May 11, 2010
The spring of 2010 brings a renewed focus on the Mattole River estuary among folks in this coastal watershed. A series of lectures and workshops has been underway thanks to a partnership between the Mattole Restoration Council and the Mattole Salmon Group, with funding from the U.S. EPA. The goal of the lecture and workshop series is to share information and learn about estuary restoration efforts, methods, and results. Many exciting new ideas about estuary ecology have kept participants engaged.
| |
On March 1, the lecture series was begun by a visit from Brad Job, civil engineer with the BLM from Arcata. Brad lectured on the hot topic of Water Scarcity and Groundwater Resources in the Mattole. Brad's presentation shed light on the complexities of groundwater movement and storage, decreasing regional fog, and water use by our aging second-growth forests. Next we heard from Joel Monschke, director of the Mattole Restoration Council's Good Roads, Clear Creeks program. Joel hosted a workshop on sediment reduction and road maintenance techniques, and participants visited some recent restoration sites around the estuary, including a massive mainstem Mattole River bank stabilization project completed just a mile or so upstream last summer.
David Anderson came down to the Mattole from Redwood National and State Parks and gave a stellar presentation on the parks' juvenile salmonid monitoring in the Redwood Creek estuary. Since Redwood Creek and the Mattole River watershed are both roughly the same size--around 300 square miles--and have had similar land use histories, it was very useful for fisheries folks in the Mattole to learn about fish monitoring and habitat limitations in the Redwood Creek estuary.
Most recently in the series, the Mattole hosted Randy Klein, Redwood National Park hydrologist. Randy gave a fascinating presentation on the history and hydrology of the Redwood Creek estuary--a place that makes the Mattole estuary look pristine and intact, since Redwood Creek's lowest reaches have been confined by flood-control weirs completed in 1968. Randy's talk, attended by local school kids and elder restorationists alike, underscored the greater opportunities for restoration in the Mattole estuary, and a fabulous discussion after the presentation focused on the particulars of large, massive and mega wood structures and how they might interact with continual sediment inputs.
At press time, the series continues, with a Bird Identification Field Workshop in the Mattole estuary and other events on the horizon! Call Flora at the Mattole Restoration Council for more information: (707) 629-3514.
This series is being funded by U.S. EPA's Targeted Watershed Grants Program: West Coast Estuary Initiative for the California Coast. Although this series is funded wholly or in part by the EPA, it may not necessarily reflect the views of the Agency, and no official endorsement or recommendation of commercial products should be inferred.
More Information About
Mattole Restoration Council
More Articles...
TOC for Forest & River News, Spring 2010