California is experiencing an extended drought that is affecting local communities and salmon recovery efforts. Governor Brown has called for a 25% mandatory reduction in water usage throughout the state. Salmonid Restoration Federation (SRF) is a statewide non-profit organization that is based in Humboldt County and promotes water conservation and salmon recovery efforts. SRF recently convened a preliminary water conservation meeting with representatives from Sanctuary Forest, Mattole Salmon Group, Briceland Volunteer Fire Department, Beginnings, Inc., Briceland Municipal Water District, Redway Community Services District, Trout Unlimited, Pacific Watershed Associates, Humboldt County Supervisor, Estelle Fennel, and the Director of Humboldt County Planning and Building Department, Kevin Hamblin. The group discussed the pressing concerns of balancing the needs of fish and wildlife with human needs, water scarcity, fire protection, and regulatory obstacles including permitting, taxation, and water rights compliance.
The group also brainstormed solutions including coordinated outreach and education, water storage, coordinating water diversions, restoring groundwater hydrology, stewardship incentives, identifying multiple beneficial use projects, soliciting watershed restoration funding through the recently passed California Water Bond (Proposition 1), and voluntarily forbearing from diverting water during late summer. SRF will convene a workshop to explore creative solutions that will involve the larger community in an effort to build support and capacity for community-based water conservation efforts that could enhance flows for both residents and threatened salmon species.
“Southern Humboldt is unique in that we receive a lot of precipitation in the winter but we have very little municipal infrastructure to store water for use later in the summer. Residents of rural communities are accustomed to managing and stewarding the water on their land but in this period of drought and as our population grows, it is imperative to work together to create community-based water conservation efforts that could benefit landowners and ensure adequate flows for fish,” stated Dana Stolzman, Executive Director of Salmonid Restoration Federation.
The South Fork Eel River and the health of its tributaries are key to recovery of threatened coho salmon that are listed under both the California and Federal Endangered Species Acts. Limiting factors affecting coho salmon include sediment, high water temperatures, lack of water, and refugia. In North Coast watersheds a primary factor impacting coho salmon are insufficient instream flows. Historically, forested tributaries provided cool water and refugia for juvenile coho salmon in the summers. Redwood Creek, a 26 square mile Redwood Creek watershed that flows into the South Fork Eel River, is critical for the rearing of juvenile coho salmon populations.
This summer, SRF is promoting immediate water conservation efforts with an education and outreach campaign, offering tributary-based water rights clinics, and conducting a low-flow monitoring study. SRF has also received a Monitoring, Planning, and Assessment grant from the State Water Board so we can provide technical assistance and capacity building as we navigate how to best conserve flows in this important watershed.
Additionally, SRF has received grant funding to conduct a Feasibility Study in Miller Creek to explore the feasibility of a water storage and forbearance program modeled after the Sanctuary Forest successful program in the Mattole headwaters. SRF hopes that this study and valued input from the community will lead to the creation of a coordinated and funded water conservation program that will benefit landowners, salmon, and community entities like the Briceland Volunteer Fire Department and Beginnings, Inc.