The Conservancy at 40 Years: The Eel River
Wild and untamed, the Eel River is California’s third largest river system. Once the fourth largest producer of salmon on the Pacific Coast, its salmon runs once exceeded one million fish per year. From headwaters to the sea, the Coastal Conservancy and its partners have worked hard to restore fisheries, protect working lands and enhance the beauty and agricultural viability of this region.
Since awarding the Humboldt Resource Conservation District its first grant in 1990 to work on the Salt River in Ferndale, the Coastal Conservancy has played a pivotal role in advancing landscape scale, ecosystem and agricultural enhancement projects to the fertile Eel River Delta. Now entering its fifth construction season, the Salt River Ecosystem Restoration Project has restored 326 acres of salt marsh, 94 acres of riparian habitat, 10 miles of river and slough habitat, 16 acres of freshwater wetlands and 750 acres of productive pasture in Ferndale that now drains effectively through a restored tidal slough system.
Now the Conservancy is leading a similar project comprising 2,000-acres within the nearby historic Centerville Slough. The Eel River Estuary and Centerville Slough Project seeks to achieve similar benefits for agriculture, while also restoring more than 100 acres of salt marsh and several miles of tidal slough that has filled with sediment. In addition, this project would restore fish passage into the newly restored slough system following more than 100 years of closure to aquatic life.
On the north side of the Eel Delta, the Coastal Conservancy is working closely with our partners at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Ducks Unlimited to develop a similar enhancement project at Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Ocean Ranch property.
This is a great time for the Eel River!
Latest News
- Coastal Conservancy awards $2.4 million for Coastal Access, Restoration, and ProtectionOn January 21, 2021, the Board of the State Coastal Conservancy awarded nearly $2.4 million in grants to protects and restore the California coast and coastal watersheds, and increase public access to these resources. The grants included $130,000 to fill data gaps in the Conservation Lands Network through citizen science data collection events in severely […] (Read more on Coastal Conservancy awards...)
- RFP: Explore the Coast Grant Applications Due March 22, 2021The California State Coastal Conservancy (Conservancy) announces the availability of grants to public agencies, tribes and nonprofit organizations for programs that facilitate and enhance the public’s opportunities to explore California’s spectacular coast. The ocean, coast, and beaches have long been recognized and used as spaces of joy, relaxation, and healing for many Californians. The ability […] (Read more on RFP: Explore the...)
- Coastal Conservancy Public Zoom Meeting – January 2021Meeting Notice Douglas Bosco (Public Member), Chair Ann Notthoff (Public Member), Vice Chair Marce Gutiérrez-Graudiņš (Public Member) Joseph Alioto Jr. (Public Member) Wade Crowfoot, Secretary for Natural Resources; Bryan Cash (Designated) Stephen Padilla, Coastal Commission Chair; Susan Hansch (Designated) Keely Bosler, Director, Department of Finance; Gayle Miller (Designated) Senate Representatives Benjamin Allen (District 26) Assembly […] (Read more on Coastal Conservancy Public...)


