The 10th Annual Coho Confab

The 10th Annual Coho Confab was held in Petrolia, CA from August 16-18, 2007. This 10th Anniversary Confab marked the first return in a decade to the location of the original Coho Confab.

This Confab featured restoration tours highlighting sudden oak death, biomonitoring, the Mattole Canyon Creek Delta restoration, installing instream structures, and a tour of the headwaters of the Mattole addressing water conservation, sediment reduction, and land acquisitions. Other field tours visited Wild and Working Forest sites, in-stream structures in the lower Mattole to the Estuary, and Mill Creek. Workshops focused on underwater fish identification, riparian invertebrate monitoring as a tool for stream health assessment, and hightech water quality monitoring.

Participants had an opportunity to snorkel and identify fish in Tails from a Hidden World—Natural History and Underwater Exploration of Salmonids and their Habitat led by Maureen Roche, Mattole Valley resident, and Tom Campbell of the Mattole Salmon Group. Hikers joined David Simpson in a fabulous tour entitled Protecting a Postage Stamp, Saving the World— Story of Mill Creek Restoration, where participants learned about the history of the effort to restore the lower part of this watershed and protect the remnant old-growth forest.

Open forums and resource workshops included a discussion of conservation easements with Noah Levy of Sanctuary Forest, plus Stories and Songs of Salmon with Freeman House, author of Totem Salmon, singer-songwriter Joanne Rand, Seth Zuckerman, co-editor of Salmon Nation, and David Simpson and Jane Lapiner of the theatrical troupe Human Nature. Saturday night culminated with a celebratory feast, a cabaret featuring local talents, and was capped by a fantastic performance by Joanne Rand. The Sunday morning workshops included low-flow assessment in watersheds, monitoring riparian plantings, and the evolution of watershed restoration efforts in the Mattole.