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Work in the Mattole
The Mattole watershed is home to one of the oldest and most complex restoration efforts in California. Several organizations reflect the diversity of the rural communities that call the remote Mattole watershed home. The Mattole Restoration Council is a key partner in this effort and has been since 1983. The Council is a membership organization that works to protect, restore, and maintain environmental systems in the Mattole. Our strategy is set by a governing board that represents our membership, which any resident or landowner may join. Our focus is watershed wide with efforts organized into five programs: Good Roads Clear Creeks, Wild and Working Lands, Mattole Ecological Education, Community Resource Center, and Watershed Information Systems. In all of our activities we seek to integrate local residents into the restoration effort and promote the development of a unique and local stewardship ethic that is based on the needs and interests of our community balanced with the needs of our natural environment. (read more)
Shaping Second-Growth Logging in the Mattole
In the Mattole, it used to be that when you talked about timber issues, the topic was old-growth logging. Our concern for ancient forests led the Mattole Restoration Council to create the landmark 1988 map--based on aerial photo analysis and research in county archives--showing that 91 percent of the old-growth conifer forest in our watershed had been cut since World War Two. That map was a key tool in our work to protect the remnant old-growth groves, a goal we pursued doggedly for more than twenty years. (read more)
Whitethorn Junction: A Community Changes their Water Use for the River
Climate change, land use practices, and human use are causing extreme low flows in the Mattole Headwaters of southwestern Humboldt County. Nine out of the last eleven years have had the lowest flows measured at the Petrolia Station in its sixty years of operation. Flows in the summer of 2008 were the lowest ever recorded. Thousands of trapped salmonids have perished because the pools literally dry up, and today the Mattole coho are at risk of extinction. (read more)
Mattole Restoration Council: MRC Working Toward Good Roads, Clear Creeks
The main objective of the Mattole Restoration Council's (MRC) Good Roads Clear Creeks (GRCC) program is to reduce sediment runoff that is harming salmon habitat, while improving private roads. This season has been particularly exciting and productive, with restoration projects completed at more than a hundred sites in the Mattole River watershed, from Four Corners to Ettersburg. These projects generally consist of storm-proofing road crossings, although they often incorporate stream channel stabilization upstream or downstream from the crossing. The projects will reduce future sediment delivery into the Mattole River and its tributaries, helping to obtain the ultimate goal of healthy salmon runs. (read more)
Mattole Salmon Group
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. (read more)
Mattole Salmon Group
This year's spring rains helped sustain river flows and prolonged the duration of the open Matole river mouth. In the past, river mouth closure has led to the unambiguous demise of juvenile chinook salmon trapped in the lagoon. The combination of mild temperatures and high flows will secure another successful year for the Mattole salmon, allowing the fish to stay in fresh water longer and grow larger before entering the ocean. (read more)
Sanctuary Forest
Water shortage has become a global problem, necessitating a change in how societies value and use water. Today's water scarcity challenges us to recognize the preciousness of water and learn how to steward this resource. (read more)
Sanctuary Forest
With annual rainfall at 65% of average, low summer flows in the Mattole River headwaters have become a critical issue impacting both fish and people. Developing and implementing solutions to the Mattole low flow is driving the work of Sanctuary Forest in our four program areas: Stewardship, Land Conservation, Collaboration, and Education. (read more)
Mattole Salmon Group
Wild Mattole salmon have had a good year. A near-perfect spawning season last winter was followed by a successful down-migration of yearling coho and tens of thousands of young-of-the-year Chinook salmon. Though rains ended early this past season, a cool spring and early summer helped sustain river flows and keep the river mouth open long enough for nearly all of the young salmon to reach the ocean. Even the vandalism in May that killed 8000 fish had little impact on the overall success of the down-migration. (read more)
Mill Creek Watershed Conservancy: Community Management Plan Completed
The Mill Creek Watershed Conservancy and Mattole Restoration Council, with the assistance of the Mattole Salmon Group, the California Coastal Conservancy, and the Bureau of Land Management, have completed the draft community plan and preferred management alternative for the public lands of the Mill Creek watershed. (read more)
Sanctuary Forest: On-Line In 2005
We're building a new internet portal to Sanctuary Forest. Coming in 2005, you'll find ongoing descriptions of our conservation projects, the latest hike information, news about our education programs, maps, and ways you can help protect the Mattole River watershed. Open a window that leads to a virtual trail into the Sanctuary Forest. We invite you to shout out to us via the web or enjoy a moment of reflection at www.sanctuaryforest.org. (read more)
Mattole River and Range Partnership: Watershed Plan to Create 30-Year Vision for the Mattole
The Mattole River and Range Partnership (MRRP), an alliance of Mattole watershed groups, will publish a Watershed Plan in December 2004. The Plan will set forth a 30-year vision for the watershed, including a 5-year "implementation" plan that will recommend site-specific projects that build towards the long-range vision. The watershed planning and habitat-improvement efforts are being coordinated by the Mattole Restoration Council (MRC), and funded by contracts from the California State Coastal Conservancy (CSCC) and the California State Water Quality Control Board. The hope and intent within the MRRP is that these contracts will be the first of many that will allow partner groups to use a coordinated, systematic, and synergistic approach to salmonid and watershed restoration in the Mattole. (read more)
Mattole Restoration Council: MRC Plans for Riparian Conifers
Ecosystems are composed of inter-related functions and parts that create a larger collective whole. Restoration groups in the Mattole watershed, working in partnership, also create a larger whole. While it is beyond the scope of any one organization to address each of the restoration issues effectively, the joint effort of the Mattole River and Range Partnership is enabling Mattole groups to rapidly propel our important work forward. In 2002, the Mattole Restoration Council helped form the Mattole River and Range Partnership to coalesce our efforts with the Mattole Salmon Group, Middle Mattole Conservancy, Lower Mattole Fire Safe Council, and Sanctuary Forest, in hopes we will accomplish even greater work as a collective force. (read more)
Sanctuary Forest: Community-Building Through Education And Restoration
This spring, Sanctuary Forest completed a major road decommissioning project in the Mattole headwaters that spanned more than two years and cost well over 700 thousand dollars. The work took place throughout the headwaters on lands owned by members of the Upper Mattole River and Forest Cooperative, a partnership of non-profits, public agencies, and private landowners who together own or manage about 4,000 acres containing much of the Mattole's remaining old-growth forest and salmonid habitat. The project was designed to reduce the damage being done to salmon spawning and rearing grounds in the headwaters by removing much of the sediment being delivered from abandoned logging roads and stream crossings. (read more)