Eel River (California)
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The Eel River (
Wiyot The Wiyot ( Wiyot: Wíyot, Chetco-Tolowa: Wee-’at xee-she or Wee-yan’ Xee-she’, Euchre Creek Tututni: Wii-yat-dv-ne - "Mad River People“, Yurok: Weyet) are an indigenous people of California living near Humboldt Bay, California and a s ...
: ''Wiya't'';
Cahto The Cahto (also spelled Kato, especially in anthropological and linguistic contexts) are an indigenous Californian group of Native Americans. Today most descendants are enrolled as the federally recognized tribe, the Cahto Indian Tribe of the La ...
: ''Taanchow'';
Northern Pomo Northern Pomo is a critically endangered Pomoan language, spoken by the indigenous Pomo people in what is now called California. The speakers of Northern Pomo were traditionally those who lived in the northern and largest area of the Pomoan terr ...
: ''ch'idiyu'') is a major river, about long, of northwestern
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. The river and its tributaries form the third largest watershed entirely in California, draining a rugged area of in five counties. The river flows generally northward through the
Coast Ranges The Pacific Coast Ranges (officially gazetted as the Pacific Mountain System in the United States) are the series of mountain ranges that stretch along the West Coast of North America from Alaska south to Northern and Central Mexico. Although th ...
west of the Sacramento Valley, emptying into the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
about downstream from
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and just south of Humboldt Bay. The river provides
groundwater recharge Groundwater recharge or deep drainage or deep percolation is a hydrologic process, where water moves downward from surface water to groundwater. Recharge is the primary method through which water enters an aquifer. This process usually occurs in ...
, recreation, and industrial, agricultural and municipal water supply.William M. Brown and John R. Ritter
Sediment transport and Turbidity in the Eel River Basin
, 1971, prepared in cooperation with the California Department of Water Resources, 67 pages
The Eel River system is among the most dynamic in California because of the region's unstable geology and the influence of major Pacific storms. The discharge is highly variable; average flows in January and February are over 100 times greater than in August and September. The river also carries the highest
suspended sediment The suspended load of a flow of fluid, such as a river, is the portion of its sediment uplifted by the fluid's flow in the process of sediment transportation. It is kept suspended by the fluid's turbulence. The suspended load generally consists of ...
load of any river of its size in the United States, in part due to the frequent
landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated grade (slope), slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of ...
s in the region. However, the river basin also supports abundant forests – including some of the world's largest trees in ''
Sequoia sempervirens ''Sequoia sempervirens'' ()''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607 is the sole living species of the genus '' Sequoia'' in the cypress family Cupressaceae (formerly treated in Taxodiaceae). Common names include coast redwood, coastal ...
'' (Coastal redwood) groves – and historically, one of California's major
salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...
and
steelhead trout Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the common name of the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or redband trout (O. m. gairdneri). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia and ...
runs. The river basin was lightly populated by Native Americans before, and for decades after the European settlement of California. The region remained little traveled until 1850, when
Josiah Gregg Josiah Gregg (19 July 1806 – 25 February 1850) was an American merchant, explorer, naturalist, and author of '' Commerce of the Prairies'', about the American Southwest and parts of northern Mexico. He collected many previously undescribed pla ...
and his exploring party arrived in search of land for settlement. The river was named after they traded a frying pan to a group of
Wiyot The Wiyot ( Wiyot: Wíyot, Chetco-Tolowa: Wee-’at xee-she or Wee-yan’ Xee-she’, Euchre Creek Tututni: Wii-yat-dv-ne - "Mad River People“, Yurok: Weyet) are an indigenous people of California living near Humboldt Bay, California and a s ...
fishermen in exchange for a large number of
Pacific lamprey The Pacific lamprey (''Entosphenus tridentatus'') is an anadromous parasitic lamprey from the Pacific Coast of North America and Asia. It is a member of the Petromyzontidae family. The Pacific lamprey is also known as the three-tooth lamprey and ...
s, which the explorers thought were eels. Explorers' reports of the fertile and heavily timbered region attracted settlers to Humboldt Bay and the Eel River Valley. Starting in the late 19th century the Eel River supported a large salmon-canning industry which began to decline by the 1920s due to overfishing. The Eel River basin has also been a significant source of timber since the days of early settlement, and continues to support a major logging sector. The river valley was a major rail transport corridor (
Northwestern Pacific Railroad The Northwestern Pacific Railroad is a regional shortline railroad utilizing a stretch of the 271 mile mainline between Schellville and Windsor with freight and Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) commuter trains. Formerly, it was a regi ...
) throughout the 20th century, and also forms part of the route of the Redwood Highway (US Highway 101). Since the early 20th century, the Eel River has been dammed in its headwaters to provide water, via
interbasin transfer Interbasin transfer or transbasin diversion are (often hyphenated) terms used to describe man-made conveyance schemes which move water from one river basin where it is available, to another basin where water is less available or could be utilized ...
, to parts of Mendocino and Sonoma Counties. During the 1950s and 1960s, there was great interest in building much larger dams in the Eel River system, in order to provide water for the State Water Project. Although the damming would have relieved pressure on California's overburdened water systems, it stirred up decades of controversy, as some of the proposals made little economic sense and would have been detrimental to an ailing salmon run. The Eel was granted federal
Wild and Scenic River The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-542), enacted by the U.S. Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a free- ...
status in 1981, formally making it off limits to new dams."National Wild and Scenic Eel River", ''The Eel River Reporter'', Friends of the Eel River publication Vol.VIII, Summer 2005 p.14 Nevertheless, logging, grazing, road-building, a burgeoning cannabis industry, and other human activities continue to significantly affect the watershed's ecology.


Course

The Eel River originates on the southern flank of
Bald Mountain Bald Mountain may refer to: Geographic locations in the United States * Bald Mountain (Heceta Island), Alaska * Bald Mountain (California), a name given to over fifty summits in California ** Bald Mountain (Humboldt County) * , a peak near Littl ...
, in the Upper Lake Ranger District of the
Mendocino National Forest The Mendocino National Forest is located in the Coastal Mountain Range in northwestern California and comprises 913,306 acres (3,696 km2). It is the only national forest in the state of California without a major paved road entering it ...
in
Mendocino County Mendocino County (; ''Mendocino'', Spanish for "of Mendoza) is a county located on the North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,601. The county seat is Ukiah. Mendocino County consists whol ...
. The river flows south through a narrow canyon in Lake County before entering
Lake Pillsbury Lake Pillsbury is a lake in the Mendocino National Forest of Lake County, California, created from the Eel River and Hull Mountain watershed by Scott Dam. Elevation is with of shoreline and covering . Activities in the Lake Pillsbury Recreat ...
, the reservoir created by Scott Dam. Below the dam the river flows west, re-entering Mendocino County. At the small Cape Horn Dam about east of Willits, water is diverted from the Eel River basin through a tunnel to the
East Fork Russian River East Fork Russian River is a long tributary of the Russian River in Mendocino County, California artificially connected to the Eel River via an interbasin diversion at the Potter Valley Project hydroelectric facility. It forms in the north of P ...
, in a scheme known as the
Potter Valley Project The Potter Valley Project is an hydroelectric project in Northern California in the United States, delivering water from the Eel River basin to turbines in the headwaters of the Russian River. The project is owned and operated by Pacific Gas and ...
. Below the dam the river turns north, flowing through a long isolated valley, receiving Outlet Creek from the west and then the Middle Fork Eel River from the east at Dos Rios. About downstream, the
North Fork Eel River The North Fork Eel River is the smallest of four major tributaries of the Eel River in northwestern California in the United States. It drains a rugged wilderness area of about in the California Coast Ranges, and flows through national forests ...
– draining one of the most rugged and remote portions of the watershed – joins from the east. Between the North and Middle Forks the
Round Valley Indian Reservation Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * The contour of a closed curve or surface with no sharp corners, such as an ellipse, circle, rounded rectangle, cant, or sphere * Rounding, the shortening of a number to reduce the numbe ...
lies east of the Eel River. After this confluence the Eel flows briefly through southwestern Trinity County, past Island Mountain, before entering Humboldt County near Alderpoint. The river cuts in a northwesterly direction across Humboldt County, past a number of small mountain communities including Fort Seward. The
South Fork Eel River The South Fork Eel River is the largest tributary of the Eel River in north-central California in the United States. The river flows north from Laytonville to Dyerville/Founders' Grove where it joins the Eel River. The South Fork drains a long ...
joins from the west, near Humboldt Redwoods State Park and the town of Weott. Below the South Fork the Eel flows through a wider agricultural valley, past
Scotia Scotia is a Latin placename derived from ''Scoti'', a Latin name for the Gaels, first attested in the late 3rd century.Duffy, Seán. ''Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia''. Routledge, 2005. p.698 The Romans referred to Ireland as "Scotia" around ...
and
Rio Dell Rio Dell (Spanish: ''Río Dell'', meaning "Dell River") is a city in Humboldt County, California, United States. It is located on the west bank of the Eel River north of Scotia at an elevation of 161 feet (49 m). The population was 3,363 at t ...
, before receiving the
Van Duzen River The Van Duzen River is a river on the north coast of California. It is a major tributary of the Eel River and drains , mostly in Humboldt County, with a small portion in Trinity County. The river travels from its headwaters on the west side o ...
from the east. At
Fortuna Fortuna ( la, Fortūna, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular through the Middle Ages until at ...
, the river turns west across the coastal plain and enters the Pacific via a large
estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...
in central Humboldt County, about south of
Eureka Eureka (often abbreviated as E!, or Σ!) is an intergovernmental organisation for research and development funding and coordination. Eureka is an open platform for international cooperation in innovation. Organisations and companies applying th ...
. The
Northwestern Pacific Railroad The Northwestern Pacific Railroad is a regional shortline railroad utilizing a stretch of the 271 mile mainline between Schellville and Windsor with freight and Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) commuter trains. Formerly, it was a regi ...
tracks follow the Eel River from Outlet Creek, about above Dos Rios, to Fortuna. The railroad has been out of service since 1998 due to concerns of flooding damage.
U.S. Route 101 U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, on the West Coast of the United States. It is also known as (The Royal Roa ...
runs along the South Fork Eel River and then the lower Eel River below the South Fork.


Discharge

Average flow of the Eel River varies widely due to its location, which places it more or less directly in the path of
Pineapple Express Pineapple Express is a non-technical term for a meteorological phenomenon characterized by a strong and persistent large-scale flow of warm moist air, and the associated heavy precipitation both in the waters immediately northeast of the Hawaii ...
-type winter storms. In the
Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
of its basin, almost all precipitation falls in the winter and wet season flows can be enormous, while the summer and early autumn provide only minimal precipitation, if any, allowing the sometimes mighty river to slow to a trickle. At the mouth, the Eel River produces an estimated annual runoff of per year, or about . The Eel's maximum recorded flow of on December 23, 1964 was the largest peak discharge of any California river in recorded history, and one of the largest peaks recorded in the world relative to the size of its drainage basin. In contrast, during the dry months of July through September, the river achieves nearly zero flow. The lowermost
United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
(USGS) streamgage on the Eel where flow volume is measured is at
Scotia Scotia is a Latin placename derived from ''Scoti'', a Latin name for the Gaels, first attested in the late 3rd century.Duffy, Seán. ''Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia''. Routledge, 2005. p.698 The Romans referred to Ireland as "Scotia" around ...
, where an annual mean of , or per year, was recorded between 1910 and 2012. This station measures runoff from an area of , or 85 percent of the basin; however it does not include the flow of the
Van Duzen River The Van Duzen River is a river on the north coast of California. It is a major tributary of the Eel River and drains , mostly in Humboldt County, with a small portion in Trinity County. The river travels from its headwaters on the west side o ...
, which joins several miles downstream. Monthly average flows at Scotia range from in January to in September – a 143:1 difference. The annual means also experience huge variations, with a high of , or , in 1983, and a low of , or , in 1977. Reduction in flow occurs in part due to deliberate water diversion from the Eel to the Russian River watershed by the Pacific Gas and Electric Company's
Potter Valley Project The Potter Valley Project is an hydroelectric project in Northern California in the United States, delivering water from the Eel River basin to turbines in the headwaters of the Russian River. The project is owned and operated by Pacific Gas and ...
, located to the south in
Mendocino County Mendocino County (; ''Mendocino'', Spanish for "of Mendoza) is a county located on the North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,601. The county seat is Ukiah. Mendocino County consists whol ...
. Although the effect on the total annual flow is negligible (only about 3 percent of the total flow of the Eel River) the impact is much larger during the dry season, when the Eel's already low natural flows are further reduced by diversions. Since 2004 the dams used by the project have been required to provide additional flow to the Eel River during the dry season, primarily to mitigate the negative impacts the Project has on fish populations.
Eel River monthly mean discharge at Scotia (cfs)
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Watershed

The Eel River drains an area of , the third largest watershed entirely in California, after those of the
San Joaquin River The San Joaquin River (; es, Río San Joaquín) is the longest river of Central California. The long river starts in the high Sierra Nevada, and flows through the rich agricultural region of the northern San Joaquin Valley before reaching Suis ...
and the Salinas River. The
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
,
Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
, and
Klamath River The Klamath River (Karuk: ''Ishkêesh'', Klamath: ''Koke'', Yurok: ''Hehlkeek 'We-Roy'') flows through Oregon and northern California in the United States, emptying into the Pacific Ocean. By average discharge, the Klamath is the second larges ...
systems are larger, but their drainage areas extend into neighboring states as well. The Eel River system extends into five California counties – Glenn, Humboldt,
Lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
, Mendocino, and
Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...
. The main stem traverses four counties, excepting Glenn. The majority of the watershed is located within Mendocino and Humboldt Counties. The Eel's major tributaries – the North Fork, Middle Fork, South Fork and Van Duzen Rivers, drain , , , and , respectively. The Middle Fork drains the greatest area of all the tributaries, but the South Fork is longer, and carries the most water because of the higher rainfall in its basin. The Eel River watershed is located entirely in the
California Coast Ranges The Coast Ranges of California span from Del Norte or Humboldt County, California, south to Santa Barbara County. The other three coastal California mountain ranges are the Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges and the Klamath Mountains. P ...
. The topography creates a general drainage pattern that runs from southeast to northwest, except in the Middle Fork basin and the Eel headwaters, where water runs from east to west. The watershed is bordered on the north by the basin of the Mad River, on the east by that of the
Sacramento River The Sacramento River ( es, Río Sacramento) is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento–S ...
, on the west by that of the
Mattole River The Mattole River is a river on the north coast of California, that flows northerly, then westerly into the Pacific Ocean. The vast majority of its course is through southern Humboldt County, though a short section of the river flows through no ...
, and on the south by those of the Russian River and Ten Mile River. Major centers of population on the river include Willits, Garberville, Redway,
Scotia Scotia is a Latin placename derived from ''Scoti'', a Latin name for the Gaels, first attested in the late 3rd century.Duffy, Seán. ''Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia''. Routledge, 2005. p.698 The Romans referred to Ireland as "Scotia" around ...
,
Rio Dell Rio Dell (Spanish: ''Río Dell'', meaning "Dell River") is a city in Humboldt County, California, United States. It is located on the west bank of the Eel River north of Scotia at an elevation of 161 feet (49 m). The population was 3,363 at t ...
,
Fortuna Fortuna ( la, Fortūna, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius, remained popular through the Middle Ages until at ...
, and Ferndale. Minor communities include Laytonville, Branscomb, Cummings, Leggett, Piercey, Benbow, Phillipsville, Myers Flat, Shively, and Pepperwood. The river's relatively large estuary and delta, which includes the Salt River tributary and related creeks, is located just one low ridge south from Humboldt Bay and south of
Eureka Eureka (often abbreviated as E!, or Σ!) is an intergovernmental organisation for research and development funding and coordination. Eureka is an open platform for international cooperation in innovation. Organisations and companies applying th ...
, the main city for the entire region. Since the 19th century, logging activity in the watershed has loosened soil and destabilized aquifers, reducing the river's base flow, although the watershed is slowly recovering. Logging, grazing and other resource exploitation activities and their accompanying environmental changes have also increased the intensity of flood and drought. Prior to 2011, the Eel River basin consisted of 65.1% forest, 12.2%
shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...
, and 19.2%
grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...
, with just 1.9% agricultural and 0.2% developed urban. The human population of the watershed is about 32,000 – less than 10 people per square mile (26/km2). In the 20th century, much of the watershed area was included under state parks and national forest, including
Six Rivers National Forest The Six Rivers National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in the northwestern corner of California. It was established on June 3, 1947 by U.S. President Harry S. Truman from portions of Klamath, Siskiyou and Trinity National Forests. It ...
,
Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness Yolla may refer to: * Yolla gas field, Bass Strait, Australia * Yolla, Tasmania, Australia ** Yolla District High School ** Yolla Football Club * Yolla, Tasmanian Aboriginal word for short-tailed shearwater * Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness, wi ...
, and Humboldt Redwoods State Park. A total of of the Eel River and its major tributaries are protected under the
National Wild and Scenic Rivers The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-542), enacted by United States Congress, the U.S. Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreat ...
system, with classed as Wild, as Scenic, and as Recreational. About of the main stem are designated, from the mouth to a point just below Cape Horn Dam. The Middle Fork is also Wild and Scenic from its confluence with the Eel to the boundary of the Yolla Bolly–Middle Eel Wilderness. The South Fork is designated from its mouth to the Section Four Creek confluence, the North Fork from its mouth to Old Gilman Ranch, and the Van Duzen River from its mouth to Dinsmore Bridge.


Geology

Most of the Eel River watershed is underlain by sedimentary rock of the
Franciscan Assemblage The Franciscan Complex or Franciscan Assemblage is a geologic term for a late Mesozoic terrane of heterogeneous rocks found throughout the California Coast Ranges, and particularly on the San Francisco Peninsula. It was named by geologist Andr ...
(or Complex), whose rocks date back to the
Late Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987. In European lithostratigraphy, the name ...
(161–146 million years ago). The Franciscan is part of a
terrane In geology, a terrane (; in full, a tectonostratigraphic terrane) is a crust (geology), crust fragment formed on a tectonic plate (or broken off from it) and Accretion (geology), accreted or "Suture (geology), sutured" to crust lying on another pla ...
, or crustal fragment, that originated at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Beginning several million years ago, tectonic forces shoved the Franciscan assemblage against the
North American Plate The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Cuba, the Bahamas, extreme northeastern Asia, and parts of Iceland and the Azores. With an area of , it is the Earth's second largest tectonic plate, behind the Pacific ...
, pushing up the Coast Ranges. The Eel River basin is among the most seismically active areas in California, especially in the north (the river empties into the Pacific only several miles north of
Cape Mendocino Cape Mendocino (Spanish: ''Cabo Mendocino'', meaning "Cape of Mendoza"), which is located approximately north of San Francisco, is located on the Lost Coast entirely within Humboldt County, California, United States. At 124° 24' 34" W longitude ...
near the
Mendocino Triple Junction The Mendocino Triple Junction (MTJ) is the point where the Gorda plate, the North American plate, and the Pacific plate meet, in the Pacific Ocean near Cape Mendocino in northern California. This triple junction is the location of a change in th ...
, which marks the northern end of the
San Andreas Fault The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly through California. It forms the tectonics, tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is Fault (geology)#Strike-slip fau ...
and produces frequent earthquakes due to the juncture here of three
tectonic plate Plate tectonics (from the la, label=Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of large te ...
s). In the western and northern portions of the Eel River watershed, soils eroded from the Franciscan assemblage are often sticky, clayey and highly unstable, creating a high risk of landslides. This soil is often known as "
blue goo Blue goo is a sticky, plasticky, blueish-grey, clay-textured soil derived from a highly weathered serpentinite mélange. The name derives from the soil's color; a result of undergoing anaerobic conditions and becoming gleyed. A greyer variation i ...
" because of its gray-blue color, soft, sticky texture, and its tendency to slip when saturated. Further inland and south, soils are well drained, although landslides are nevertheless common because of the high rainfall and steep slopes. Because of the mountainous topography, the only flat land in the Eel River watershed is along the larger river valleys, where stream terraces have been formed, and in the estuary region near the mouth of the river. Terraces were formed due to a combination of the high sediment load of the river system, and the rapid regional rate of geologic uplift (up to per 1000 years, as measured at Scotia Bluffs). The Eel's behavior of down cutting its own sediments has caused it to flow in a deeply incised channel, which can generally contain all but the largest floods. The younger mountains in the north may be uplifting at a rate ten times faster than the headwater regions further south and east, which consist of much older rock. The Eel River has the highest per-unit-area sediment yield of any river of comparable watershed size in the continental U.S., excluding those fed by active glacial or volcanic sources. The estimated annual sediment load is 16 million short tons, or an average of 4,458 tons per square mile (1,720 tons/km2). Flooding events have a large effect on the average amount of transported sediment: high water in the years 1969, 1983 and 1998 caused an annual sediment load 27 times greater than that of normal years.Impediments to fluvial delivery to the coast
, California Beach Restoration Study, January 2002, 50 pages
Among rivers of the contiguous United States, only the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
carries more sediment to the sea (the
Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...
historically transported more than the Eel as well, but most of its sediment is now trapped by dams). However, both the Mississippi and Colorado have lesser sediment yields relative to their drainage areas.


History


Native Americans

The Eel River basin has been inhabited by humans for thousands of years; some of the oldest concrete evidence of human habitation is at a
petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...
site near the upper Eel River discovered in 1913, which may be as old as 2500 years. When the first European colonizers arrived, the area was home to several indigenous peoples of the Eel River Athapaskan group, with at least four groups identified by dialects: Nongatl and Sinkyone in the north, and Lassik and Wailaki in the middle and south parts of the basin. The upper valley was home to the Interior Yuki (the Huchnom), with the river and its tributaries frequented by Northern and
Northeastern Pomo Northeastern Pomo, also known as Salt Pomo, is a Pomoan language of Northern California. There are no living fluent speakers. It was spoken along Stony Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River. Northeastern was one of seven mutually unintellig ...
fishing groups.


European arrival

The first westerner to enter the Eel River was
Sebastián Vizcaíno Sebastián Vizcaíno (1548–1624) was a Spanish soldier, entrepreneur, explorer, and diplomat whose varied roles took him to New Spain, the Baja California peninsula, the California coast and Asia. Early career Vizcaíno was born in 154 ...
, sailing on behalf of
Philip III of Spain Philip III ( es, Felipe III; 14 April 1578 – 31 March 1621) was King of Spain. As Philip II, he was also King of Portugal, Naples, Sicily and Sardinia and Duke of Milan from 1598 until his death in 1621. A member of the House of Habsburg, Phi ...
, seeking a mythical northwest passage described in secret papers as being at the latitude of
Cape Mendocino Cape Mendocino (Spanish: ''Cabo Mendocino'', meaning "Cape of Mendoza"), which is located approximately north of San Francisco, is located on the Lost Coast entirely within Humboldt County, California, United States. At 124° 24' 34" W longitude ...
. Vizcaíno sailed into the mouth of the Eel in January 1603 where instead of the cultured city of Quivera the papers had described, the men encountered native people they described as "uncultured."


Settlement in the 19th century

The Eel River was named in 1850 during the
California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...
by an exploring party led by
Josiah Gregg Josiah Gregg (19 July 1806 – 25 February 1850) was an American merchant, explorer, naturalist, and author of '' Commerce of the Prairies'', about the American Southwest and parts of northern Mexico. He collected many previously undescribed pla ...
. Except for Gregg who was a physician, naturalist and explorer, the remainder of the party were miners from a temporary camp on the Trinity River at Helena. The party took months to travel overland by less than favorable routes from Helena to the Pacific Ocean between November 1849 to December 1850 when they are credited with the rediscovery of Humboldt Bay by land. The bay had been seen by earlier Spanish and Russian explorers but never settled. After camping and restocking at Humboldt Bay, they traveled to San Francisco to report their discovery. They crossed the Eel River on their way south where they traded a broken frying pan to the local fishermen in exchange for a large number of Pacific lamprey, which they mistook for eels. They named the
Van Duzen River The Van Duzen River is a river on the north coast of California. It is a major tributary of the Eel River and drains , mostly in Humboldt County, with a small portion in Trinity County. The river travels from its headwaters on the west side o ...
after James Van Duzen, a member of the expedition. The party split in two and the survivors returned to
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
from where ships left to settle Humboldt Bay in early 1850, bringing lumber and supplies from San Francisco. One ship sailed up the Eel River and could not get out. In the hurry to be "first" in Humboldt Bay, they dragged a longboat through the sloughs on the north side of the Eel River mouth to the waters of the Bay where they were met by members of the ''Laura Virginia'' party. Many of the people who settled in this region were prospectors from the Gold Rush who did not manage to find gold. Although most of the early settlements were made along the coast, some people spread south into the Eel River valley, which offered fertile soils along with other abundant natural resources. However, the settlers also faced conflict as they pushed deeper into Native American lands. American negotiator Colonel Reddick McKee's treaty would have given the Indians a large reservation around the mouth of the Eel, but the treaties were never ratified. American settlements were made along the flat terraces of the Eel, near the confluence with the
Van Duzen River The Van Duzen River is a river on the north coast of California. It is a major tributary of the Eel River and drains , mostly in Humboldt County, with a small portion in Trinity County. The river travels from its headwaters on the west side o ...
and toward the mouth of the river where there was more arable land than the steep upper canyons. Most of these areas were appropriated for agriculture and grazing land. Salmon canneries flourished on the lower Eel between the 1870s and the 1920s, and declined thereafter because of decreasing runs caused by overfishing and other manmade environmental changes. Logging companies also took hundreds of millions of board feet of timber from the basin, which were floated down the Eel River to the estuary. Because the Eel River's twists and turns made it difficult to float the large redwood logs, the timber was cut into smaller rectangular "cants" to make them more manageable. In 1884 the
Eel River and Eureka Railroad The Eel River and Eureka Railroad company was organized on November 14, 1882, by a group of Eureka businessmen led by John M. Vance (b. Nova Scotia October 1, 1821 – d. January 1892). One of the other founders of the line was William Carso ...
began shipping lumber from the Eel River estuary to the port at Humboldt Bay, where the logs were loaded onto ships bound for San Francisco.


20th century

As part of the
Potter Valley Potter Valley is a census-designated place in Mendocino County, California, United States. It is located north-northeast of Ukiah, at an elevation of at the headwaters of the East Fork Russian River. The CDP population was 665 at the 2020 cens ...
or Eel River Project, a pair of dams were built across the upper reaches of the Eel beginning in 1906 to divert water to the much more populous but smaller Russian River drainage area to the south, resulting in a much higher flow in the smaller river and a significantly decreased flow in the upper Eel during certain seasons. Although located near the headwaters, these dams can cause a significant reduction of the flow of the lower Eel River because much of the river's summer flow originates from the mountains above
Lake Pillsbury Lake Pillsbury is a lake in the Mendocino National Forest of Lake County, California, created from the Eel River and Hull Mountain watershed by Scott Dam. Elevation is with of shoreline and covering . Activities in the Lake Pillsbury Recreat ...
. In 1911 noted American engineer John B. Leonard designed Fernbridge, a all concrete arched bridge at the site of an earlier ferry crossing. Now listed on the National Historic Register, Fernbridge is the last major crossing before the Eel arrives at the Pacific Ocean. The last crossing before the Pacific Ocean is at Cock Robin Island Road a few miles to the west of Fernbridge. Later, the Pacific Coast Highway would be constructed along the South Fork and along the Eel River downriver of the South Fork. In 1914, after seven years of construction, the
Northwestern Pacific Railroad The Northwestern Pacific Railroad is a regional shortline railroad utilizing a stretch of the 271 mile mainline between Schellville and Windsor with freight and Sonoma–Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) commuter trains. Formerly, it was a regi ...
completed a rail line running along much of the Eel River as an important transportation link connecting Eureka and the many small towns along the Eel River valley to the national rail network. The railroad had the ignominious distinction of being the most expensive (per mile) ever built at the time: it traversed some of the most rugged and unstable topography in California, with 30 tunnels in a stretch. The ceremonial driving of the golden spike was delayed by flooding and subsequent landslide damage to the rail line in October 1914. LeBaron, Gaye
Eel River rail line tough to build, and tough to kill
Santa Rosa Press Democrat, April 30, 2011, accessdate December 23, 2013
In the 1950s, interest grew in damming the Eel River system to provide water for Central and Southern California. After damaging floods in 1955, these dams also received support for potential flood-control benefits. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...
proposed a series of dams on the river and its tributaries, the largest of which was the enormous Dos Rios Dam near the confluence with the Middle Fork, which would provide water for the
California State Water Project The California State Water Project, commonly known as the SWP, is a state water management project in the U.S. state of California under the supervision of the California Department of Water Resources. The SWP is one of the largest public wate ...
and control flooding. Water would be diverted through a tunnel to the Sacramento Valley, where it would join the water flowing down the Sacramento River to the
California Aqueduct The Governor Edmund G. Brown California Aqueduct is a system of canals, tunnels, and pipelines that conveys water collected from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and valleys of Northern and Central California to Southern California. Named after Califo ...
pumps in the
Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta The Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, or California Delta, is an expansive inland river delta and estuary in Northern California. The Delta is formed at the western edge of the Central Valley by the confluence of the Sacramento and San ...
. The proposal was defeated with public initiative by the early 1970s, to protect the remaining relatively wild rivers in the state.
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
, governor of California at the time, refused to approve the project. The proposed reservoir would have flooded the
Round Valley Indian Reservation Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * The contour of a closed curve or surface with no sharp corners, such as an ellipse, circle, rounded rectangle, cant, or sphere * Rounding, the shortening of a number to reduce the numbe ...
. In 1964, a severe
Pineapple Express Pineapple Express is a non-technical term for a meteorological phenomenon characterized by a strong and persistent large-scale flow of warm moist air, and the associated heavy precipitation both in the waters immediately northeast of the Hawaii ...
event, known as the
Christmas flood of 1964 The Christmas flood of 1964 was a major flood in the United States' Pacific Northwest and some of Northern California between December 18, 1964, and January 7, 1965, spanning the Christmas holiday. Considered a 100-year flood, it was the wor ...
, brought heavy rains to coastal northern California. The Eel River drainage area was directly in the storm's path. With no major dams to control its flow, the main Eel reached a peak of , with from the South Fork alone. Ten towns were obliterated with dozens of others damaged; at least 20 bridges were destroyed, and some, including Miranda and South Fork, were never rebuilt. The heavy damage was due not only to the water, but to the huge amount of sediment and debris swept down the river, including millions of board feet of timber. The deepest flood waters were nearly above the normal river level. Several thousand people were left homeless by the floods and over 4,000 head of livestock died. The large storms of the mid-20th century, along with the ecological changes from logging and grazing activities, almost wiped out the river's salmon run. Due to huge earth-flows caused by the record rain in 1964, 105 million tons of sediment were carried down the Eel River between December 21–23 as measured at Scotia – more than in the previous eight years combined. This sediment scoured away or buried spawning grounds for salmon and steelhead trout, causing the populations of these fish to drop to dangerous levels by the mid-1970s. The flooding was also deleterious to rail service through the Eel River canyon. After the 1964 floods, much of the topography in the Eel River drainage has been permanently damaged, and landslides occur much more often, frequently damaging local road and rail infrastructure. In 1998, after another large flood in the winter of 1996–1997 washed out sections of the line, the Northwestern Pacific became the first railroad to be shut down by the federal government for safety reasons. Although the portion south of Willits was reopened in 2006, the section between Willits and
Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...
, which includes the entire Eel River portion of the tracks, is unlikely to ever be returned to service.


Ecology


Plants

The Eel River watershed lies within the Oregon and Northern California Coastal freshwater ecoregion, which is characterized by temperate coniferous forests consisting largely of Douglas fir and western hemlock. The watershed also contains many stands of Sequoioideae, Redwood that are among the largest such trees in California. In the Eel River basin, redwoods can be found further inland than other parts of the northern California coast because of the wide lower valley of the river, which acts like a funnel conducting moist air eastwards from the coast. However, redwood groves are still most common in the drainage area of the South Fork Eel River, which lies closest to the Pacific.


Animals

Aquatic mammals include North American beaver, beaver, muskrat, raccoon, North American river otter, river otter and mink. Beavers are confirmed in Outlet Creek (tributary to main stem Eel north of Willits), but may occur in other areas as well. That beaver were once native to the Eel River watershed is supported by the name of a tributary of the Middle Fork Eel River, Beaver Creek.


Salmon and steelhead

The Eel River supports runs of multiple anadromous fishes – Chinook salmon, Chinook, coho salmon, steelhead (rainbow trout) and coastal cutthroat trout among the major species. In its natural state, it was the third largest salmon and steelhead producing river system in California – with over a million fish spawning annually – after the Sacramento and Klamath rivers. The annual chinook salmon run was estimated at 100,000–800,000, coho at 50,000–100,000, and steelhead may have numbered as high as 100,000–150,000. About 22,000 years ago, a massive landslide off Nefus Peak dammed the Eel River near Alderpoint to a height of . A -long lake formed behind the barrier. Sediment deposits indicate the lake may have persisted for as many as several thousand years, which is highly unusual considering the easily eroded rock of the region and the highly unstable nature of landslide dams in general. The dam blocked access to steelhead trout spawning grounds in the upper Eel River, causing the summer and winter runs to interbreed. Thus, there is an unusually high genetic similarity between summer-run and winter-run steelhead in the Eel River system, in contrast to other rivers in the Western United States. Human impacts have led to a dramatic decline of salmon and steelhead populations in the Eel River system. Large-scale commercial fishing began in the 1850s, with multiple canneries on the Eel River operating into the early to mid 1900s. Between 1857 and 1921, canning operations took an estimated 93,000 fish per year, with a peak of 600,000 fish in 1877. By the 1890s, fish populations had already recorded a precipitous decline. Logging and grazing, which expose formerly forested land as bare ground, have had even greater impact on the populations of these fish. Due to the mountainous terrain and heavy precipitation in the Eel River watershed, erosion rates are particularly high. Much of the anadromous fish spawning habitat in the river system was covered by sediment or blocked by debris jams. Record flooding in 1955 and 1964, which destroyed or damaged large amounts of habitat along the Eel and its tributaries, was generally regarded as the final blow. After the
Christmas flood of 1964 The Christmas flood of 1964 was a major flood in the United States' Pacific Northwest and some of Northern California between December 18, 1964, and January 7, 1965, spanning the Christmas holiday. Considered a 100-year flood, it was the wor ...
, chinook salmon populations plunged to less than 10,000 per year. Anadromous fish populations have continued to decline since the 1960s; in 2010, only 3,500 salmon and steelhead returned to the river to spawn. However, with better land management practices in the watershed, salmon and steelhead runs have shown signs of recovery. In late 2012, high water in the Eel River attracted a run of over 30,000 fish, the largest on record since 1958. Since 2012, runs have fluctuated. While improved from the low point of 3,500 at the beginning of the decade, the runs have yet to again reach the high mark of over 30,000. From 2013 to 2014, 2016-17 were between 15,000 and 25,000 while 2015, & 2018-19 were between 9,000 and 15,000.


Other fishes

The river provides wildlife habitat for preservation of Rare species, rare and endangered species including warm and cold freshwater habitat for fish migration and spawning. The river and its tributaries support at least 15 species of native freshwater fish. Major species include
Pacific lamprey The Pacific lamprey (''Entosphenus tridentatus'') is an anadromous parasitic lamprey from the Pacific Coast of North America and Asia. It is a member of the Petromyzontidae family. The Pacific lamprey is also known as the three-tooth lamprey and ...
, ''Entosphenus tridentatus'', formerly ''Lampetra tridentata'', Catostomus, Sacramento sucker, threespine stickleback, Pacific staghorn sculpin, Coastrange sculpin and Cottus asper, prickly sculpin. At least 16 species of non-native fish have been introduced to the river system. The non-native Sacramento pikeminnow is present; it competes with and preys on young salmonids. The Eel River has never contained true eels, but is named for the Pacific lamprey, an eel-shaped parasite that attaches itself to other fish during its ocean life-cycle. Like salmon and steelhead, lampreys are anadromous, meaning they live part of their life in the ocean but return to fresh water to spawn. They are Cyclostomata, Cyclostomes (Circle mouths), a primitive fish-like creature, and are not related to eels.


Eel River estuary

The Eel River forms a long
estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...
west of Fortuna, which has been identified as one of the most important and sensitive estuaries on the West Coast. The estuary consists of some of tidal flats, perennial and seasonal wetlands, connected by of river channels and tidal slough (hydrology), sloughs. About consist of undeveloped wetlands while have been converted to agriculture. The estuary is the third largest coastal wetland region in California, after the
Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta The Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, or California Delta, is an expansive inland river delta and estuary in Northern California. The Delta is formed at the western edge of the Central Valley by the confluence of the Sacramento and San ...
and the Salinas River estuary in central California, forming an important habitat for various species of shorebirds, fish and mammals such as North American river otter, river otters and harbor seals. About of the estuary are protected as the Eel River Estuary Preserve. The Eel River estuary is recognized for protection by the California Bays and Estuaries Policy.State Water Resources Control Board ''Water Quality Control Policy for the Enclosed Bays and Estuaries of California'' (1974) State of California In 2018 California Trout, CalTrout, along with other partners, announced they had received a grant of over $5M to revive the degraded estuary. The site of the project is the Eel River Estuary Preserve, formerly known as Connick Ranch. The Wildlands Conservancy acquired the land in 2008 with a goal to restore the wetland system and provide public access to the scenic area.


River modifications

There are two hydroelectricity, hydroelectric dams on the Eel – Scott Dam, which forms
Lake Pillsbury Lake Pillsbury is a lake in the Mendocino National Forest of Lake County, California, created from the Eel River and Hull Mountain watershed by Scott Dam. Elevation is with of shoreline and covering . Activities in the Lake Pillsbury Recreat ...
, and Cape Horn Dam, which forms Van Arsdale Reservoir just north of Potter Valley, California, Potter Valley. At Cape Horn Dam, the majority of the water is diverted through a tunnel and hydroelectric plant, and then to the headwaters of the Russian River in Potter Valley and is known as the
Potter Valley Project The Potter Valley Project is an hydroelectric project in Northern California in the United States, delivering water from the Eel River basin to turbines in the headwaters of the Russian River. The project is owned and operated by Pacific Gas and ...
. Originally conceived in the late 1800s and built between 1906 and 1922, the project provides about of additional waters for the Russian River system, for about 500,000 people in Mendocino and Sonoma Counties. The Potter Valley Project has been argued by environmental groups to have significant impacts on the Salmonidae, salmonid (Chinook and coho salmon and steelhead) populations of the basin. Although dam operators are required to maintain certain flows below the diversion during the dry season, these flows can be cut during exceptionally dry years, preventing salmonids from reaching certain spawning streams in the Eel River basin. Project water is disproportionately important to salmonids in the Eel River system as a whole because the water released from the bottom of Scott Dam is the only cold water available in the basin during the dry season. During July, August and September, temperatures in the lower Eel River occasionally hit or higher, creating fatal conditions for these fish. In 1983, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission relicensed the project under the condition that more water be provided to the Eel River during the dry season and less be diverted to the Russian River basin. Dam releases are now timed to mimic natural flows in the Eel River system. Occasional large "blocks" of water are also released from Scott Dam to help juvenile salmonids migrate to the sea before temperatures in the lower river become unsuitable for their passage. These conditions were revised in 2004, when stricter minimum release standards were established. In combination with drought in the early 21st century, average diversions through the project have decreased by about for the period 2004 through 2010. In December 2013, due to record low levels of water in the Eel River and the associated dammed lakes, levels of fish and lampreys in the rivers were at lowest recorded levels, and Pacific Gas and Electric Company sought to have Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC change their operating license to permit even lower releases of water to Eel until the drought eases.Graziani, Virginia
PG&E seeks reduction in releases to Eel River due to drought
, Redwood Times, December 10, 2013. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
Under current agreements, the dams must release at least beginning every year on December 1 to aid salmon migration. The federal United Western Investigation study in 1951 proposed multiple large dams on the wild North Coast rivers of California, including the Eel River. These dams would have been far bigger than those of the Potter Valley Project, and would create some of the largest reservoirs in California. The Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation both sought to build dams in the Eel River system, which starting in the 1960s was targeted as a potential new source for the California State Water Project. Major dams proposed in the watershed included ones at English Ridge, Bell Springs and Sequoia (Alderpoint) on the main stem, and the infamous Dos Rios on the Middle Fork. Dos Rios Dam would have flooded of
Mendocino County Mendocino County (; ''Mendocino'', Spanish for "of Mendoza) is a county located on the North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,601. The county seat is Ukiah. Mendocino County consists whol ...
, creating a reservoir of – the largest in California, at nearly twice the size of Shasta Lake. Water would have been diverted from English Ridge north to Dos Rios and through a tunnel to the Offstream reservoir, offstream Glenn-Colusa reservoir in the Sacramento Valley, from which the water would travel by canal to the Sacramento River. An alternate proposal would have sent the water south from Dos Rios, through English Ridge and then a tunnel to Clear Lake (California), Clear Lake, from which the water would flow down Cache Creek (Sacramento River), Cache Creek to the Sacramento River. From the beginning, these dams were heavily contested by local residents as well as by environmental groups seeking the protection of California's remaining wild rivers. The floods of 1955 and 1964 brought renewed interest in building large dams on the Eel River, especially in the case of the Army Corps of Engineers, which attempted to justify the construction of Dos Rios for flood control. However, among all the proposed dams on the Eel River, Dos Rios would have the lowest impact on flood control – a fact that the Army Corps took great pains to conceal, by greatly exaggerating its economic justifications for the dam. When exposed, this would end up becoming the "Achilles' heel of the project". Meanwhile, the Bureau insisted that its first priority – English Ridge – should receive the first federal funding. As Marc Reisner describes in ''Cadillac Desert'' (1986), "the feuding agencies were about to lock horns and starve over the first two dams on their priority list". By 1969, a strong opposition movement had formed, led by a Round Valley rancher named Richard Wilson, who had studied hydraulics at Dartmouth College. Wilson calculated that Dos Rios would have reduced the flood crest of the 1964 flood at Fort Seward by less than a foot (0.3 m). Governor Ronald Reagan formally refused to authorize the project. Despite Reagan's veto, the door to Eel River dams technically remained open. In early 1972, California state senator Peter H. Behr introduced a measure to create a state wild and scenic rivers system, which would protect many undeveloped North Coast rivers, including the Eel, from future damming. In the same year, senator Randolph Collier proposed a measure that would block dams in the Klamath and Trinity Rivers but "permitted 'planning' for dams on the Eel River. Conservationists saw this as a backdoor attempt to resurrect Dos Rios Dam and endorsed the Behr bill." Collier's bill was supported by powerful agricultural interests in the Central Valley on the "dubious claim" that they would need the water of these rivers in the future. After the state legislature approved both bills, the final decision fell to Reagan, who signed the Behr bill, again in favor of the conservationists. However, Behr had been forced to compromise in order to get his bill approved from the state: as signed, it would only place a 12-year Moratorium (law), moratorium on planning for dams in the Eel River system. Over the next several years, Reagan continued lobbying for increased protection of the Eel River system. In 1979, he requested the North Coast rivers be added to the National Wild and Scenic system. In 1981 – well before Behr's moratorium expired – Secretary of the Interior Cecil Andrus granted federal protection to the Eel River system and of streams along the North Coast, succeeding state legislation and placing the river permanently off limits to new dams.


Recreation

The four forks of the Eel and their tributaries provide many opportunities for whitewater kayaking and rafting on their upper sections. There is a International Scale of River Difficulty, class IV–V run between the Scott and Van Arsdale dams. A popular run is from Dos Rios to Alderpoint with Class II–III rapids, taking three to four days to run, depending on how many side tributaries are explored. From Alderpoint to Eel Rock is a class I–II float during June, with many beaches suitable for camping. Below Eel Rock the ocean winds make boating difficult starting in the early afternoon. The South Fork is a class III–IV run in its upper section between Branscomb, California, Branscomb and Cummings, Mendocino County, California, Cummings, with a waterfall that needs to be portaged. After the South Fork turns due north at Cummings it is mainly a class II–III, changing mostly to a class II run below Piercy. The Middle Eel has a good run from the confluence with the Black Butte River to Coal Miners Falls, which is portaged by all but experts. The
Van Duzen River The Van Duzen River is a river on the north coast of California. It is a major tributary of the Eel River and drains , mostly in Humboldt County, with a small portion in Trinity County. The river travels from its headwaters on the west side o ...
also has some class II–III runs beginning below Goat Rock. The North Fork is the most pristine of the tributaries, but is difficult to enter because of its remote location. There is a Class III run in the reach between Hulls Creek and Mina Road. There are also many miles of river suitable for flatwater boating in the downstream sections of both the mainstem Eel and the South Fork. Humboldt Redwoods State Park leads paddle trips along that stretch of the river. There is good fishing for Chinook salmon and Rainbow trout, steelhead in the lower river, and rainbow trout are found above Lake Pillsbury. Introduced pikeminnow, in conjunction with the diminished flows due to the Potter Valley Project water diversion, have taken a significant toll on the native fish population below Van Arsdale Dam. The river can be closed to fishing in some years after October 1 if flows are insufficient for migrating salmon and steelhead. The Eel River watershed includes Admiral William Standley State Recreation Area, Smithe Redwoods State Recreation Area, Standish-Hickey State Recreation Area, Humboldt Redwoods State Park, Richardson Grove State Park,
Six Rivers National Forest The Six Rivers National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in the northwestern corner of California. It was established on June 3, 1947 by U.S. President Harry S. Truman from portions of Klamath, Siskiyou and Trinity National Forests. It ...
, and
Mendocino National Forest The Mendocino National Forest is located in the Coastal Mountain Range in northwestern California and comprises 913,306 acres (3,696 km2). It is the only national forest in the state of California without a major paved road entering it ...
, which are popular for camping and hiking. There is wilderness camping above
Lake Pillsbury Lake Pillsbury is a lake in the Mendocino National Forest of Lake County, California, created from the Eel River and Hull Mountain watershed by Scott Dam. Elevation is with of shoreline and covering . Activities in the Lake Pillsbury Recreat ...
on both branches, the Rice Fork and Eel River, (also known as South Eel because it is south of the lake), which have plenty of swimming holes and camp sites. The Eel River Canyon Preserve includes the Grand Canyon of the Eel River which is home to dozens of endangered species and rare wildlife. The park will include the proposed Great Redwood Trail.


See also

*List of rivers in California *Rivers of Lake County, California *Benbow State Recreation Area *Eel River Athapaskans *List of South Fork Eel River crossings


References


External links

*, United States Geological Survey, USGS, Geographic Names Information System, GNIS *, United States Geological Survey, USGS, Geographic Names Information System, GNIS
USGS Real Time Stream Data
for *
Middle Fork Eel near Dos Rios
*
Van Duzen at Bridgeville
*
Mainstem Eel at Leggett
*
Miranda
*
Fort Seward
*
Fernbridge
*
ScotiaFriends of the Eel River
*Kubicek, P.F.
Summer water temperature conditions in the Eel River System, with reference to trout and salmon
M.S. Thesis, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California. August 1977. 200 p.
Eel Wild and Scenic River
- BLM page {{authority control Eel River (California), Rivers of Mendocino County, California Rivers of Humboldt County, California Rivers of Lake County, California Rivers of Trinity County, California Wild and Scenic Rivers of the United States Mendocino National Forest Six Rivers National Forest Rivers of Northern California