• Hydrologic energy in the Salt River has been reduced through the:
• Loss of tidal prism through historic agricultural conversion of wetlands, sloughs and salt marshes;
• Exclusion of periodic Eel River flood waters by the Leonardo Levee;
• Diversion of the eastern 42% of the watershed into Perry Slough and Old River,
• Prolific growth of nuisance instream vegetation, lessening water velocity and resulting in further sediment deposition;
• Highly erodible soils dominate the upper watershed;
• Seismically very active area and close proximity to the Mendocino Triple Junction;
• Potential of subsidence and uplift within in the Eel River Delta;

The dysfunction of Salt River is largely a product of past and present land use:

• The majority of the Salt River Delta is in agricultural production;
• Livestock has access to streams in many locations within the Basin resulting in: stream bank erosion, no recruitment of riparian plant growth, direct input of fecal and urine contaminants, and trampling of stream banks;
• There have been negative impacts to streams and fish habitat from historic timber harvest practices;
• Channel realignment in the trans-delta reaches of some of the Wildcat tributaries from a distributory flow regime to a channelized flow regime has resulted in greater input of sediment in the mainstem Salt River;
• Urbanization and channelization has altered discharge and sediment deposition patterns of Francis Creek;
• Dairy farm waste management infrastructure is, in places, inadequate;
• Unknown, but suspected high quantities of nutrients from pastoral land use may present water quality problems in the mainstem of the river as well as in the estuary;
• Erosion from roads and stream banks in the Salt River tributaries is a significant by indeterminate source of suspended sediment;
• Extensive system of levees, tidegates, and berms throughout the basin disrupt channel connectivity with adjacent floodplain, and reduced tidal prism;
• Sand quarries may have contributed to the amount of sediment in the Salt River.

There are current socio-economic impacts from the dysfunction of Salt River:

• The Salt River is no longer a navigable waterway;
• Flooding has increased because a reduction of channel capacity of all watercourses in the Salt River Basin due to sediment deposition;
• Degradation of Francis Creek and the Salt River channel has resulted in the Ferndale Wastewater Treatment Plant to be in violation of water quality regulations leading to a cease and desist order issued by the North Coast Water Quality Control Board;
• Health hazards are posed through water quality degradation;
• Agricultural production and land values are decreased by flooding;
• Most domestic and irrigation wells are less than 30 feet deep. Nitrates, fecal contaminants could easily contaminate the shallow ground water;
• Lack of incentive for farmers to invest in waste management infrastructure;
• There is a general feeling of frustration and hopelessness amongst all parties involved, in that, nothing short of massive restoration can solve the multitude of problems within the Salt River Basin.

Fish and wildlife have been adversely impacted from current Salt River conditions:

• Canopy cover and riparian vegetation is lacking in some portions of the Wildcat tributaries;
• 2,900 acres of tide land in the Salt River Basin were “reclaimed” in the late 1800’s;
• Salmonid access into the Salt River system is severely impaired, and access to Williams Creek and Coffee Creek has been eliminated;
• Salmonid habitat throughout the entire basin is poor;
• Aquatic macroinvertebrate populations in basin indicate instream sediment impairments;
• Potential large woody debris (LWD) recruitment is generally poor;
• Spawning habitat is inadequate due to excess fine sediments;
• Mercury contamination has been found in the flesh of fish in the Eel River system (Stokes, 1981).