How Do We Count The Fish

 On this week’s edition of the EcoNews Report, host Alicia Hamann of Friends of the Eel River is joined by three fisheries experts to talk about how we count fish in the Eel River. Tune in to hear from Wyatt Smith from the Round Valley Indian Tribes, Dave Kajtaniak from the Department of Fish … Read more

Friends of the Eel River Sues to Protect Public Trust Flows In The Lower Eel River

Salmon and steelhead among species affected when groundwater pumping causes drawdown of connected surface flows. Friends of the Eel River (FOER) has filed suit in Humboldt County Superior Court to secure protection for the public trust values at risk when groundwater pumping depletes surface flows in the Lower Eel River. First, FOER is asking the … Read more

Conservation Groups Joint Statement on PG&E Herbicide Spraying

On September 29, 2022, PG&E alerted Humboldt County that it was going to spray herbicides along its easements across the region. PG&E failed to alert landowners or tenants of this new threat; instead, local news broke the story just two days before spraying was set to commence. Today, it appears that PG&E has postponed spraying … Read more

Support for Save Jackson Coalition

Secretary Wade Crowfoot California Natural Resources Agency 715 P Street, 20th Floor Sacramento, CA 95814 Sent via email to secretary@resources.ca.gov Dear Secretary Crowfoot, Friends of the Eel River supports the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians as they negotiate for equal co-management of the Jackson Demonstration State Forest (JDSF) in their ancestral lands. The JDSF … Read more

Ocean Ranch Restoration Project

Recently we toured the Ocean Ranch Restoration Project in the Eel River Wildlife Area. The Eel River Wildlife Area is a 2,600-acre complex in the Eel River estuary and is ancestral land of the Wiyot people. It contains salt marsh, pasture, wet meadow, brackish marsh, coastal scrub, and dunes. The land was managed by the … Read more

Potter Valley Project Updates

Action from FERC and PG&E seems to come in quick bursts – a lot has happened over the past two months. Before diving into that, we want to share the exciting news that this week FOER and our allies filed suit against FERC for violating the Endangered Species Act. When the federal agency issued an … Read more

Sifting Through the Studies: Eel River Dams and Fish Passage

The Eel River once flowed unobstructed from its headwaters in Mendocino County to the Pacific Ocean, supporting the third largest salmon and steelhead runs in California. Over a million fish historically spawned each year within the Eel River watershed (Source: Yoshiyama & Moyle, 2010). All that has changed over the past century, with the effects … Read more

Friends of the Eel River Notifies Humboldt County of Intent to Sue

Image of lower Eel River looking upstream. Blue sky contrasts the brown and green algae on the banks of the Eel River. The broad, shallow riffles on the left side of the photo as the river flows through a narrow pinchpoint (a point bar) and deepens near the center of the photo. Trees and mountains line the background.

Friends of the Eel River Notifies Humboldt County of Intent to Sue Conservation group demands Humboldt County protect fisheries and other public trust values in the lower Eel River Friends of the Eel River, a Eureka-based citizens’ group dedicated to protecting and restoring Eel River fisheries, has sent a formal letter to Humboldt County demanding … Read more

Conservation and Fishing Groups File Lawsuit in Federal Court Over Endangered Species Act Violations at Eel River Dams

Free The Eel, Endangered Species Act, Dam Removal

For Immediate Release: August 16, 2022 Contact California Trout – Redgie Collins – rcollins(at)caltrout.org Friends of the Eel River – Alicia Hamann – alicia(at)eelriver.org Institute for Fisheries Resources – Glen Spain – fish1ifr(at)aol.com Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations – Vivian Helliwell – vhelliwell(at)mcn.org Trout Unlimited – Charlie Schneider – Charlie.schneider(at)tu.org Conservation and Fishing Groups … Read more