Friends of Gualala River Protecting the Gualala River watershed and the species living within it

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA Fisheries News March 5, 2025 [excerpt:] Last winter, Central California Coast coho salmon returned to Mendocino Coast rivers in the highest numbers since monitoring began. The overall numbers remain low compared to the species’ past abundance, but NOAA scientists are excited by the results. Juvenile CCC Coho salmon collected during monitoring. Credit: CDFW Last …

The ever-changing pothole / sinkhole at the convergence of Old State Highway and Highway One is generated by a decaying culvert far underground. If you read the paper two weeks ago or have felt the bump in your car, you know about the sinkhole at the bottom of Old State Highway. The 4ft x 4ft pothole, caused by a failing …

Mouth of the Gualala River after heavy rain – Feb. 14, 2025 Storm waves overtop the barrier beach of the Gualala River – Feb. 14, 2025 Mouth of the Gualala River after a quieter week – Feb. 21, 2025 Gualala River estuary turns ‘steelhead green’ – Feb. 21, 2025 Photos courtesy of Jeanne Jackson

After days of steady rain          Photos courtesy of Jeanne Jackson

Introduction to Friends of Gualala River’s Annual Newsletter 2024 November 22nd, 2024. The mouth of the Gualala River opens while thousands of gulls ride out the atmospheric river on the bar. Photographer Laura Baker Winter arrived November 20th with an atmospheric river that swept over the coast, bringing record rainfalls to the Mendonoma area. Overnight, the airborne river fell across …

FoGR Newsletter, December, 2024 As I sit down to write this year’s newsletter, I find myself reflecting on the essence of our organization and our collective impact on the Gualala River watershed. It’s a complex and ever-evolving landscape, requiring our constant attention and dedication. Gualala River lagoon after the rain, Nov. 15, 2024, photo by Jeanne Jackson How can we …

Dylan Freebairn-Smith receives his B.A in Environmental Sciences from UC Santa Barbara, 2024. Photo by UCSB. My name is Dylan Freebairn-Smith, and I am FoGR’s new Conservation Analyst. I grew up in Gualala, spending my first 18 years exploring our magnificent Southern Mendocino Coast. In June of 2024, I graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a degree …

by Dylan Freebairn-Smith, Conservation Analyst One of the first projects that Dylan has tackled is analyzing the TMDL program for the Gualala. Summary The Gualala River has been listed as impaired under the federal Clean Water Act due to elevated sediment levels since 1993 and has exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) of sediment since 2001. …

by Laura Baker, Board Member Three years ago the non-profit, The Stream Team, landed a Whale Tail grant from the State Coastal Conservancy, to monitor water quality in the Gualala estuary. Friends of Gualala River and the Redwood Coast Land Conservancy have partnered with The Stream Team to teach local citizens how to collect and test water from 4 different …

by Laura Baker, Board Member In 2021 FoGR learned of a chemical found in tire grit that pollutes stormwater and kills a number of different aquatic species. It is especially toxic to coho salmon— 40 parts per billion in a quart of stormwater kills juvenile coho. Information has been pouring out of the State of Washington where the effects of …

By Jeanne Jackson, Treasurer We Would Love to Have Your Support For nearly 30 years FoGR has relied solely on the hard work of volunteers who donated their time for the day-to-day operation of our organization. As mentioned above, we’ve now hired a part-time staff person to carry out the work of the TMDL program, among other projects. That program …

Gualala River mouth after atmospheric river pours down rain for 36 hours, Nov. 21, 2024, photo by Thomas Wolbarst, used with permission. Note: When the river mouth is closed by the sandbar, the lower part of the river is called a lagoon. When the mouth is open to the ocean, it is called an estuary.

Gualala River lagoon after the rain, Nov. 15, 2024, photo by Jeanne Jackson, used with permission. Note: When the river mouth is closed by the sandbar, the lower part of the river is called a lagoon. When the mouth is open to the ocean, it is called an estuary.

Video by David Lichtman, October, 2024, used with permission

Western Rivers Conservancy and the California Rangeland Trust successfully protected a critical stretch of the Wheatfield Fork Gualala River and a series of cold-water salmon and steelhead streams in Sonoma County, at the heart of wine country. The partners accomplished this by placing a conservation easement over the 4,440-acre Silva Ranch, an extraordinary California Coast Range property that contains a …

The Copper Top timber harvest plan (THP 1-24-00103-MEN) was filed by Gualala Redwood Timber (GRT) on July 17, 2024. The plan calls for logging redwood and Douglas fir trees in 163 acres adjacent to Old Stage Road, just north of the Gualala Arts Center. Agency review team, chaired by CalFire, recommended plan approval on September 5, 2024. Public comment period …

Yellow-legged Frog in the Gualala River, photo by Amy Ruegg “Down by the Gualala River near the Hot Spot, we enjoyed seeing a variety of small aquatic creatures like water beetles, tiny fish, and a foothill yellow-legged frog! It was just a small one in the water blending in perfectly with the rocks. No more than an inch or so …

Gualala River Lagoon, June, 2024, photograph by Anthony Cuesta, reprinted with permission “When the sandbar stops much of the river water from entering the Pacific Ocean, the mouth of the river floods beautifully into its natural floodplain. Anthony Cuesta photographed the Gualala River from Gualala Point Regional Park, showing Mill Bend. You can see a portion of the Gualala River …

June 9, 2024 by a Friend of the Gualala River We walked the Wheatfield Fork of the Gualala River under the second twin bridge off Annapolis Road. What a beautiful and peaceful walk! We couldn’t photograph any birds as they were mostly in the canopy and quickly catching insects. However, we saw and heard the following: Black-headed grosbeak, red-breasted sapsucker, …

Mouth of the Gualala River on June 6, 2024; photo courtesy of Efi Benjamin, River Bend Kayaks