SRRC - Riparian Restoration Program

Overview

The SRRC has been restoring riparian areas in the Salmon River watershed since 1992.

Our riparian restoration projects include a long term riparian assessment and planting project to increase stream shading, creek mouth enhancement, revegetation after fish barrier removal, bank stabilization, and tailing pile restoration.

Riparian vegetation in the Salmon River watershed was substantially reduced during the gold mining era from 1851 to the early 1900's. Since that time, road-building, logging, additional mining, and erosional processes exacerbated by these activities have further reduced and altered riparian vegetation.

Importance of Riparian Vegetation

The reduction and compositional alteration of riparian vegetation along the river and its tributaries has led to increased solar exposure of the water and river bars.  This, in turn, has caused an increase in water temperatures, primarily in the hot summer months.  High water temperatures adversely affect the aquatic ecosystems and fishery of the Salmon River.

Additionally, loss of riparian vegetation makes stream banks more susceptible to erosion and ultimately leads to increased sediment delivery to the river.

Riparian vegetation may need to be reestablished after mining, road decommissioning, floods, fires, timber harvest, and livestock use.

Riparian Assessment

The Riparian Assessment is a multi-year project designed to bring the temperature-impaired waters of the Salmon River into compliance with water quality laws by reducing peak summer water temperatures. The assessment combines federal mandates, private funding sources, and the work of SRRC and our collaborators.

Background

Water bodies in the Salmon River watershed are considered to be temperature-impaired and are therefore subject to regulation by the Clean Water Act. In compliance with the law, the California North Coast Regional Water Quality Board adopted the Salmon River TMDL and Implementation Plan in 2005. The goal of the plan is to reduce peak water temperatures by increasing riparian shading.

Due to a lack of federal resources to implement the plan, the SRRC obtained private funding from the Bella Vista Foundation and began work on implementing the plan in 2006. The plan requires an increase in vegetation cover and height within the riparian zone in order to reduce impaired water temperatures and improve fish habitat.

The Assessment Process

The SRRC and our collaborators (USFS, North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, Karuk Tribe, and others) first created a protocol to identify shade-deficient riparian areas that are likely to respond to re-vegetation efforts. 

Our staff and volunteers have spent two summers completing the initial field survey of riparian areas. At each site, the potential shading effect of vegetation was determined using a solar pathfinder. The SRRC’s GIS specialists created detailed maps of the sites. 

Next, we will compile a species composition list and identify native riparian plants that are appropriate for each site. We are using a new greenhouse at our watershed center to propagate native plants that will be used in replanting efforts on this project and other restoration efforts we are involved in.

Finally, we will prioritize re-vegetation sites then establish procedures and cost estimates for implementation at each site.
 
As the planted vegetation grows and begins shading the water and river bars, we should see a reduction in peak water temperatures and an improvement in fish habitat.

Creek Mouth Enhancement

Our creek mouth enhancement projects aim to improve fish passage, side channel rearing areas, and refugia habitats by removing the temporary flow barriers often found at the confluence of creeks and the main river forks.

We have been engaged in ongoing work at the mouth of Kelly Gulch (a North Fork tributary) and other key areas in the watershed for several years. Volunteers strategically move rock and wood blockages by hand so that cold creek water is better routed into the pools at the creek mouth. Kelly Gulch's connectivity to the river has been gradually reestablished and a side channel rearing area has been opened up.  In addition, we have been replanting riparian vegetation to provide shade and fish habitat.

Importance of Creek Mouth Enhancement

Recent research has revealed the critical importance of thermal refugia found at creek mouths during the summer months when river temperatures sometimes exceed the lethal levels for salmonids. Cold creek water fed into the river often collects at the creek mouth, providing a “pool” or thermal refugia of colder water that salmonids and other fish congregate in to avoid the stresses of warm river water. Summertime population densities in these thermal refugia is often much greater than that of any other part of the river.

Program Coordinators

Jim Villeponteaux, Primary Coordinator,
Nat Pennington, Creek Mouth Enhancement Coordinator,

Salmon River Restoration Council
PO Box 1089
25631 Sawyers Bar Road (shipping only)
Sawyers Bar, CA 96027

phone: 530-462-4665 or 800-840-4665
fax: 530-462-4664