Mattole Salmon Group

Mattole Salmon Group
December 1, 2005


Working in and around rivers and streams comes naturally to the Mattole Salmon Group (MSG). And with the help of local landowners and volunteers, 2005 marked the 20th consecutive year of habitat restoration performed throughout the Mattole River watershed by the MSG.

The MSG is a community-based nonprofit group which has been working in the Mattole watershed for over twenty years to maintain and restore native Chinook, coho, and steelhead. 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 United States, near the King Range National Conservation Area in Southern Humboldt County, on the northwest coast of California--an area that is called the Lost Coast, because of its wild areas and remote location.

Excavator on top of project near Lighthouse Road in Petrolia. Photo: courtesy MSG

Our group works to keep genetically unique salmon in existence in a habitat which 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 build-up of sediment in the river and its tributaries, and the loss of riparian growth. Our goal is to achieve self-sustaining salmon runs.

Project coordinators, Campbell Thompson from Whitethorn, California, and Drew Barber from Petrolia, California, led a total of 17 restoration projects this past season. Campbell's efforts are mainly focused on the upriver headwaters region of the Mattole River with the installation of complex large wood and boulder structures. These structures enhance salmon habitat by promoting healthier temperatures and cover. Campbell installed 14 structures on Upper Mill Creek, Thompson Creek, Bridge Creek, and the mainstem Mattole.

Drew's main restoration sites were located near Lighthouse Road in Petrolia. Two large groin-deflector projects (colloquially called "wing dams") were placed downstream of a pre-existing Wing Dam, which was originally constructed by Rex Rathbun in the mid-1970s. "It was a joke around here; when it would rain I would put on my raincoat and drop boulders in...it took me years," says Rex. "I was trying to divert the river from taking the house." While the first wing dam did protect the Rathbun property, it also had an unpredictable side effect--the wing dam hole. Mattole salmon supporters value the wing dam habitat pool as one of the best in the lower river, as its depth and abundant cold-water seeps provide refuge for young salmonids on hot summer days as well as for up-migrating adults in the fall.

The MSG has plans to continue and expand restoration 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, call 707/629-3433, or visit our website at www.mattolesalmon.org.

For more information: 707/629-3433
www.mattolesalmon.org



This article can be found online at www.treesfoundation.org/publications/article-226

Forest & River News is produced by Trees Foundation. For more information contact:
Mattole Salmon Group
PO Box 188
Petrolia, CA 95558
Email: evenson@igc.org
Phone: (707) 629-3670