The EcoNews Report

How Can We Restore the Elk River?

The Elk River was once idyllic: baby salmon once grew big and healthy in the slack waters of its estuary, elk once browsed in meadows by the river and returning adult salmon once laid their eggs in cold river gravel, kept shady by old-growth redwoods. The watershed was stewarded by the Wiyot people. And then colonization screwed things up. The lowlands were diked and drained, turned over to cattle. Elk were killed and the meadows swallowed up by conifer encroachment and homesteads, and clearcutting smothered cold water gravel with sediment from logging roads and landslides. The river is unwell — legally recognized as impaired under the Clean Water Act. And absent intervention, it is unlikely to get better anytime soon. That’s where CalTrout comes in. In projects from the river’s headwaters to its mouth, CalTrout is working to recover the function of the river. Katy Gurin and Bill Matsubu of CalTrout join the show to discuss their restoration work.

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How Can We Restore the Elk River?

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