Recommendations

Flow, Drainage and Water Quality Improvement Activities

• Re-establish mainstem Salt River from river mile 5.1 to 8.3 (Francis Creek to Coffee Creek), and improve channel conditions from river mile 3.4 to 5.1 (Reas Creek to Francis Creek) to improve drainage and allow access for salmonids;
• Restore estuarine habitat and estuarine wetlands from river mile 0 to 3.4 (confluence of the Salt River with the Eel River to Reas Creek).
• Removal or modification of tide gates and levees in the Salt River Basin for the purpose of improving fish passage, water quality, habitat diversity and channel flushing;
• Assess whether the re-introduction of the Eel River through the Leonardo levee is feasible;
• Improve coordinated planning efforts concerning drainage, wastewater treatment and development with the City of Ferndale;
• Re-introduce east side drainage into Francis Creek downstream of Port Kenyon Road;
• Implement Ferndale Drainage Master Plan;
• Establish a Market Street Drainage Plan;
• Obtain compliance at the Ferndale Wastewater Treatment Facility;
• Decrease sediment contributions to the mainstem Salt River;
• Continue to implement dairy waste reduction plans and encourage the use of Best Management Practices for dairy waste management;
• Enhance and protect wetland areas and floodplain forests for the purpose of nutrient assimilation, flood storage capacity, sediment deposition and fish and wildlife enhancement.

Erosion and Sediment Delivery Reduction Activities

• Conduct an upslope erosion inventory in the Wildcat tributaries. Potential stream bank and road related sediment sources should be mapped and prioritized. Identified sites should then be treated to reduce the amount of fine sediments entering the stream;
• Design, install and maintain sediment basins on tributaries where sediment loads, stream alterations and infrastructure limit opportunities for restoring natural processes, such as lower Francis Creek;
• Encourage the use of Best Management Practices for all land use development activities to minimize erosion and fine sediment delivery to streams;
• Provide technical assistance and incentives to landowners/ managers in developing and implementing fine sediment reduction plans;
• Limit additional road building in the Wildcat Range.

Riparian and Habitat Improvement Activities

• Increase tidal influence (tidal prism) for the improvement of salmonid rearing habitat and for developing and maintaining channel structure;
• Replace or modify culverts or barriers that create fish passage problems;
• Where necessary, increase the canopy in the Wildcat tributaries by planting appropriate native vegetation like willow, alder, Sitka spruce and Douglas fir along the stream where shade canopy is not at acceptable levels. In many cases, planting will need to be coordinated to follow bank stabilization or upslope erosion control projects;
• Encourage the use of temporary riparian exclusion fencing where there is evidence of stream bank erosion caused by grazing of livestock;
• Where feasible, design and engineer pool enhancement structures to increase the number and quality of pools. This must be done where the banks are stable or in conjunction with streambank armor to prevent erosion;
• Suitable size spawning substrate in the Wildcat Tributaries is limited to a few limited areas. Projects should be designed at suitable sites to trap and sort spawning gravel;
• Improve fish habitat conditions in the trans-delta reaches of Reas Creek and Williams Creek.
• Utilize set back levees for the improvement of flood control, riparian function and to establish channel meander and habitat diversity in the trans delta reach of Reas Creek;
• Enhance riparian protections for the improvement of ecosystem benefits;
• Utilize USDA/ NRCS Wetland Reserve Program or Farm and Ranch Land Protection Program.

Education, Research, and Monitoring Activities

• Encourage and promote Salt River Advisory Group as the lead entity to help facilitate restoration funding efforts and monitoring activities;
• Improve educational and community outreach;
• Continue and expand water quality monitoring efforts of surface waters in the Salt River Basin to include a robust assemblage of water quality parameters;
• Conduct systematic assessment of biological resources in the Salt River Basin;
• Continue to monitor fish populations in the Eel River Delta and the Salt River system;
• Continue to monitor Salt River Basin salmonid habitat;
• Determine ownership boundaries along the Salt River within areas identified in alternative development;
• Analyze Salt River hydrology and hydrodynamics to include the estuary portion and portions of the Wildcat tributaries;
• Analyze Salt River geomorphology in the Salt River Basin;
• Conduct topographic mapping of the Salt River Delta;
• Analyze geomorphic change in the Salt River Basin to include analysis of changes in channel dimensions, sedimentation, channel location and shore lines over the past 130 years.