Restoring Rivers, Protecting Species: New Effort Launches a Landscape-scale Restoration Initiative to Reduce Sediment in Northern California Watersheds
This is a press release from Cannabis for Conservation:
[Stock photo by Kym Kemp]
A major new restoration initiative is launching across Northern California to protect imperiled aquatic species and improve the health of sediment-impaired watersheds historically impacted by cannabis cultivation and rural development.
The project, Sediment Reduction on Cannabis Farms in Priority Northern Watersheds, is funded through the California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife’s Cannabis Restoration Grant Program, and was awarded to Cannabis for Conservation (CFC), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose programs conserve wildlife and restore habitats in cannabis-impacted landscapes. The project will reduce harmful sediment production and restore degraded watercourses across the Mattole, Eel, Mad, and Trinity River watersheds. These vital river systems are home to some of California’s most threatened and endangered species, including Coho and Chinook Salmon, Northern California steelhead, and newly proposed northwestern pond turtle.
“Contrary to popular belief, sedimentation from rural roads, eroding slopes, and bare unvegetated soils is one of the leading causes of aquatic habitat degradation and water quality in the state,” said Jackee Riccio, Executive Director & Co-Founder of Cannabis for Conservation. “By stabilizing roads, restoring streambanks, and replanting native vegetation, we are helping rivers run cleaner and colder, which is critical for salmonids and amphibians already on the brink.”
The project will improve a minimum of 100 high-priority sediment source sites and restore habitat on at least 40 privately owned properties with current or historical cannabis cultivation. Activities will include:
Upgrading stream crossings (culverts) to allow natural streambed function and species migration;
Bed and bank restoration of fish-bearing streams;
Decommissioning of onstream ponds that impede flow and contribute sediment;
Revegetating disturbed and sloughing soils with locally-sourced native plants
This program reflects a growing movement to align cannabis cultivation, and private rural landowners in general, with ecological stewardship. “Restoration on private lands, including those historically used for cannabis, is one of the most cost-effective and impactful strategies for watershed health,” said Vanessa Salamon, Project Manager for Cannabis for Conservation. “We’re working directly with landowners to turn past impacts into future solutions.”
To learn more about the restoration effort or to get involved,
visit CannabisforConservation.org.
Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules
Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/
IMHO: Wasted money and effort.
When the Pillsbury dams go out… the Eel River will run mud for 20 (+-) years.
The new water theft structure will be inundated by silt.
Sediments will fill up the water theft pond near Ukiah in a few years.
Pristine Eel River ? Better forget about it for the next couple generations.
Your name is so appropriate. We know from dam removals elsewhere that the apocalyptic scenario you suggest if the dam is removed is far from the truth.
The Klamath Dams came out. It has taken about a year to flush out the sediment. Now water quality is better. The same will be true on the Eel River.
So… Have you been up there ?
Felice Pace comment further down on roads has accurate information. The person that literally wrote the book on forest roads/sedimentation etc. lives locally in Humboldt County and has a related Hydrology based business. Pace’s assertion that it has taken about a year to flush out the sedimentation seems “way over the cliff” for giving any credibility. Would like to see something to back it up.
The, 6th Logical Fallacy:
“You’ve never…BEAN!!”
Ha!
I live at Klamath, a shot walk to the River. I go down almost every day.
I can view that you are an “Environmental Activist” and some relationship with the Sierra Club. Do you have any advanced degrees? Hydrology- Fisheries etc.?
Sweasy dam, (built in 1938) on the Mad River flushed out quickly after removal in 1970. I’m thinking in a year or two. Intense rains can easily remove mountains of sediment in a short period.
False go look at klamath river up stream from seiad valley
Didn’t you say the same about the dam removal on the Klamath? And then fish were seen swimming above the old dam site the very next year? Please explain that- no not sarcastic I actually appreciate your comments on these rivers and fish..
His “explanation” was to gaslight and change the subject. Same thing will happen this time.
(Sighs again…) (JPR Radio)
Researchers, tribes, residents prepare for a century of sediment released from the Klamath dams—
“There’s about 17 to 20 million cubic yards of sediment built up behind the three remaining dams,” says Ren Brownell, spokesperson for the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, the entity charged with dam removal. “Through the drawdown process, we expect five to seven million cubic yards of sediment to go downstream.”
That’s enough to fill between 1,500 and 2,100 Olympic-sized swimming pools of material, most of it extremely fine, talc-like silt and clay—and lots of dead algae.
“As that [algae] makes its way downstream, it decomposes,” says Desiree Tullos, professor of water resources engineering at Oregon State University.
“That process sucks oxygen out of the water.”
—
Research Sheds Light on Sediment Impacts as Klamath Sees Historic Dam Removal— (Siskiyou News)
The meta-analysis by Jensen et al. reveals that salmon egg survival drops precipitously when fine sediments smaller than 0.85 millimeters exceed just 10% of spawning gravel composition. With current sediment deposits on the Klamath far exceeding these studied thresholds, the findings raise important questions about salmon reproduction in affected areas.
The research quantifies specific impacts: for each 1% increase in fine sediments, the odds of survival decrease by 16.9% for Chinook salmon and 18.3% for coho salmon – both key species in the Klamath River system. The study found that coho salmon, an important Klamath species, showed the steepest decline in survival per unit of sediment increase among all species studied.
The current situation on the Klamath, with several inches to feet of fine silt and clay coating the river bottom in some areas, represents sediment levels far beyond those examined in the studies reviewed. The researchers specifically caution that “extreme caution should be used if one must make estimates for stream types and conditions not represented in the original data.”
(Sighs again.)
Main Klamath is loaded with sediment. It will take years to flush it out.
I looked at the water post dam removal… it was staggering. I couldn’t believe it.
Massive amounts. Real images of the water were pretty much hidden from the public. Posted photos showed beautiful blue water (er… nope).
Meanwhile —
Tributaries and above the dam are clear, but they will need to carry the spawning fish till the main river clears out in time.
Fish going upstream… well, that’s great, but the real story is how many Salmon come back in 3 years. Folks… you can’t celebrate yet.
And the Klamath is still chocolate brown… and will be for years. This is important because the downstream survival of the smolts is affected by water turbidity and the number of disease organisms in the water.
Turbidity = not good. (Yeah, this is stuff from a basic ‘fisheries’ class.)
Don’t know if I will live long enough to see the Pillsbury dam come out… if you are around… well… don’t be surprised at the damage.
With the Eel River, they can’t hide it.
There will be massive amounts of politicio backpedaling.
At the risk of losing any friends that I might have left, I have to say that Bozo is exactly right on all issues.
I saw the South Fork Eel before the ’55 flood and the ’64 flood. The river is just now starting to scour out. And the eels will be comming back. Most of the damage to the river was the grant funded “clean-up.” There is nothing more harmful than free funding for foolish projects.
I’m not saying that Pillsbury should not be removed. But, it will be devistating in so many ways.
In twenty year the kids will be saying how could they have been so foolish.
E….Someone told me that when they pushed 101 freeway through they dumped the overburden in the river. What do you know?
Oh yeah, “Real images of the water were pretty much hidden from the public.” 400 miles of open river where anyone with a phone can take a picture yet somehow no one, including you, were able to take “real images” and post them. I have never seen someone proven so thoroughly wrong so quickly as you.
(Sighs…)
You do realize that live water quality data is available to the public, right? A photo of the surface of the water proves nothing at all, other than how misinformed you are.
Turns out he used a 2023 picture from a fish farm so he’s not misinformed. He just wants a response from you. [edit]
[edit: no insults on this page please, Kym] That picture is from the June 11, 2023 <–before the dams were removed in 2024) Seattle Times article with this byline, “Farm-raised tilapia grow to adulthood on land rented out by Liskey Farms in the Klamath Basin in Oregon. (Daniel Kim / The Seattle Times)” and the article itself explains, “Inside, pink, orange and tan fish, each no bigger than a slice of bread, gasped at the surface of their burbling tanks filled with water from a natural geothermal hot spring under Liskey’s land.” This is not even a picture of the Klamath River, [edit].
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/the-massive-dam-removal-on-the-klamath-may-save-salmon-but-cant-solve-the-wests-water-crisis/
But the sediment will eventually clear out. Maybe not as fast as we would prefer, but it took time to get this bad and it’ll take time to recover.
Would it be better to leave the dams in place and wait for them to fail? That seems to be the only other option, unless I’m missing something.
Well, that is true. Eventually Shasta Dam, Trinity Dam, Oroville Dam, Ruth Dam… etc. Will need to face that fate.
On the Klamath… It could have been a 50 to 100 year ‘project’ to remove the dams.
Yes, it would be massive job to remove the silt and ‘sequester’ it somewhere.
Meanwhile… mostly ‘un-shown’ photos of the Klamath Project.
How’s about we see that same photo from June 2025?
Thank you! I value your comments. Don’t always agree but Hey- that’s life! I do think you have more wisdom on these rivers than I do and so I appreciate you answering me….
The turbidity effects from the Klamath dam removals were anticipated and studied. The final EIS/EIR discusses this (Yes, of course the river will be turbid after being starved of sediment for many decades). For example, measures were provided to clear boat ramps of silt down in the Klamath estuary. There are numerous monitoring stations tracking real time conditions. A simple web search can provide this info and the gauge data do show large increases in turbidity following storms as expected. All of this was studied, disclosed and made available for public comment.
Yeah, you INSISTED your bullshit claims about the Klamath were true too, and we all saw how that went. If it’s Bozo’s “IMHO” about a river it’s basically guaranteed to be false.
Uh-Huh…
What I got from Bozo is that seeing fish swimming and seeing fish reproduce successfully are not the same thing. I agree that we need to wait a few years to see if that Klamath dam removal is successful in the short term. Massive amounts of silt released, moving downstream and covering streambed is a valid concern to fish reproduction. No need to fight or insult here. We all want the fish to recover….
Live water quality data–going back years–is available and always has been. No need to continue to argue a bullshit point that is easily disproved by scientific evidence. Insisting that random photos (no location, no date, no source…just a random photo of the surface of the water) prove anything at all is very stupid, and deserves to be labelled as such.
(Sighs… )
The Party told the people to reject the evidence of their eyes and their ears. It was The Party’s final, most essential command
Thanks to your comment, I did a Tin Eye image search and found it to be picture of a fish farm in 2023. [edit]
https://tineye.com/search/2b3768b9c2cdc6db8fdceda8e9b618a00fc7cb8c?sort=score&order=desc&page=1
Why will we have different results from dam removal on the eel than we have had on other rivers?
Eel has more people on it.
Number 1:
Diverting sludge to Ukiah, don’t know how they are going to handle that one.
Dunno if they have even considered the turbidity of the water.
Number 2:
Klamath below the dams… runs through kinda ’empty’ country.
Siead (200 people), Happy Camp (600), Orleans (800), Weichepec (100) Klamath (100)
Think when the turbidity wall goes through Covelo… I do think some ‘shit will hit the fan’.
Finally when the sediment makes the main stream… Scotia, Rio Dell, Fortuna, Fernbridge… are going to er ‘have a cow’. (Possible Pun Intended).
The Mainstem Eel does not flow through Covelo.
Bozo is not fact-based.
(Sighs…)
Eh ? Did you read the post ? Do you have trouble understanding this ?
>… Finally when the sediment makes the main stream… Scotia, Rio Dell, Fortuna, Fernbridge…”
A wonderful program to restore many rivers that have been damaged by sediment by pot cultivation, logging, rural roads, bare soil, etc. These rivers were once alive with many fish species but have declined over the years. Fish have trouble or can’t reach their spawning grounds to lay their eggs to hatch fingerlings, which grow for awhile and head back down stream eventually reaching the ocean where they spend several years growing into adult fish and once again head up stream to lay their eggs and start the cycle all over again. Hopefully this will bring the rivers back for fishing like it was many years ago. The money spent on this project is well worth it and I applaud their efforts!
IMHO:
Right now, the Eel is fine as far a carried sediment is concerned.
Years of low water, warm water (related to low), dope farm nutrient runoff and pike minnow are the (local) problem.
Silt from the Pillsbury dam removal will be the overwhelming problem in the future.
This is Taxpayer wasted money. Heaven help the taxpayer.
Martin, do you think the salmon bumped into the dam and just returned to the ocean with their eggs?
No, I don’t think they returned to the ocean with their eggs. The fish may lay their eggs in the ocean, but they will not survive. I can’t remember if there was a fish ladder there or not. Do you know if there was?
Decades of destruction from logging came way before cannabis. The hills are naked and bare, blowing away in the wind, sediment drifting downwind, all started long, long ago.
We’re all to blame for the destruction of our environment. It’s what we do.
All they are doing is removing infrastructure and forcing everyone on to the PG&E SMART grids so they can be surveiled, monitored, reported and controlled by the SMART grid. I do not know why everyone does not understand this. That is why during Covid everyone was supposed to stay in their houses but “tree cutters” and PG&E were everywhere installing the new 5G SMART grid plates on all the power poles. They want everyone hooked up to the SMART grid by 2030. It is a FACT. Ppl are to lazy to just go and READ Agenda 2030 on sustainability and it is all there. I know everyone will say this is not happening but they have NOT read the Agenda if they do. Ppl really think that removing dams and putting farmed salmon in the rivers helps the salmon, lol. Average IQ of a California is 80, the “autistic” scale is 70 so I get most ppl are seriously not very intelligent but come on ppl. Open your eyes. It is all been a strategic plan. Yrs, it is a conspiracy but it’s definitely no theory and ppl fell for it and they are still falling for it. Go read the Agenda and then tell me I am wrong.
You are wrong.
The amount of sediment coming from MJ cultivation is a tiny fraction of the fine sediment delivered annually and during major storm events from “native surface” (dirt) and gravel roads on Industrial Forest lands and the roads on our national forests (see https://www.nrel.colostate.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/StreamNotes_2018-02_MacDonald-Decommissioning.pdf). That’s because the water boards refuse to require annual and post-major storm maintenance on private industrial logging roads and national forest roads most of which were constructed for logging. The US Forest Service only has funding to maintain a quarter of the 265,000 miles of roads on our national forests. Unmaintained dirt and gravel roads eventually fail (most blow out at stream crossings) and typically deliver too much chronic and episodic fine sediment to our streams.
To be responsible stewards, the Forest Service should decommission and put to bed all roads it can not afford to maintain to standards. That is the only way to achieve healthy streams in lands dominated by national forest lands. But the agency refuses to do it! They say they need all these roads to fight fire even though most of them are in mid-slope locations. Firefighters rarely if ever fight fire from mid-slope roads because it is just to dangerous and ineffective to boot. Wildfires generally jump mid-slope roads used as firebreaks and yet the Forest Service continues to waste millions constructing these ineffective, so-called firebreaks.
Keeping roads you can’t afford to properly maintain is wanton waste and institutionalized stupidity.
Thanks, Felice! I appreciate your comments here. I met you long ago at a biodiversity conference and you were intelligent and persistent. You went government, I went off grid. We need more like you in there….
(Sighs again…) the MILLION acres (yes, that was in one year) stripped of vegetation by wildfires. All that’s left are dead snags. Hot fires burned the organic material out of the soil.
Here’s a couple drives you should take.
Go up to Happy Camp. Nice drive and you will see the turbidity in the Klamath.
Take Greyback road up and over to the hill to Cave Junction.
Really nice drive (or was anyway). Entire valley was burned out.
Have lunch at Taylors and buy some sausage !
Closer one. 299 to Berry Summit. Take Titlow Hill road to the south. Turn left at Friday Ridge road. (That is the first paved road to the east Drive through the burned area. Continue on… down the hill… then look at the massive amount of small trees just waiting to be a huge bonfire.
Hwy 36… 1 mile past Mad River Burger Bar. Turn north on FH1.
Proceed for 10 miles or so. Twice burned forest, yup for MILES.
Tiny bushes growing, lots of bare soil being eroded, washing down the hillsides.
Hwy 36… go past Mad River Burger Bar… up to the top of the hill.
Take FH 23 to the right. (Picketts Peak/Horse Ridge Lookout).
Drive on and view the devastation to both the South Fork and Mad River watersheds.
And you’re worried about dope farms and old logging roads ?
Agree. Sadly, the current federal government situation won’t help our roads on federal lands despite increased regulatory requirements to maintain better roads. Decommissioning is the answer for many roads, but where is the money to come from? Road decomm is expensive and unless the road is perched right above a fish bearing reach, grants often aren’t available. We need the right people there scratching for the few dollars that are out there. Unfortunately, many of them have left in the last few months under the new regime.
“Contrary to popular belief, sedimentation from rural roads, eroding slopes, and bare unvegetated soils is one of the leading causes of aquatic habitat degradation and water quality in the state,”
What is popular belief? This doesn’t seem contrary to popular belief at all from my perspective.
There should be a sales tax on pot to go to restoration of the rivers and creeks poisoned by illegal grows. Past and present grows.
no there shouldn’t.