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Restoration Project
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FOR THE SALMON SINCE 1983: The Eel River Salmon Restoration Project, a Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations affiliate organization, was established in 1983 in an effort to enhance the salmonid runs in the South Fork of the Eel River and thus benefit the sport and commercial fishery. |
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Our current salmon culture activities have recently been restricted to Redwood Creek. Prior to this time we carried on fish culture activities in other sub-basins of the South Fork Eel River. We marked all hatchery fish with a right ventral fin clip to assist in broodstock management, carcass surveys and creel census. Our overall goal is to restore the health and productivity of the fisheries of the South Fork of the Eel River basin. Historical records indicate that very large populations of salmon in this river system were important to both Native Americans and European settlers. |
| The South Fork of the Eel River is the second largest sub-basin in the Eel River watershed and is considered to be the most productive sub-basin for anadromous fish. The west side of the watershed has better habitat for salmonids than the east side due to the size of the tributaries, the surrounding slope vegetation that provides more canopy, and less direct afternoon sun exposure. The main exception is Cedar Creek which is an east- side tributary. Sproul, Redwood, Indian, and Hollow Tree Creeks are important coho streams with relatively good habitat conditions. It has been speculated that the South Fork Eel River once supported about half of the total coho run for the State of California. The South Fork Eel River still has a significant population of coho which are among the last remaining wild (non-hatchery) long-run coho salmon in California. The three principal anadromous fish species in this river are chinook salmon, coho salmon, and steelhead. Other anadromous fish species which have been recorded in the South Fork Eel River include coastal cutthroat trout, chum salmon, green sturgeon, Pacific lamprey, and American shad (Bureau of Land Management South Fork Eel River Watershed Analysis 1996). |
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Records of fish counts at Benbow Dam from the 1930's indicate that there were approximately 20,000 chinook salmon and 15,000-17,000 coho salmon annually returning to this portion of the South Fork Eel River. A severe downturn trend in the number of anadromous fish can be seen in records of the Benbow Dam fish counts conducted by the Calif. Dept. of Fish and Game from 1938 to 1975. They show a significant decline in salmonid stocks to approximately 20 percent of the numbers counted in the 1930's. It is currently estimated that about 1,000 adult coho salmon still return annually to the South Fork of the Eel River watershed. The National Marine Fisheries Service has recently listed the coho salmon in the Eel River Basin as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act. |
| The condition of aquatic habitat prior to road building and timber harvesting is not known. It is assumed that the pools within the mainstream were much deeper than today, for the most part because of the lower sediment input. It is also likely that smaller tributaries with roughly north-south orientation that flowed through melange or ultramafic geologic areas with less shielding vegetation would have always had summer water temperatures in the upper 70 and lower 80 degree Fahrenheit range due to exposure time to the sun. |
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National Award for Our Achievements
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