The Mattole Watershed Plan
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The Mattole Watershed Plan Mattole Restoration Council, Mattole Salmon Group, Sanctuary Forest, Bureau of Land Management and the State Coastal Conservancy December 2005 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ 4 Preface: Why a Watershed Plan?.................................................................................. 5 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 9 Who is Writing the Plan? ............................................................................................ 9 What Will the Plan Do?............................................................................................. 11 The History of This Land We Call Home: The Physical Setting ......................... 15 Land and Life in the Mattole ...................................................................................... 25 Today’s Realities ........................................................................................................... 34 Continued residential development........................................................................ 35 Protection of open space ........................................................................................... 35 Water usage/conservation ........................................................................................ 36 Increased land values ................................................................................................ 37 Renewed interest in forestry: ................................................................................... 37 Decline of marijuana economy................................................................................. 38 Increased scrutiny of land use practices................................................................. 39 Increased fire severity and risk................................................................................ 39 Global climate change ............................................................................................... 40 Changes in conservation strategies ......................................................................... 40 Conservation and Restoration Strategies ................................................................. 42 Direct Fisheries Enhancement and Monitoring..................................................... 44 Re‐creating Complex Instream Habitats ................................................................ 45 Restoring Riparian Forestlands................................................................................ 46 Protecting and Improving Summertime Streamflows ......................................... 47 Healing the Mattole Estuary..................................................................................... 48 Restoring Forestland Vitality ................................................................................... 49 Halting the Scourge of Invasive Plants and Noxious Weeds .............................. 50 Good Roads and Clear Creeks ................................................................................. 51 Monitoring Water Quality ........................................................................................ 52 Preserving a Dynamic Landscape ........................................................................... 53 A Not‐so‐Brief History................................................................................................. 53 Projects ............................................................................................................................ 54 What We Did not Address........................................................................................... 54 How Are We Going to Implement the Plan?........................................................... 55 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 62 Mattole Watershed Plan Introduction: Page 2 December 2005 List of Figures and Tables Table 1. Watershed Plan Authors ................................................................................ 10 Table 2. Timber Harvest History ................................................................................. 22 Table 3. Comprehensive list of projects proposed in the Mattole Watershed Plan ........................................................................................................................................... 58 Figure 1. Detail of 1:62,500‐scale topographic map published in 1920 and based on field survey of 1916. ................................................................................................. 16 Figure 2. Location of the Mattole River watershed................................................... 17 Figure 3. Location and magnitude of large earthquakes in the region from 1922. ........................................................................................................................................... 19 Figure 4. Section of geomorphic and surface geology map of the Mattole watershed........................................................................................................................ 20 Figure 5. Map of geologic hardness of the Mattole watershed. .............................. 21 Figure 6. Dry Creek, August 1942. .............................................................................. 23 Figure 7. Dry Creek, August 1965. .............................................................................. 23 Figure 8. 1960 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates of fish populations and potential fish populations in the Mattole. .................................................................. 24 Figure 9. Survey map of the lower Mattole from the 1860s..................................... 28 Appendices: 11 Technical Chapters (included on CD‐ROM) Chapter 1: The Evolution of Restoration and Conservation in the Mattole River Watershed: A Story of Community Caring…………………………Pgs. 1‐1 to 1‐119 Chapter 2: Landscape Conservation Strategy………………………..Pgs. 2‐1 to 2‐57 Chapter 3: Streamflow………………………………………………….Pgs. 3‐1 to 3‐95 Chapter 4: Water Quality………………………………………………Pgs. 4‐1 to 4‐47 Chapter 5: Sediment…………………………………………………….Pgs. 5‐1 to 5‐51 Chapter 6: Restoring Wild and Working Forests…………………...Pgs. 6‐1 to 6‐100 Chapter 7: Riparian Restoration……………………………………...Pgs. 7‐1 to 7‐114 Chapter 8: Invasive Non‐native Plants………………………………Pgs. 8‐1 to 8‐103 Chapter 9: Instream Habitat Enhancement…………………………..Pgs. 9‐1 to 9‐53 Chapter 10: Fisheries Enhancement………………………………...Pgs. 10‐1 to 10‐62 Chapter 11: Estuary…………………………………………………..Pgs. 11‐1 to 11‐43 Mattole Watershed Plan Introduction: Page 3 December 2005 Acknowledgements Funding Agencies GIS/Mapping California State Coastal Conservancy, Jeremy Wheeler, Vanessa Belz, Sabrina Bureau of Land Management Stadler Project Coordinators Editing Chris Larson, Sabrina Stadler, Unity Paul Ehrlich, Unity Peterson, Gary ‘Fish’ Peterson Peterson, Lisa Schepman, Chris Larson, Malcolm Stebbins, Libby Earthman, Seth Technical Advisory Committee Zuckerman, Jennifer Wheeler, Maureen Barry Collins, Campbell Thompson, Dave Roche Fuller, Thomas Dunklin, Gary ‘Fish’ Peterson, Joelle Geppert, Gary Pritchard‐ Layout and Design Peterson, Hartwell Welsh, Paula Golightly, Unity Peterson, Lisa Schepman, Paul Randy Klein, Richard Gienger, Scott Ehrlich, Chris Larson Downie, Sam Morrison, Terry Spreiter, Tim Metz, Su Corbaley Printing Bureau of Land Management Writers Mattole Restoration Council ‐ Ali Administration and Bookkeeping Freedlund, Chris Larson, John Isom, Claire Trower, Nancy Smith Sabrina Stadler, Unity Peterson Cover Photos Mattole Salmon Group ‐ Steve Fortney, Carrie Grant, Randy Stemler, Maureen Mijanou Brown, David Simpson, Michael Roche and John Isom Evenson, Reid Bryson, Drew Barber, Sean James, Ray Lingel, Steven Umbertis Special Thanks Sanctuary Forest ‐ Eric Goldsmith, Noah Laura Cooskie and the Mattole Valley Levy, Tasha McKee Historical Society, Su Corbaley (California State Coastal Conservancy), Bureau of Riparian Surveys Land Management personnel (especially Sabrina Stadler, Unity Peterson, John Isom, Lynda Roush, Jennifer Wheeler, Gary Brook Smith, Keith Leatherwood, Ali Peterson, Dave Fuller, Brad Jobe, Maria Freedlund, Amanda Malachesky, Vanessa Rea, Tim Jones, Bob Wick, and Hank Belz, Harold Schlange, Amanda Freeman Harrison), Janet Blake and David Hope (Regional Water Quality Control Board), Invasive Plant Surveys Cathy Blerer (Resources Agency), Carlos Unity Peterson, Sabrina Stadler, Garza (NOAA Fisheries), DFG’s Coastal Adam Minton, Amanda Freeman Watershed Planning and Assessment Program (Scott Downie & Vikki Avara‐ Fisheries Surveys Snider), Dave Kahan, Andy Chittick, Mijanou Brown, Steve Fortney, Tasha Freeman House, Dylan Brown, Nancy McKee, Dan Resnik, Allan Renger, Smith, J.J. Hall, Francis Sweet, Bob and Val Campbell Thompson Stansberry, Richard and Sally French Mattole Watershed Plan Introduction: Page 4 December 2005 Preface: Why a Watershed Plan? Those of us who live in the Mattole usually resist the urge to “plan” how our community could be or should be. After coming to the Valley in 2000, I remember a community meeting to discuss whether Mattole residents should create a “community plan” for the lower Mattole Valley. Humboldt County was starting to develop the new General Plan, meant to guide development patterns