Salmon Habitat Restoration Priorities in the Lower Russian River

NOAA Fisheries and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife are implementing a collaborative process called SHaRP (Salmon Habitat Restoration Priorities) to identify priority actions for restoring California’s salmon and steelhead habitat. SHaRP is a collaborative, consensus-based process to determine the most pressing habitat restoration actions needed to recover salmonids in a focus area (such as one or more streams or rivers).

In the Lower Russian River watershed, the SHaRP effort targeted four focus areas:

• Green Valley Creek
• Dutch Bill Creek
• Willow Creek
• Mill Creek

The success of SHaRP depends on community and tribal participation. Creating these highly-specific restoration strategies requires deep, local understanding. Participants were convened to gather context and conditions of each of the four focus areas, and to identify habitat problems and solutions.

Why the Lower Russian River?

The Russian River historically supported large populations of coho salmon and is the largest watershed in the current range of the endangered Central California Coast coho salmon. The Lower Russian River basin plays a central role in all recovery scenarios for CCC coho salmon, including three Endangered Species Act-listed salmonid species. It is also the site of an active captive broodstock program with intensive monitoring of salmon and steelhead populations.

We selected Green Valley, Dutch Bill, Willow, and Mill Creeks as focus streams within the Russian River. They have the potential to become regional coho salmon strongholds and play a prominent role in CCC coho salmon recovery efforts. They are also central to the Russian River Coho Salmon Captive Broodstock Program and associated monitoring. They also play a key role in the selected systems for monitoring trends and abundance using life cycle monitoring stations as part of the California Monitoring Plan. CCC steelhead, which are threatened with extinction, also exist in these tributaries. In general, habitat enhancements proposed for coho salmon in this report are expected to benefit steelhead as well.

Species in the Spotlight and SHaRP

CCC coho salmon are a part of NOAA’s Species in the Spotlight initiative. The initiative, launched in 2015, focuses on nine species that NOAA Fisheries manages that are on the brink of extinction. Five-Year Priority Action plans were developed as part of a strategy to marshal resources to immediately target efforts that are vital for stabilizing CCC coho salmon populations and preventing their extinction. SHaRP is identified in the CCC coho salmon 5-Year Priority Plan as a high priority effort towards stabilizing the decline of coho salmon.

The Lower Russian River Restoration Strategy

The SHaRP Action Plan for the Lower Russian River includes information on each of the four focus streams. It describes the focus streams’ natural setting, history of land use, and biggest habitat challenges. It also covers the specific restoration actions SHaRP participants determined were needed to address these challenges. 

Green Valley Creek

The Green Valley Creek SHaRP participants identified water quantity and channel structure and form as the most limiting attributes for all life stages of coho. The close relationship with these two attributes affects water quality, which also ranked high, especially for summer juveniles. 

Off-channel habitats also ranked as highly limiting. The deeply incised stream channels in much of the watershed prevent water from inundating the floodplain during high flows. Known as floodplain activation, this creates slow-moving side channels and alcoves for winter juveniles.  

Image

Dutch Bill Creek

Based on results from the Dutch Bill Creek SHaRP meeting, water quantity is the most limiting attribute for egg/alevin, summer juvenile, and smolt life stages. Instream structural complexity is the most limiting attribute for summer and winter juveniles. Off-channel habitat is the most limiting attribute for winter juvenile and smolt life stages.

Image

Willow Creek

Willow Creek SHaRP participants identified water quantity and channel form barriers as the most limiting attributes for all life stages. Although water quantity ranked slightly higher, the two attributes are interrelated. Excess sediment build-up in the valley bottom of the watershed has led to more frequent hyporheic, or subsurface, flow during the low flow season. The remaining surface flows are then subject to rapid warming and reduction in water quality conditions. Instream structural complexity and water quality attributes are limiting to summer juveniles, and sediment conditions are limiting to the egg/alevin life stage. 

Flows in lower Willow Creek are influenced by the tides and downstream Russian River mouth closures. SHaRP participants considered tidal marsh and wetland enhancements to support natal and non-natal out-migrating smolts by providing habitat for feeding and growth before continuing out to the ocean.

Image

Mill Creek

Based on results from the Mill Creek SHaRP meeting, water quantity is the most limiting attribute for egg/alevin, summer juvenile, smolts, and adults. Instream structural complexity ranked very limiting for summer juvenile, winter juvenile, and smolts. Off-channel habitats ranked high for winter juvenile and smolts.

The Walbridge Fire of 2020 destroyed more than 55,000 acres and more than 150 residences. The fire and the subsequent salvage logging greatly reduced the amount of canopy cover within the burned areas, especially in the upper Mill Creek watershed. It left the area susceptible to higher stream temperatures. 

Image

The Lower Russian River SHaRP Plan

The full Lower Russian River SHaRP Plan (PDF, 127 pages) covers the following chapters:

• Executive Summary
• Chapter 1: Understanding SHaRP
• Chapter 2: Russian River Watershed Overview
• Chapter 3: Focus Watershed Meeting Methods
• Chapter 4: Green Valley Creek Action Plan
• Chapter 5: Dutch Bill Creek Action Plan
• Chapter 6: Willow Creek Action Plan
• Chapter 7: Mill Creek Action Plan
• Chapter 8: Discussion
• Appendix I: Barrier Assessments
• Appendix II: Key Attributes, Stresses, and Threats Report
• Appendix III: Glossary of Data Layers in on-line Web Map

Contact Us

If you have any questions or would like to collaborate on implementing the restoration actions in this action plan, please contact:

• Erin Seghesio, NOAA Fisheries Recovery Coordinator, Erin.Seghesio@noaa.gov
• Joe Pecharich, NOAA Restoration Center, Joe.Pecharich@noaa.gov
• North Coast Salmon Project, NCSP@wildlife.ca.gov