Eel River Resources

CDEC

California Data Exchange Center

A data set of flows and reservoir storage levels from gauges on the Eel River.

The California Data Exchange Center (CDEC) installs, maintains, and operates an extensive hydrologic data collection network.

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California Department of Fish & Wildlife

Visit DFW’s website for access to educational resources, to learn about local fishing regulations, to discover resources on habitat conservation and much more!

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California Salmon Snapshots

The Nature Conservancy’s extensive website for California Salmon.

The Nature Conservancy’s California Salmon Snapshots is a collaborative information-sharing effort, critical to the on-going recovery of the state’s salmon species. For the first time ever, population data from the California Department of Fish & Wildlife and others — are compiled to show the number of salmon in our coastal California watersheds.

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California Water Atlas

An interactive map of water rights held in California.

A water right is a granted permission to withdraw water from a river, stream, or groundwater source for a “reasonable” and “beneficial” use.

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Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, is an independent agency that regulates the interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas, and oil. FERC also reviews proposals to build liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals and interstate natural gas pipelines as well as licensing hydropower projects.

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Eel River Forum

The Eel River Forum, facilitated by CalTrout, is a coalition of public agencies, Indian tribes, conservation partners, and other stakeholders with interest in, or responsibility for the environmental stewardship of the Eel River.

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Humboldt Fish

This website provides information on fishing regulations, charters, guides, where to eat seafood, fishing reports, and much more!

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National Marine Fisheries Service

NOAA Fisheries is responsible for the stewardship of the nation’s ocean resources and their habitat.

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Native Lands Map

The Native Lands Map is produced by Canadian non-profit Native Lands Digital. They strive to map Indigenous lands in a way that changes, challenges, and improves the way people see history and the present day. We hope to strengthen the spiritual bonds that people have with the land, its people, and its meaning.

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Streamer

Department of the Interior’s Interactive Stream Map.

Streamer is a new way to visualize and understand water flow across America. With Streamer you can explore our Nation’s major streams by tracing upstream to their source or downstream to where they empty. In addition to making maps, Streamer creates reports about your stream traces and the places they pass through.

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United States Geological Survey: National Water Information System

The link below directs to a data set for stage and stream flow of seven sites on the Eel River.

The USGS investigates the occurrence, quantity, quality, distribution, and movement of surface and underground waters and disseminates the data to the public, State and local governments, public and private utilities, and other Federal agencies involved with managing our water resources.

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River Network’s latest version of the Clean Water Act Owner’s Manual

The Manual is a transformational tool that has galvanized local groups, grassroots advocates, and diverse stakeholders to protect their local waters for over two decades. It provides a real roadmap for how the Act works and how people can apply it and make it work in their communities for cleaner water and healthy communities and is now updated to reflect changes to the Act, and highlights its intersections with environmental justice, climate change, and other longstanding challenges.

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Eco News Report

Eco News Report

The EcoNews Report is a weekly radio show and podcast hosted by Friends of the Eel River, Environmental Protection Information Center, Humboldt Baykeeper, and Northcoast Environmental Center. Tune in to KHUM (104.7 or 104.3) Saturdays at 10am, or click below to subscribe to the podcast.

Flow Enhancement Projects on the South Fork Eel

Flow Enhancement Projects on the South Fork Eel

 How do you improve the flow of a river? Just ask our friends at Salmonid Restoration Federation. On this week’s episode of the EcoNews Report host Alicia Hamann of Friends of the Eel River is joined by Dana Stolzman and Katrina Nystrom from Salmonid Restoration...

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You can see Friends of the Eel River staff in these full-length films:

Virtual Greeting and Program Updates

Virtual Greeting and Program Updates

In lieu of our regular spring open house, we prepared a virtual greeting and program update. Tune in to see what working from home looks like for us and to hear the latest on our major programs, including the big news about the Potter Valley Project.

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PBS Newshour: Water for Weed

PBS Newshour: Water for Weed

Spencer Michaels of PBS NewsHour discusses low flows in the Eel River and the relationship with cannabis and grape farmers. Scott Greacen is interviewed and asked about the impact of low flows on fish and wildlife, May 2015. Click here to learn about our work seeking...

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These are a selection of studies related to Friends of the Eel River’s work protecting the Eel River and its fisheries.

Physical and Biological Constraints on the Capacity for Life-History Expression of Anadromous Salmonids: An Eel River, California, Case Study

December 4, 2021

This paper from the National Marine Fisheries Service confirms previous research and traditional ecological knowledge that the upper Eel River behind Scott Dam includes some of the best salmon and steelhead habitats in the entire watershed. To quote the paper, “the blocked Upper Mainstem generally contains a higher proportion of suitable habitat for all freshwater salmonid life stages than much of the rest of the Eel River Basin.”

Click here to read the paper.

Salmonid Habitat and Population Capacity Estimates for Steelhead Trout and Chinook Salmon Upstream of Scott Dam in the Eel River, California

April 22, 2020

This research by masters student Emily Cooper from Humboldt State University estimated salmonid habitat capacity upstream from Scott Dam. The study concluded that removing Scott Dam will make available an additional 463 km (287 miles) of steelhead spawning habitat.

Click here to read the report.

Miller Pacific Dam Safety Study

September 6, 2018

This study, prepared by Miller Pacific Engineering Group is a summary of slope stability analyses for the landslide adjacent to Scott Dam’s left/southern abatement.

The study concludes that the large landscape complex that is adjacent to the left abutment is a geologic hazard to the dam that needs to be investigated further and ultimately recommends that PG&E have a more detailed analysis conducted on the landslide’s potential effects on the dam, including soil pressure and seismic displacements.

Click here to read the report.

Feasibility Evaluation for Replacing Potter Valley Hydropower with Solar Energy

February 2017

This study was conducted by John Rosenblum, PhD. He concluded that replacing the hydropower facility with 3 acres of solar panels would increase energy generation.

Dr. Rosenblum also noted that hydropower is extremely variable, and that output is often at zero in winter when solar output would also be low. Given that the Potter Valley Project is operated to divert water out of the watershed, energy generation is highest in the summer (when irrigation needs are highest) and could easily be replaced by solar PV.

Click here to read the report.

Blockwater Investigation

August 5, 2016

This study was conducted by Dr. Alison O’Dowd and Dr. William Trush, co-directors of Cal Poly Humboldt’s River Institute.

O’Dowd and Trush compared flow conditions impaired with dams with flow conditions that were unimpaired in the Mainstem Eel River to figure out how the flows could be managed to optimize the habitat of juvenile salmonids during the spring hydrographic recession limb.

Click here to read the report.

 

The Eel River Action Plan

May 2016

This report was prepared for the Eel River Forum by the Eel River Forum members and consists of information regarding salmonids and recommended actions for the recovery of salmonids.

The report also provides summary descriptions of issues the Eel River Forum has identified as primary factors impairing salmonid recovery and the Eel River’s ecological health.

Click here to read the report.

Long-Term Streamflow and Precipitation Trends in the Eel River Basin

2015

This study was conducted by Eli Asarian of Riverbend Sciences on behalf of Friends of the Eel River.

This study analyzes long-term trends in streamflow, precipitation, and precipitation-adjusted streamflow in the Eel River Basin.

Click here to read the executive summary.

Click here to read the report.

Impacts of Surface Water Diversions for Marijuana Cultivation on Aquatic Habitat in Four Northwestern California Watersheds

March 18, 2015

This study was prepared by CDFW and evaluates the environmental impacts of water diversions for cannabis cultivation. It indicates that water demand for the cultivation has the potential to divert significant portions of streamflow and that decreased streamflow is likely to have lethal effects on salmon and steelhead trout species that have state and federal listings as well as a negative impact on vulnerable amphibian species.

Click here to read the study.

Letter from Southwick Associates Fish and Wildlife Economics and Statistics

August 9, 2012

This summary prepared for the Golden Gate Salmon Association estimates the value of a restored commercial and recreational salmon fishery in California.

Click here to read the letter.

Pacific Lamprey in the Eel River Basin: A Summary of Current Information and Identification of Research Needs

September 2010

This summary was prepared for the Wiyot Tribe by Stillwater Sciences and provides current information regarding Pacific Lamprey as well as research needs related to the species.

Click here to read the letter.

Historical Review of Eel River Anadromous Salmonids, with Emphasis on Chinook Salmon, Coho Salmon and Steelhead

February 1, 2010

This report was commissioned by California Trout and written by Ronald M. Yoshiyama and Peter B. Moyle at the University of California Davis Center for Watershed Sciences.

The authors conclude that Chinook salmon, coho salmon, and steelhead in the Eel River Basin are advancing toward extinction. The report includes recovery recommendations which include watershed-wide restoration programs, evaluation of the Potter Valley Project, pikeminnow population control, special protections for summer steelhead, and more.

Click here to read the letter.

Salmon, Steelhead, and Trout in California

2008

This report from the Center for Watershed Sciences at UC Davis describes California salmon, steelhead, and trout species. It includes essential steps to recovering California’s salmonids including implementing ecologically sustainable flows, reducing the migratory barriers to adults and juveniles, restoring watersheds, reducing human impacts on the landscape, and reducing competition from non-native salmonids.

Click here to read the letter.

Economic Benefits to Mendocino & Lake Counties from Removing the Dams on the Eel River

Fall 2004

This report was prepared by the Center for Environmental Economic Development (CEED) on behalf of Friends of the Eel River. It outlines potential benefits to Mendocino and Lake Counties that could result from Eel River dam removal.

The report concludes that the removal of the Potter Valley Project would benefit the Eel River fish, the fisheries, and both Lake and Mendocino Counties economies by creating jobs in deconstruction and increasing nature tourism.

Click here to read the letter.

A River in the Balance

Summer 2002

This report was prepared by the Center for Environmental Economic Development (CEED) on behalf of Friends of the Eel River.

The report’s conclusion states that there is no longer any economic need for the Potter Valley Project and emphasizes the need for restoring the Eel River’s natural flows and reducing human environmental impact.

Click here to read the Executive Summary.
Click here to read the entire report.

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Contact Us

Membership forms and other printed material may be mailed to:

Friends of the Eel River
PO Box 4945
Arcata, CA 95518

Email: foer(at)eelriver.org

Phone: (707) 798-6345

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