Research by King County, WA scientists on how to reduce the toxicity of stormwater runoff is showing promising results and could offer new solutions to the longstanding problem of coho salmon dying from exposure to pollution before they can spawn.
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Download a pdf version of this flyer: New Water Quality Permit for Gualala River Watershed Landowners For more information, visit the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board: https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/northcoast/water_issues/programs/waru/
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Re-posting this vital message from the summer of 2012, by Jeanne Jackson and Peter Baye Friends don’t let friends drive in the Gualala River. The Gualala River, now closed to the Pacific Ocean by a huge sandbar, is a coastal treasure. Creatures big and small make it their home. Care must be taken to protect them and this beautiful wild …
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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 …
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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 …
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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. …
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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 …
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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 …
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A presentation by Ethan Arutunian in February, 2024, hosted by the Forest Protection Forum of Sierra Club California’s Stop Clearcutting CA Campaign. In this talk, Ethan Arutunian describes how a grassroots campaign by Friends of the South Fork Gualala (FSFG) completely stopped the 283-acre Bootleg timber harvest plan (THP) in the Gualala River watershed. They defeated CALFIRE, and a wealthy …
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For Immediate Release, August 5, 2023 Contact: Ethan Arutunian, Friends of the South Fork Gualala, info@fosfg.org, 206-353-3487Daniel Garrett-Steinman, Garrett-Steinman Law Offices, dan@dpgslaw.com, 415-996-7823 SANTA ROSA, CA – In a legal victory for the Gualala River watershed, Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Bradford DeMeo has ordered the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) to annul and set …
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Friends of Gualala River invite coastal residents and visitors to visit our website and explore microclimates and wildfire camera views on our new Map of Real-time Weather Stations & Wildfire Cameras in the Gualala River Watershed: gualalariver.org/weather-wildfire. Click on the diamond icons to see individual weather station data including temperature, wind, rainfall and humidity. The stations are maintained by a …
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by Tempra BoardThe Sea Ranch Soundings • Summer 2021 © copyright 2021, The Sea Ranch Associationreprinted with permission Friends of Gualala River (FoGR), our area’s grassroots watershed protection non-profit, continues its hard work defending the Gualala River from the threat of floodplain logging. On May 20, FoGR filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to halt logging of Gualala Redwood Timber …
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Friends of Gualala River Protecting the Gualala River watershed and the species living within it