The Salt River Ecosystem Restoration Project is a proposed watershed restoration project with multiple objectives and benefits including flood alleviation, habitat restoration, and water quality improvement.  The project area is located in the Eel River delta and Wildcat Hills areas of Humboldt County, near the City of Ferndale. This collaborative project between landowners and public agencies is intended to restore natural hydrologic and ecological processes to the extent that conditions within the project area can be feasibly maintained with minimal future adverse impacts.  Due to the scale and magnitude of the historic alterations within the watershed and because of the dynamic natural processes that continue today, maintenance and adaptive management projects are expected to be required in the future.  Expected maintenance activities, potential access locations, and thresholds that would trigger adaptive management/maintenance to occur also are included in the final EIR. The components of the proposed project include:

1)             Channel Restoration – Restoration of hydraulic capacity, in-stream fish habitat, riparian vegetation, and improved water quality in the entire Salt River, and lower Francis Creek, plus indirect improvements to Williams, Coffee, and Reas creeks by excavation of a new Salt River channel. This component includes long-term maintenance and management to maintain channel performance, including identification of channel dimensions, channel maintenance access points, target habitat conditions, establishment of maintenance activities compatible with the overall project goals and objectives, and Best Management Practices for performing future channel maintenance activities.

2)             Riverside Ranch Estuary Restoration – Tidal restoration on an approximately 444-acre property located near the confluence of the Salt River and the Eel River. Portions of the property would be restored to open water, salt marsh, and other wetland types while nearly 80-acres would continue to be agriculturally managed to create suitable habitat for Aleutian geese. The restored tidal exchange will help to flush sediments from the river and limit the growth of sediment-trapping vegetation in the channel.

3)             Upslope Sediment Reduction – Work in cooperation with landowners to implement sediment reduction/erosion control actions in the Williams Creek, Francis Creek, and Reas Creek sub-watersheds, including riparian planting, bank stabilization, livestock fencing, and upslope road drainage upgrades. These efforts are intended to improve water quality and enhance conditions for fish in the Salt River its tributaries, while enhancing the hydrologic function of the Salt River by reducing turbidity or sediment load and resulting sediment deposition in the Salt River channel.

The Final EIR considers the environmental effects of four project alternatives. The project components described above together comprise Alternative 1. Alternative 2 includes excavating the Salt River channel and doing upland sediment control work, but not restoring tidal action and wetlands to Riverside Ranch; Alternative 3 includes restoration of Riverside Ranch and the adjacent lower portion of the Salt River, as well as upland restoration, but not the bulk of the Salt River channel restoration; and Alternative 4 is the no project scenario.  The EIR also discusses a range of other possible alternatives that have been reviewed and rejected from further review and cites the reason for rejection. The EIR identifies significant impacts on the following resource topics: Hydrology (changes in flows, erosion); Water Quality (sedimentation, other changes to water quality); Geology (seismic stability, erosion); Terrestrial and Wetland Biological Resources (loss of wetland and riparian habitat); Aquatic Biological Resources (impacts to special status fish species, habitat for non-native fishes); Air Quality (from construction activities and truck traffic); Noise (from construction activities and truck traffic); Agricultural Resources (Loss of agricultural land - Alternative 3 only); Cultural Resources; Traffic/Transportation (truck traffic); Hazards/Hazardous Materials (mosquitoes). The EIR found that all of these impacts could be reduced to a less-than-significant level with the implementation of mitigation measures.

The FEIR also includes a new chapter containing responses to comments on the Draft EIR and staff-initiated text changes.

AVAILABILITY OF THE FINAL EIR: Copies of the Final EIR are available for review at the Humboldt County Resource Conservation District, 5630 So. Broadway, Eureka.  The EIR may also be reviewed on the HCRCD’s web site (http://www.humboldtrcd.org, Salt River Restoration Project tab). CDs of the Final EIR are available by request at no cost; individual printed copies of the document may be requested by contacting the Resource Conservation District at 444-9708 ext 115 ($55 printing cost plus postage).

PUBLIC MEETING: The RCD is proposing to certify the EIR at its Board meeting, to be held at 8 AM on February 24, 2011, at the Humboldt County Agricultural Center 5630 South Broadway, Eureka. 

CONTACT:  Please contact Donna Chambers at 707 444-9708 ext. 117 or donnahcrcd@yahoo.com if you have questions regarding the FEIR contents or certification hearing. 

SALT RIVER ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION PROJECT