Nearly One Mile of Coho Salmon Spawning Habitat
Not long ago the Eel River was one of the greatest salmonid streams on the West Coast of the United States. Today the river is a shadow of its former self, with once deep holes (some nearly 100 feet deep in places) filled by massive aggradation caused by logging and associated road building. The river has warmed to temperatures lethal to salmon, spawning beds are choked with silt, and during summer the lower river and its tributaries actually run dry in places.
Yet the Eel River remains one of California’s five most important streams for endangered Coho salmon. In 2005 Siskiyou Land Conservancy acquired 160 acres of critical Coho spawning habitat on McCoy Creek, in northern Mendocino County. Our two parcels contain nearly one mile of the McCoy Creek drainage, and spawning occurs on the property.
SLC’s ownership of the McCoy Creek property also prevents it from being exploited for industrial marijuana growing, which has plagued habitat and stream flows in the region.
The view from the 160-acre property on McCoy Creek owned by Siskiyou Land Conservancy.
