Organizational Spotlight on Mattole Restoration Council, with Jeremy Wheeler, ED
In 1983, a group of citizens gathered under the largest madrone tree in the world, symbolically located in the middle of the remote Mattole watershed along California’s northern coast. The Mattole’s 300 square miles are remarkably wild, with a sparsely populated landscape of temperate rainforests, native prairies, and oak woodlands. But the watershed suffered severely from decades of sedimentation, choking the vegetation and depleting native salmon. The citizens under that madrone tree wanted to save the area, and started a movement to restore the watershed’s natural systems and protect it. Thus, the Mattole Restoration Council (MRC) was born.
Located in California’s “Lost Coast” region approximately 250 miles north of San Francisco, the Mattole valley was spared from development when the rugged terrain of the King Range forced builders of the Coastal Highway to turn inland. This left the area relatively untouched, with bountiful native salmon runs and clear-running streams, up until the post World War II timber boom.
Beginning in 1945, Douglas-fir were stripped from the Mattole’s forestlands, and by 1988, only 9% of the original old-growth forest remained standing. In this era, harvest operations paid little attention to water quality or habitat considerations. Thousands of miles of roads and skid trails dissected the landscape, and harvests often removed all vegetation from riparian forestlands. In 1955 and 1964, two large floods hit the Mattole and sent an unprecedented amount of sediment into the river and its tributaries. The floods substantially damaged in-stream habitats throughout the basin, and sent salmon populations plummeting. Steelhead and salmon populations have declined by over 90% since 1960, and Mattole River Coho and Chinook salmon populations are now federally listed as threatened with extinction. A once thriving fishing industry has entirely collapsed.
In the early 1980s, a grassroots movement began in the Mattole. Residents wanted to see their home watershed heal after realizing that land management practices had caused unintended declines in native salmon runs. The Mattole Watershed Salmon Support Group (now the Mattole Salmon Group) formed in 1981 to prevent the extinction of native salmon. Soon after, the community recognized the need for another non-profit to serve as an umbrella for this and other citizens’ groups that were addressing salmon and other watershed issues. The Mattole Restoration Council was born, and having celebrated their 25th anniversary this year, continues to work for the health and recovery of the watershed, with the vital participation and support of local community members and other non-profits.
For many years the Mattole has been identified as a priority conservation target due to the importance of the genetic heritage of the native salmon, trends in watershed recovery, and the strong presence of community-based conservation. These sentiments are endorsed by California state resource managers, who have tagged Mattole salmon with the highest risk of extinction, but also the highest potential for recovery. The Mattole River is one of only two free-flowing rivers on the North Coast, and has self-sustaining populations of three salmonid species: Chinook salmon, Coho salmon and steelhead trout. These populations do not have any hatchery inputs and remain genetically wild; a rarity in California, and increasingly, the world.
Jeremy Wheeler, MRC’s Executive Director since 2007, moved to the rural watershed eleven years ago. “I was interested in living a more rural lifestyle and in pursuing work that included a strong relationship with the land. I began attending meetings and doing odd jobs for the Restoration Council immediately.”
To fulfill their mission MRC has five main programs: a resource center, education programs for local high school students, GIS mapping services, improving forest and range conditions, and MRC’s showcase program, Good Roads, Clear Creeks (GRCC) to stormproof roads and stabilize stream banks to reduce sediment loads into streams.
Jeremy says with GRCC they have implemented over 400 individual erosion control projects throughout the watershed since 2002. These include stormproofing unpaved private access roads, as well as decommissioning abandoned roads, improving stream crossings, and stabilizing landslides. One of their current projects involves improving drainages and roads on tributaries to the Mattole River. Several miles of road have been reshaped by crowning and outsloping road segments. Nearly fifty culverts have been installed, all designed to withstand 100-year flood events. Some of the most exciting and large-scale GRCC projects were replacing old culverts that were impeding fish access, and installing bridges or bottomless pipe arches. These structures allow salmon and steelhead trout to freely migrate under the road, expanding their spawning and rearing habitat. The GRCC program continues to run strong today, stabilizing many tens of thousands of cubic feet of sediment each year (101,707 cubic yards in 2008).
When asked how they fund all this great work, Jeremy replies, “An extremely important source of funding for our work has been a series of bond measures passed by California voters to support clean and ample waters in the state.” These include Propositions 13, 40, 50 and most recently 84. He adds, however “We are concerned that the current state budget issues could jeopardize future state funding for watershed restoration.”
One proposed solution in the works is developing a permanent state watershed protection fund, possibly through a tax on bottled water or other water users.
While financial support can be challenging, Jeremy boasts that Mattole’s diverse community has provided plenty of public support to restore the area. “The ranchers, restorationists, retirees, families, teachers, writers, artists, agriculturalists, and the uncategorizable all agree that this is a very special place in need of good, careful stewardship.”
Jeremy continues to enjoy the rural lifestyle and build his relationship with the land, “My family and I enjoy working on our small organic ranch where we raise a few head of cattle, a small orchard and vegetable garden. We love swimming in the river and exploring the creeks.” And he adds he particularly loves interacting with the community, made up of some of the most caring, interesting people you will ever meet!
To learn more about the Mattole Restoration Council and support their work, please visit www.mattole.org.
Located in California’s “Lost Coast” region approximately 250 miles north of San Francisco, the Mattole valley was spared from development when the rugged terrain of the King Range forced builders of the Coastal Highway to turn inland. This left the area relatively untouched, with bountiful native salmon runs and clear-running streams, up until the post World War II timber boom.
Beginning in 1945, Douglas-fir were stripped from the Mattole’s forestlands, and by 1988, only 9% of the original old-growth forest remained standing. In this era, harvest operations paid little attention to water quality or habitat considerations. Thousands of miles of roads and skid trails dissected the landscape, and harvests often removed all vegetation from riparian forestlands. In 1955 and 1964, two large floods hit the Mattole and sent an unprecedented amount of sediment into the river and its tributaries. The floods substantially damaged in-stream habitats throughout the basin, and sent salmon populations plummeting. Steelhead and salmon populations have declined by over 90% since 1960, and Mattole River Coho and Chinook salmon populations are now federally listed as threatened with extinction. A once thriving fishing industry has entirely collapsed.
In the early 1980s, a grassroots movement began in the Mattole. Residents wanted to see their home watershed heal after realizing that land management practices had caused unintended declines in native salmon runs. The Mattole Watershed Salmon Support Group (now the Mattole Salmon Group) formed in 1981 to prevent the extinction of native salmon. Soon after, the community recognized the need for another non-profit to serve as an umbrella for this and other citizens’ groups that were addressing salmon and other watershed issues. The Mattole Restoration Council was born, and having celebrated their 25th anniversary this year, continues to work for the health and recovery of the watershed, with the vital participation and support of local community members and other non-profits.
For many years the Mattole has been identified as a priority conservation target due to the importance of the genetic heritage of the native salmon, trends in watershed recovery, and the strong presence of community-based conservation. These sentiments are endorsed by California state resource managers, who have tagged Mattole salmon with the highest risk of extinction, but also the highest potential for recovery. The Mattole River is one of only two free-flowing rivers on the North Coast, and has self-sustaining populations of three salmonid species: Chinook salmon, Coho salmon and steelhead trout. These populations do not have any hatchery inputs and remain genetically wild; a rarity in California, and increasingly, the world.
Jeremy Wheeler, MRC’s Executive Director since 2007, moved to the rural watershed eleven years ago. “I was interested in living a more rural lifestyle and in pursuing work that included a strong relationship with the land. I began attending meetings and doing odd jobs for the Restoration Council immediately.”
To fulfill their mission MRC has five main programs: a resource center, education programs for local high school students, GIS mapping services, improving forest and range conditions, and MRC’s showcase program, Good Roads, Clear Creeks (GRCC) to stormproof roads and stabilize stream banks to reduce sediment loads into streams.
Jeremy says with GRCC they have implemented over 400 individual erosion control projects throughout the watershed since 2002. These include stormproofing unpaved private access roads, as well as decommissioning abandoned roads, improving stream crossings, and stabilizing landslides. One of their current projects involves improving drainages and roads on tributaries to the Mattole River. Several miles of road have been reshaped by crowning and outsloping road segments. Nearly fifty culverts have been installed, all designed to withstand 100-year flood events. Some of the most exciting and large-scale GRCC projects were replacing old culverts that were impeding fish access, and installing bridges or bottomless pipe arches. These structures allow salmon and steelhead trout to freely migrate under the road, expanding their spawning and rearing habitat. The GRCC program continues to run strong today, stabilizing many tens of thousands of cubic feet of sediment each year (101,707 cubic yards in 2008).
When asked how they fund all this great work, Jeremy replies, “An extremely important source of funding for our work has been a series of bond measures passed by California voters to support clean and ample waters in the state.” These include Propositions 13, 40, 50 and most recently 84. He adds, however “We are concerned that the current state budget issues could jeopardize future state funding for watershed restoration.”
One proposed solution in the works is developing a permanent state watershed protection fund, possibly through a tax on bottled water or other water users.
While financial support can be challenging, Jeremy boasts that Mattole’s diverse community has provided plenty of public support to restore the area. “The ranchers, restorationists, retirees, families, teachers, writers, artists, agriculturalists, and the uncategorizable all agree that this is a very special place in need of good, careful stewardship.”
Jeremy continues to enjoy the rural lifestyle and build his relationship with the land, “My family and I enjoy working on our small organic ranch where we raise a few head of cattle, a small orchard and vegetable garden. We love swimming in the river and exploring the creeks.” And he adds he particularly loves interacting with the community, made up of some of the most caring, interesting people you will ever meet!
To learn more about the Mattole Restoration Council and support their work, please visit www.mattole.org.
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