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Eel River Recovery Project Rose Grassroots 2018 Final Report Lower Eel River Salmon Parkway: Restoration, Recreation and Education

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Eel River Recovery Project Rose Grassroots 2018 Final Report Lower Eel River Salmon Parkway: Restoration, Recreation and Education Eel River Recovery Project Rose Grassroots 2018 Final Report Lower Eel River Salmon Parkway: Restoration, Recreation and Education By Pat Higgins and Sal Steinberg for ERRP April 30, 2019 Eel River Recovery Project Rose Grassroots 2018 Final Report Lower Eel River Salmon Parkway: Restoration, Recreation and Education The Rose Foundation awarded the Eel River Recovery project a Grassroots grant: Lower Eel River Salmon Parkway - Restoration, Recreation and Education in June 2018. This grant was performed from August 2018 through January 2019 and tremendous strides were made towards achieving goals in terms of planning for adult Chinook salmon habitat improvement, promoting a river-side trail, and in connecting with Native American youth and sparking their interest in science and ecology. Accomplishments are reported by key deliverable. Restoration: Fostering Collaboration for Lower Eel River Habitat Improvement Eric Stockwell is a river and ocean kayak guide and a long-time Eel River Recovery Project (ERRP) volunteer. As a native of the lower Eel River, he has seen the river’s decline and feels passionate about restoring the area so that it can once again safely support the early run of the magnificent fall Chinook salmon. Eric began floating the river in a kayak and on stand-up paddleboard (SUP) in late August and visited the river daily until Thanksgiving. What he discovered was that half of the lower Eel River had been diverted around an island in the previous winter high water leaving only one salmon holding pool in a four-mile reach, and long, shallow riffles where salmon could strand when moving upstream. Long, shallow riffle on lower Eel River that poses a high risk of stranding for large Chinook salmon moving upstream. Sal Steinberg was in charge of calling meetings on behalf of ERRP to convene stakeholders and a meeting entitled: Lower Eel River Salmon Parkway and 2018-2019 Fall Chinook Coordination Meeting on September 13, 2018 was held at the Wiyot Tribe headquarters. The minutes of this meeting can be reviewed as Attachment #2. Fisheries biologist and ERRP Managing Director gave a slide show on fall Chinook salmon trends from 2012-2017, pointing out that while some basin areas were in recovery, others were showing signs of poor ecological conditions and diminishing salmon runs. Eric Stockwell showed slides and video that of extremely poor habitat for adult Chinook salmon in terms of fish passage and holding pool depth and cover. California Depart of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) biologists were in attendance as were National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) personnel. These agencies acknowledged the problem and discussed contingencies in terms of fish stranding or disease outbreaks. Matt Goldsworthy of NMFS said that it would take bold action and experimentation to try to create better fish habitat in the lower Eel River because of the forces associated with flood events, but acknowledged that action was necessary. To make sure that responsible agencies were aware of a potential salmon fish-kill, Eric took CDFW wardens and biologists, staff of the NMFS, non-profit group leaders, City of Fortuna staff and educator Sal Steinberg on kayak floats of the lower Eel. He posted constantly to Facebook with dramatic photos and videos. The field trip gave decision makers, regulators and educators an eye-witness view of the threats that habitat conditions posed for salmon. The amount of habitat on the lower Eel River was so compromised that a school of several hundred steelhead were forced to sit in a willow covered run less than four feet deep and less than 100 feet long in crowded conditions from September through November. Chinook salmon circled in shallow pools for weeks. Guide Eric Stockwell with CDFW Warden Matt Wells ready to explore the lower Eel. CDFW Warden Matt Wells expressed frustration over the condition of habitat and the plight of the salmon and steelhead: “I get up at 3 AM to go catch poachers and stop the destruction of our fisheries, but if fish come in and strand because of bad habitat, there is nothing I can do.” The problem was also shared more widely in the press with a guest editorial (Attachment #1) and in coverage in the southern Humboldt Independent newspaper. Reporter Kelly Lincoln also recorded Eric Stockwell for a broadcast on KMUD news that was recirculated on the Internet news site Redheaded Blackbelt (https://kymkemp.com/2018/11/20/river/). In addition to the Rose Foundation Grassroots grant, ERRP was also awarded a grant by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to assist with celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. These funds were used to support three paddleboard surveys and determined that between 3000 and 5000 Chinook salmon were holding in the lower Eel River. The rain did not start until the day before Thanksgiving, but a fish kill was averted as the early run was sparse, and low fish densities helped avoid crowding and panic that would have resulted in stranding. Even as the fish swam upstream on November 24, they faced stranding when entering the lower Van Duzen River not far upstream of Fortuna. Volunteers Eric Stockwell and David Sopjes assisted at least on large Chinook in passing upstream before flows were deep enough for unimpeded passage. SUP survey of the 12th Street Pool. Eric Stockwell (l) and Dave Sopjes at the mouth of the Van Duzen to prevent stranding. 11/24/18. A meeting with agency, Tribe and Fortuna staff was held at the science classroom at Loleta Elementary School on October 17 for the purpose of updating stakeholders. On December 11, ERRP called a meeting with NMFS in Arcata and consultants from BioEngineering Associates and Stillwater Sciences pursuant to obtaining a grant for restoring lower Eel River salmon habitat. The Community-based Restoration Program Coastal and Marine Habitat Restoration Grants can be awarded for up to $3 M and NMFS said that the lower Eel River was a high priority. ERRP is not capable of winning or administering such a grant, and instead the target agency is the Humboldt County Resource Conservation District (RCD). Unfortunately, the federal government shut-down made application by the mid-January deadline infeasible. However, the RCD is now ready to sponsor future grants and BioEngineering Associates and Stillwater Sciences are both committed to helping develop a proposal, if a funding target is identified. This was in part as a result of ERRP Managing Director Pat Higgins attending the RCD February meeting to present the Board with more detail on the need for immediate restoration action. His packet to the Board included DVDs of the ERRP documentary Signs of Resilience (https://youtu.be/p3NCEmA8njg) that includes an endorsement of the Lower Eel River Salmon Parkway. Cal Trans staff observing bank erosion at Worswick Pool after flood event where over 800 feet of bank has eroded since 1998. This reach will be stabilized using bioengineering and a salmon pool restored. Recreation: Expansion of the River Walk Trail for a Lower Eel River Salmon Parkway Since 2012, ERRP has note substantial problems with poaching by homeless people encamped along the old North Coast Railroad Authority (NCRA) right-of-way near Fortuna. To remedy this problem and to provide an opportunity for citizens to bond with the lower Eel River, ERRP is proposing expansion of a trail already following the river in Fortuna, the River Walk, upstream to the Van Duzen River and downstream as far as Fernbridge. Meetings that included the City of Fortuna sparked the interest of staff and they applied for California River Parkway funds from the California Natural Resources Agency. The grant to acquire 7 acres that will be a river-front park and the anchor for an expanded trail was awarded in April 2019. Land to be acquired to anchor Lower Eel River Salmon Parkway. ERRP wrote a letter of recommendation for the Fortuna grant and then participated in grant review by the California Natural Resources Agency in January 2019. ERRP volunteers were key in persuading State staff about the worthiness of the grant that was subsequently awarded. In addition to the parcel that will serve as the anchor for the parkway, Fortuna will acquire 250 acres of Eel River floodplain that will then be transferred to CDFW. This will allow recovery of the cottonwood gallery forest of the lower Eel River. Staff from the City of Fortuna, CDFW and the CA Resources Agency, ERRP volunteers and Wiyot Tribe members on January 2019 field trip. On November 4, 2018, ERRP co-hosted a Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers conference at the River Lodge in Fortuna with BLM. The U.S. National Park Service sent staff from their Sacramento, San Francisco and Sacramento offices to discuss the potential for the National Trails, Recreation and Conservation Assistance program help advance trail building in the Eel River watershed. ERRP is considering applying for NTRCA assistance in June 2019 to advance planning of the Great Redwood Trail within the Eel River basin. This project will also focus on the Lower Eel River Salmon Parkway project and help advance the date of its construction. Support for the ERRP proposal to the NTRCA program would likely have the endorsement of Humboldt County, Mendocino County, BLM, the Wiyot Tribe and the cities of Fortuna, Scotia, Rio Dell and Willits. Education: The Young Scientists: Connecting the Next Generation (by Sal Steinberg) We are dedicated to preserving the Eel River native fall Chinook salmon run and to training the next generation of scientists to become river stewards. The Rose Foundation grant perfectly matched these goals. From August till December 2018 ERRP contractor Sal Steinberg worked with Autumn Chapman, Principal of Loleta Elementary, designed a Science classroom for 7th and 8th graders, and gave them intensive training about river science in the classroom and at the river.
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