additional watershed restoration and protection.
The Salmon River Restoration Council (SRRC) is a small, community-based nonprofit with a mission to assess, protect, and maintain the Salmon River ecosystem with the active participation of the local community. The focus is on the anadromous fisheries resource and development of a sustainable economy. For more than 17 years now, the SRRC has focused on a pro-active approach to watershed restoration--getting local community members out on the ground working to learn about and restore the place where they live.
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* Our fisheries program started the year with winter steelhead surveys, to measure restoration effectiveness for tributaries that have undergone barrier removal or creek mouth enhancement work. A couple of miles of new fish habitat was opened up on Whites Gulch in 2009, with the completion of a major barrier removal project which removed two small dams and replaced a large culvert with a bridge. SRRC has also been working to assess and restore fish passage to important cold-water tributaries. The creek mouth enhancement project involves manual reconfiguration of creek mouths by constructing step pools, concentrating flow, and breaching temporary barriers.
* In addition to fisheries restoration efforts, the SRRC hosted the annual Salmon River Spring-run Chinook Dives this summer in conjunction with the Salmon Restoration Federation's Spring-run Chinook Symposium. The event was held in celebration of Spring-run Chinook recovery efforts. Fisheries specialists from all over the state and beyond presented their knowledge and research on Spring-run Chinook recovery and related topics.
* SRRC's Noxious Weed Program focused much of this year's effort on managing invasives in areas affected by the 2008 wildfires. Crews did some intensive management of Italian thistle in burned areas and also spent the summer collecting native grass seeds for burned area restoration. SRRC is committed to manual methods of eradicating noxious weeds and avoiding use of toxic chemicals in our watershed.
* Since 1995, SRRC has been conducting fuels reduction on private properties throughout the watershed in order to create shaded fuel breaks and protect homes from wildfires. In 2009 we created and maintained fuel breaks on 75 acres. We have upcoming funding for an additional 150 acres of fuel reduction and prescribed burning. In addition to work on the ground, SRRC participates in cooperative planning efforts for fire and forestry management on the Salmon. The SRRC and Salmon River Fire Safe Council have initiated a Community Fire Liaison Program to work directly with incident management teams during wildfire events. The purpose of the team is to provide accurate local information to fire managers, and to provide the community with up-to-date fire news.
The SRRC believes that educating and empowering our communities to become effective stewards of the ecosystem should be a centerpiece in the work to recover our watersheds. Through projects such as these, we strive to make that a reality.
For more information: www.srrc.org
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Salmon River Restoration Council
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TOC for Forest & River News, Winter 2009