Gualala River Steelhead Studies

A fish and wildlife biologist, recently retired from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has been conducting systematic studies of the population status of steelhead in the Gualala River since 2001.

Annual spawning surveys focus on an 18 mile reach of the Wheatfield Fork selected as a population-indexing reach.

GualalaRiverSteelhead.info

The 2007 spawning run of steelhead in the Gualala River was the largest recorded in 7 years of surveys, likely due to climatic anomalies which may not recur again for decades.

According to the researcher, the habitat problems in the Gualala are serious, but there is still reason for optimism:

"Excessive sediment, extensive summertime dewatering, and water temperatures elevated to lethal levels, not only persist in most years, but are likely incrementally worsening...
"A robust spawning return for 2007 shows that the steelhead population is still quite resilient... [but] solutions to the river's habitat problems must begin soon or population viability will eventually be compromised, possibly sending steelhead down the same path as the river's coho salmon."