Redwood Reader

A nice article in the Eureka Reporter today on the success of salmon restoration efforts in the Mattole River Watershed. While "record" may be a stretch, there is definitely a major improvement in the runs. Redwood Reader has covered this story and it is great to see the work paying off in terms of fish. Kudos to our friends working diligently on these projects.
http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=12459Mattole River salmon restoration efforts seeing record returns by Nathan Rushton, 6/25/2006
Al Gore was on David Letterman the other night pitching his book/movie, "An Inconvenient Truth". While we applaud his continuing educating of the public, there is no mention of glomalin or growing vegetation in sufficient amounts to impact the problem. In the east it is clear the factors involved in Shrinking Watersheds have been at work for centuries. Lawns and farms have replaced forests so that the amount of absorbed precipitation is a fraction of its capacity. Meanwhile there is firewood everywhere with the implication that a tree is still worth its wood and little else. Since it rains every couple of days little is said of drought or fire conditions.
Our old newspaper reported 150 foot chestnut and walnut trees,( the same paper told of 6 foot lobsters, which I have not seen, and oysters a foot long at the hinge, one of which was reported in the Eureka Reporter this week.) A quick scan of the hillsides reveals very few trees anywhere near that large. One issue that is clear is regular flooding, which improved management will certainly reduce.
Even the Supreme Court is starting to show concern, with the court split 5-4 on watershed protection issues for two Michigan developers this week. In this computer age, we have been enabled to count everything. Do we protect every rain drop and its rill? This is the very heart of the development issue- how far do we let money decide environmental issues we depend on for our basic living condiitions. We are only guessing at the consequences of global warming in terms of cutting refugees loose in flooded coastal cities or in the paths of more severe tropical storms and shifting rainfall patterns.
In our travels we have seen desert, timberline and the verdant East. All demonstrate the precipitation interface and water storage issues outlined in this blog. It is clear the Mattole was a perfect study site, in a flux and its seasonal patterns helped expose the workings of vegetation, fungi, soil and human impacts on these systems with catastrophic results for higher life forms downstream.
More good news from BLM in the region as well, as they and the Wilderness Conservation Society purchased a ten acre inholding in the King Range National Conservation Area which was right on the beach. Our friends in the planning depaartment have another task on their desk, and they have been really busy the last several years. We are anticipating release of the Gilham Butte Cooperative Management Plan this fall but there have been a string of acquisitions by groups turning land over to them in recent years. Last week there were car and bicycle tours of the Mill Creek purchase by Save the Redwoods- that alone is a major planning effort.
Another report concerning BLM was vandalism at several gates in the Headwaters Preserve. This is the very scenario I placed in my comment about the plan advocating electronic surveillance at gates and parking lots. As it is, there is no idea who did it or exactly when. This should be easy to make work with off the shelf parts and should be in place in areas of national treasures, like old growth redwood.
A major article on Humboldt Redwoods State Park ran a short while back in one of the Northcoast papaers. Locals described their reasons why Humboldt Redwoods State Park was THE place to enjoy the redwood experience. This is the inland side of the Redwoods to the Sea Wildlife Corridor, which will eventually be a reality in terms of ownership for public agencies.The surrounding private land is also rural and not conducive to major development, and already logged off, so that restoration of the watershed is occurring both in the Eel and Mattole sides of the drainage.