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

by Peter Baye published in the July & September, 2017 issues of The Calypso, newsletter of the Dorothy King Young Chapter of the California Native Plant Society reprinted with permission Part 1 – Wigeongrass and Sago pondweed Last April (2017), our local public radio station (KZYX) ran an excellent “Ecology Hour” program interviewing world-renowned oceanographer John Largier from University of …

Gualala River estuary / lagoon at sunset, April 27, 2026. Photo courtesy of Efi Benjamin, River Bend Kayaks.

This article is a brief overview.See all of the articles from the Water Quality campaign. Adult coho salmon; photo by NOAA Fisheries 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 …

If we have ever taken a walk anywhere in our area and come back home without being able to name or describe a single tree, this article will make you think anew about the trees that surround us. Here we learn why attending to trees and their differences makes us ever aware of local resources, some ancient, others quite recent. …

Location The Gualala River enters the Pacific Ocean approximately 110 miles north of San Francisco, California. Just past the mouth of the river lies the town of Gualala on CA Highway 1, a three-hour drive from San Francisco over narrow, twisting roads and stunning ocean and mountain views. Tourism and logging are the primary local industries. Land area The Gualala …

GUALALA ROADS ASSESSMENT ORDER Recent Public Meetings North Coast Water Board staff and the Sonoma Resource Conservation District (Sonoma RCD) recently hosted two community meetings to provide information on the developing Gualala Roads Assessment Order. Presentations addressed components of a typical road assessment, paths to completing assessments required by the order, and updates on the technical work conducted by the …

Are you ready to learn more about how beaver coexistence can build capacity for land managers and owners in California? Join the California Beaver Coexistence Training and Support Program on June 10, 2026 from 9-11:30am for an informative webinar featuring coexistence experts and practitioners. By the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center – visit their website to register for the webinar …

by Kenyon RupnikA version of this article was published in the Independent Coast Observer on April 10, 2026 Chad Watts volunteered his labor and his 40-foot bucket truck to help replace a dead battery in the weather station atop the Gualala Point Regional Park Visitors Center. Visitors looking up at the Gualala Point Visitors Center will see a weather station …

Beavers, nature’s furry water engineers, are making a comeback on a major Central Coast waterbody with help from the California Water Boards and a group of dedicated educators and volunteers. published by California Water Boards, April 8, 2026 Beavers stand on a lodge they made in Mather Lake. Credit- California Department of Fish and Wildlife Funding from a 2021 settlement …

Published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), March 26, 2026 Back-to-back record spawning seasons suggest that reconnecting tributaries and restoring salmon habitat is supporting Central California Coast Coho population growth. NOAA has funded more than 100 restoration projects on the Mendocino Coast. Adult CCC coho spawning at Neefus Gulch. Trout Unlimited removed a fish passage barrier at this …

Gualala Redwood Timber’s 167-acre Card Timber Harvest Plan (THP 1-26-00021-SON) is located in the floodplain on the west side of the South Fork Gualala River, from confluence of the North and South Forks, down past Buckeye Creek. The plan was submitted to Cal Fire on February 20, 2026, but Cal Fire determined that the plan was unacceptable due to required …

The River is at Equilibrium with the Ocean, March 27, 2026. Photo courtesy of Jeanne Jackson.

State and local support grows for the “restoration economy” by Elise Cox, MendoLocal.News, March 24, 2026 [excerpt:] In a late afternoon in March 2026, the Jackson Demonstration State Forest is reflected in a pool of light. (MendoLocal.News CC BY 4.0) At dawn, the forest sounds the same as it always has: the low churn of truck engines, the whine of …

Presentation to the Washington Department of Ecology: 6PPD-Q State of the Science Forum on December 9, 2025 Presented by Laura Baker, Friends of Gualala River, and Timmarie Hamill, CA Urban Streams Alliance-The Stream Team Abstract In 2022, CA Urban Streams Alliance-The Stream Team (The Stream Team) expanded its long-standing watershed monitoring program and began collaborating with Friends of Gualala River …

On February 18, 2026, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board adopted Resolution R1-2026-0011 – Amendment to the Water Quality Control Plan for the North Coast Region to Incorporate the Action Plan for the Gualala River Sediment TMDL. The Basin Plan amendment is not final until approved by State Water Board and Office of Administrative Law. Project documents are …

Press release from Save the Redwoods League [excerpt:] San Francisco, Calif. (January 27, 2026) — Save the Redwoods League announced today that it has secured an agreement with the Richardson family to acquire 200 acres in Sonoma County, including a nearly 35-acre old-growth coast redwood grove, directly adjacent to the Harold Richardson Redwoods Reserve property Save the Redwoods acquired from …

by Mandela Linder, The Mendocino Voice, January 24, 2026 [excerpt:] MENDOCINO CO., 1/24/26 — After decades of decline, endangered coho salmon have returned to the coast in numbers that more than double the targets set by habitat restoration projects. In 2008, just 5,000 coho were estimated across the entire state, one percent of their historic numbers; over the winter of …

This article is a brief overview.See all of the articles from the Floodplain Logging campaign. Mature floodplain redwood forest of the lower Gualala River during flood flows. 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. “Flood prone” redwood …

Artesa-Sonoma Vineyard Conversion Sonoma County, California Destruction of Coastal Redwood Forest and Pomo Heritage This article is a brief overview. See all of the articles from the Artesa Vineyard Conversion campaign. Court Rejects Plan to Clearcut Redwoods for Vineyard Sonoma County Superior Court rules that the environmental impact report for Artesa’s forest-to-vineyard conversion project violates the requirements of the California …

This article is a brief overview. See all of the articles from the Preservation Ranch campaign. Preservation Ranch saved in record deal A giant redwood forest in Sonoma County that was on the verge of being divvied up and plowed over into a patchwork of vineyards has been preserved by a public-private partnership that engineered what is being touted as …