Last winter, endangered Central California Coast coho salmon returned to Mendocino Coast rivers and streams in the highest numbers since monitoring began 16 years ago. The numbers suggest NOAA’s long-term investment to recover the species is paying off.

Local businesses are also reaping the rewards. Government funding for salmon habitat restoration employs foresters, construction workers, and other professionals to rehabilitate rivers and streams damaged by historic logging.

Recovering species to the point where they can be removed from the endangered species list takes a long time. NOAA has funded dozens of restoration projects benefiting Central California Coast coho salmon in Mendocino watersheds over the last 20 years. In an area decimated by a century’s worth of clearcutting and other harmful practices, there’s no shortage of restoration work to do.

“This funding is a big deal,” says Registered Professional Forester Chris Blencowe, who has consulted on restoration projects with NOAA partners The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and Trout Unlimited (TU). “It’s diversifying the economy and directly supports good-paying local jobs with which you can support a family. I’m from this area, and without this work, I honestly don’t know what I’d be doing.”

The Office of Habitat Conservation’s most recent injection of $14.5 million from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in new river restoration projects has taken Mendocino’s restoration economy to new levels.
Construction crews build log jams on the Ten Mile River. Credit: The Nature Conservancy
Construction crews build log jams on the Ten Mile River. Credit: The Nature Conservancy

“We got a big boost here the last couple of years with the infrastructure funding,” says Brian Hurt, President of Wylatti Resource Management Inc. Wylatti is building projects on the Ten Mile River for TNC and at Dry Dock Gulch for TU with NOAA funding. “We used to have just one crew doing restoration work. This past year, at least three crews worked full time through the season.”

The success of the restoration work—and the restoration economy—owes a lot to better relationships between timber companies, landowners, restoration practitioners, and government agencies. Working together has improved the sustainability of working lands and the impact of restoration projects.
Redwood logs stored and transported in Mendocino County, California. Note the small size of the person standing in the lower right corner. Credit: Held-Poage Research Library and the Mendocino County Historical Society.
Redwood logs stored and transported in Mendocino County, California. Note the small size of the person standing in the lower right corner. Credit: Held-Poage Research Library and the Mendocino County Historical Society.
Changing Timber Practices For Good

Beginning in the late 1800s, the timber industry and associated road building seriously degraded Mendocino rivers and streams. Clearcutting exposed rivers to the hot sun. Roads cut across streams, blocking fish passage upstream. Runoff from logging roads clogged rivers with sediment, starving the fish of oxygen.

By the 1970s, rivers were choked with miles-long log jams and woody debris from timber operations. In a misguided effort to help salmon, government agencies required landowners to remove all wood in streams—not just logging debris but centuries-old log jams created by naturally fallen trees.

Science later learned that juvenile salmon need the complex habitat created by log jams to survive. Log jams create deep pools where juveniles can hide from predators. They also trap aquatic larvae and insects that juveniles like to eat.

Many restoration projects now involve adding large wood to rivers to recreate the log jams found in old-growth forests. “I used to get fined if I got wood in the creeks,” says Hurt, who previously worked in logging. “Now I get paid to put it back.”
Log jams constructed on the Ten Mile River. Credit: The Nature Conservancy
Log jams constructed on the Ten Mile River. Credit: The Nature Conservancy

In the 2000s, NOAA and its partners worked with state regulators and timber companies to reduce other impacts of logging. “A whole team of people spent a decade working with the California Board of Forestry to recommend changes in forest practice rules,” says Charlotte Ambrose, NOAA’s California Programs Coordinator. “This has improved conditions in the Mendocino coast geography in perpetuity.” Examples of changes include:

Creating a buffer zone around streams
Building roads with culverts that allow fish passage
Controlling the release of sediment during logging operations

Local timber companies and landowners work with registered professional foresters trained in ecology and natural resource management to ensure they comply with the rules. Some companies also contract with fish biologists. Company staff often assist with coho monitoring and restoration projects.

“I think with the policy shifts and generational change, there’s been a paradigm shift in the timber industry,” says Anna Halligan, North Coast Coho Project Director for Trout Unlimited. “Today, management goals include benefits that are focused on forest health and go beyond timber yield. There is a longer term considered when envisioning the future and managing these forests sustainably.”

“Foresters love their land more than anything, and they don’t want to be endlessly regulated, so they are trying to protect coho,” says NOAA Marine Habitat Restoration Specialist Joe Pecharich.
Construction at the Dry Dock Gulch to replace a culvert blocking fish passage. Credit: Trout Unlimited
Construction at the Dry Dock Gulch to replace a culvert blocking fish passage. Credit: Trout Unlimited
Building the Relationship Between Forestry and Restoration

TU and TNC deserve much credit for building successful working relationships with timber companies and other landowners.

TU started the North Coast Coho Project in 1998 by establishing a new public-private partnership with the Mendocino Redwood Company in the Garcia River watershed. In 2023, NOAA awarded the project a Partners in the Spotlight award for its successful landowner collaborations. “Anna Halligan and her team excel at putting together restoration projects with landowners the government has a hard time reaching,” says NOAA Fisheries Biologist and Central California Coast coho salmon (CCC coho) Recovery Coordinator Erin Seghesio. “She understands how timber operations work and their needs, so she’s been able to get a lot restoration work done over a large area.”

Reviewing engineering plans at the Dry Dock restoration site. Credit: Trout Unlimited
Reviewing engineering plans at the Dry Dock restoration site. Credit: Trout Unlimited

The North Coast Coho Project has restored 150 miles of river and stream habitat and prevented the equivalent of 72,000 dump truck loads of sediment from entering the water. Currently, Trout Unlimited is removing seven failing road culverts and other barriers that block salmon migration in Mendocino watersheds. Coho and steelhead have already started occupying portions of streams that had been blocked for 70 years or more. Replacing failing barriers at road stream crossings also reduces the risk of flooding and road failures during heavy seasonal rains.

“Our accomplishments reflect the strong relationships we have built in our community,” says Halligan. “We’re fortunate that we've been around for 25 years and have these long-standing relationships with landowners who trust us and allow our work to occur on their land.”

TNC also has deep ties with landowners. “We've worked with ranchers and small private timber families to conserve their land, put easements over their land, and protect and restore habitat on their properties,” says Peter van de Burgt, North Coast Restoration project manager for TNC. “Much of our work would not have happened without that collaboration.”
Working Together For Salmon

Registered Professional Forester Linwood Gill manages timber operations at the Parker Ten Mile Ranch. He acts as a liaison between the landowner and TNC, which is restoring winter habitat for CCC coho on a portion of the Ten Mile River on the property. TNC received funding from NOAA to install log jams and excavate floodplain habitat on the Ten Mile River. They are also designing new projects in two other watersheds.
Project partners discuss construction plans on the Ten Mile Parker Ranch. Credit: The Nature Conservancy
Project partners discuss construction plans on the Ten Mile Parker Ranch. Credit: The Nature Conservancy

“The landowners welcomed the opportunity to get work done on the property that benefits coho,” says Gill. “I have incorporated the procurement of logs and root wads into our harvest activities because I know they have a large wood project starting in June 2025.”

Wylatti Resource Management crews will complete the construction work at Parker Ten Mile Ranch. This will be their fifth project with TNC on the Ten Mile River. “There’s a lot of satisfaction in this work, just watching the fish counts each year,” says Hurt. “They had record runs of coho last year, and I think this year is looking good so far.”

“The owners love having people come out here and see what TNC has done,” says Gill. “The neighboring property just sold, and they invited the new landowner up and talked about the benefits of working with TNC.”

Involving experienced contractors in the restoration process helps improve project designs and reduce costs. Many possess deep knowledge of the landscape and forestry skills that restoration practitioners and engineers may not always have.

Restoring Salmon Habitat with Large Wood
This time lapse by Chris Blencowe shows a construction crew adding large wood to a stream to create better salmon habitat.
“You can have all of the beautiful design plans in the world, but you need to go out there with somebody who knows what they're doing and can fit the project to the conditions in the field,” says Hurt, who has worked on restoration projects for a quarter century. “We can often save significant amounts of money by saying, ‘If you did this instead of that, it'd be a lot cheaper, and you're going to get a better result.’”



David Wright, who managed TNC’s CCC coho restoration projects for years, recognized Chris Blencowe's forestry skills and hired him to work on restoration projects. “Many of the techniques and equipment we use in forestry are the same as those needed for restoration work,” says Blencowe. “I feel very fortunate to be doing what I'm doing. Salmon populations have been in decline for a long time. To have had a small hand helping arrest that downward trend feels really good.”