Friends of Gualala River Protecting the Gualala River watershed and the species living within it
Water Quality
Water Quality – Historically, the Gualala River was home to abundant coho salmon and steelhead trout populations that numbered in the tens of thousands. Today, the endangered coho salmon are all but gone and threatened steelhead are struggling to survive in the home river they evolved and adapted to over millennia.
The dwindling salmonid population is a critical indicator of the declining health of the Gualala River, and its 300 square mile watershed, and continues to be at the core of Friends of Gualala River’s work.
FoGR is working with state agencies to reduce water quality impairments from both sediment pollution and pollution from stormwater run-off containing toxic tire grit.
Floodplain Logging
Floodplain logging – The lower Gualala River has a wide meandering floodplain rich in wetlands, mature productive riparian redwood forests and highly diverse riparian habitats supporting many special-status plant, fish, and wildlife species.
Floodplains are important to the river’s health because they capture and hold sediment and debris, which improves water quality and salmonid spawning and rearing habitat. Juvenile salmonids migrate into floodplains during and following high flows to seek winter rearing habitat and refuge.
Despite the ecological importance of floodplains, and despite Friends of Gualala River’s on-going opposition to environmentally damaging logging plans, CAL FIRE continues to approve logging in the floodplain of the Gualala River.
Preservation Ranch
Preservation Ranch – The so-called “Preservation” Ranch was a 19,300 acre development in the heart of the Gualala River watershed owned by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and managed by Premier Pacific Vineyards (PPV).
PPV planned to “preserve” the land by destroying 1,600+ acres of coastal redwood forest and converting it into vineyards. Opponents organized under the banner Friends of Gualala River mounted a campaign against the CalPERS-funded company that included street theater tactics and an online petition signed by 90,000 critics of the development project.
In the face of determined opposition, CalPERS & PPV abandoned their development plans and sold the property to The Conservation Fund. Now the Fund sustainably manages the land – renamed the Buckeye Forest – for timber, carbon sequestration and restoration of coho salmon habitat.
Artesa Vineyard Conversion
Artesa Vineyard Conversion – The 173 acre Artesa-Sonoma vineyard project in Annapolis, remote northwestern Sonoma County, was authorized by CAL FIRE in 2012 to proceed with deforestation of the project site that lies within a rich and unique archaeological complex of Pomo village and camp sites.
After Friends of Gualala River, Sierra Club, and Center for Biological Diversity decisively won a lawsuit over deficiencies in Artesa’s environmental impact report, the Spanish-owned winery dropped its plans.
Waterbags
Waterbags – In 2002, Friends of the Gualala River played a leading role in opposing a scheme to export water from the Gualala River to southern California in giant floating plastic “waterbags.”
In the face of mounting opposition from local citizens and elected officials, Alaska Water Exports withdrew their application.