In January, crews from Ashland, Oregon-based Lomakatsi Restoration Forestry thinned 15 acres of conifers on the 148-acre property, an idyllic landscape dotted with meadows, white oak woodlands and mature redwoods, once a site for clear-cutting now protected by a conservation easement managed by SLC.

Crews spread the cut material over the forest floor to build the soil, as decomposition in the Big Flat area is accelerated by up to 200 inches of rain per year.

Funding for the restoration effort was provided in large part by a 50 percent grant from the U.S. Natural Resource Conservation Service. The landowners, the SLC general fund, and SLC contributors and volunteers provided the other half of the cost-share program.

Greg King, Executive Director

Greg King, Executive Director

Now a new threat has emerged at the Smith River estuary: New Zealand mudsnails. This pernicious exotic species has spread rapidly throughout the American west, devastating the food chain of several streams. Last year Wendell Wood, a wildlands interpreter with Oregon Wild, discovered New Zealand mudsnails in the Smith River estuary.The mudsnails were already well established in nearby Lake Earl, but the Smith River estuary had apparently been spared until recently. The California Department of Fish and Game has yet to survey the Smith River to determine the extent of New Zealand mudsnail distribution, though DFG may do so this summer.

Following is a report by Doug Simpson, Siskiyou Land Conservancy’s intern for estuary research, on mudsnails in North Coast streams.  Simpson recently graduated from Humboldt State University with a major in Natural Resource Planning, emphasizing marine resources and climate.

Growing Concerns Over Invasive New Zealand Mudsnails in Humboldt and Del Norte County Waters

Siskiyou Land Conservancy research intern Doug Simpson seeks New Zealand mud snails in the Smith River estuary, March 2012. Photo by Greg King.

By Doug Simpson

The North Coast of California is blessed with an abundance of natural and scenic splendors. Among my favorite places in California are the lagoons and estuaries located along our coastline.  These brackish environments provide a range of ecological communities where fresh water meets the sea. They provide wonderful recreational opportunities for anglers and kayakers, and they support several important fisheries.

However, as more and more people use these waters – locals and tourists alike – impacts are increasing on pace. One troubling management issue is how to deal with invasive species, which can be directly correlated with higher use. In waterways, aquatic hitch-hikers are proving to be more than just a nuisance – both globally and locally. Many of us have already heard about the invasive Zebra Mussel, which has devastated the Great Lakes and many other areas in the United States. A comparable, but less known invasive is the New Zealand mudsnail. It has appeared only in the last decade in local lagoons and rivers and poses a real threat to fisheries and aquatic ecosystems.

When it comes to mudsnails, it’s not size that counts: it’s tiny. It ranges in size from less than one millimeter to nearly a centimeter, but virtually all Mudsnails found locally will be 2mm or smaller – that’s about the width of a quarter. What is alarming is their ability to propagate in astoundingly high numbers. According to a USGS fact sheet they’ve been reported in densities higher than 300,000 per square meter. In other words the ground can literally be crawling with mudsnails.

New Zealand mud snails have spread rapidly in North America. They were first discovered in the Snake River, in Idaho, in 1987. For about a decade their numbers remained relatively low, as seen in this graphic that shows mud snail distribution in 1995.

The New Zealand mudsnail is most likely to travel across watersheds by hitch-hiking on fishing and boating equipment. It can also travel across and within a watershed via the guts of fishes and birds. Fish and waterfowl will feed on benthic invertebrates such as the New Zealand mudsnail. However, many species can’t digest the mudsnails. Instead they travel through the digestive tract intact and are passed in the feces, still alive, sometimes several miles away from where they were originally consumed.

The mudsnail’s indigestibility poses significant problems. One is that they travel much faster and farther than they would otherwise be capable of. The other is that the trout, salmon, duck, or other species that eat the mudsnails often glean very little nutritional value from

them. If mudsnails begin to overwhelm and push out other native macro-benthic invertebrates, as they have been recorded to do, this could pose a serious threat for the many species of waterfowl and fish that feed on small bottom dwelling snails.

New Zealand mud snail distribution, 2001.

The chemical and physical conditions that Northern California has to offer seem to be ideal for the mudsnails. They originated from New Zealand, whose climate is similar to our own. Keith Bensen, resource manager for Redwood National Park, is seriously alarmed at the presence of the mudsnail. Currently, Bensen is

New Zealand mud snail distribution, 2009.

monitoring the speed and densities of the mudsnail’s spread in known present locations, as well as areas that they expect the mudsnail may spread to. Big Lagoon and Stone Lagoon may harbor the largest population of mudsnails in our area. Evidence of their hitch-hiking style can be seen in their proximity to boat ramps and popular fishing areas. I recently circumnavigated Stone Lagoon in a kayak, and I found the mudsnails everywhere I looked. They are also in Redwood Creek, Lake Earl, the Smith River and undoubtedly waiting to be discovered in many other local waterways.

Studies by Dybdahl and Kane in 2005 have shown that mudsnails can tolerate a wide range of conditions. They thrive in disturbed watersheds with high nutrient flows. They can tolerate high water levels by finding shelter under rocks and in eddies. They can grow and reproduce in salinities as high as 15 parts per thousand, but can tolerate salinity as high as 30 parts per thousand for short periods. (The ocean is 33 parts per thousand.) That means they can live in the bilges of ocean-going boats long enough to get dumped into a storm drain and potentially invade a whole new watershed. They also reproduce sexually and asexually, so all you need is one to soon have an entire population.

The U.S. west coast population of New Zealand mudsnails seems to have originated from Idaho – presumably from an angler having traveled from New Zealand, or perhaps from the dumped remains of someone’s aquarium. The entire North American population of mudsnails is clonal, consisting of genetically identical females. One female snail can produce 230 young per year, and it reaches sexual maturity at around 3.5mm, which is usually about 8 months of age. If one hitch-hiking mudsnail lands in a new spot conducive to growth and has 230 young, and each of those young reproduce, within one year that same spot could have a population of more than 50,000.

New Zealand mudsnails reproduce to such high densities that they push out other macro-invertebrates and begin to dominate the food chain level called “secondary production.” A study led by Robert Hall junior found that mudsnails have the highest secondary production rate of all benthic invertebrates. In this way they threaten to become a dominant part of fish and bird diets, which, combined with accompanying low nutrient values, could devastate native populations and completely alter the processes of an ecosystem. Trout have been known to starve on a mudsnail diet.

Preventing the spread of New Zealand mudsnails is essential. This is done primarily through protocols established for use of waterways. After use in the water, all fishing and sporting equipment should be decontaminated. If possible, the same set of gear should be dedicated to a single location. After use, gear should be cleaned with a scrub brush and water, preferably high-pressure. Inspect gear – it should be free of any visible traces of sand, mud, gravel, or plant fragments. In addition to rinsing and scrubbing, there are two follow-up treatments to decontaminate gear. One involves a chemical treatment of what is known as quaternary ammonium compounds. Formula 409® cleaner degreaser disinfectant in a 50% dilution has been proven to kill Mudsnails. Gear should be soaked in the solution for 5 minutes and then rinsed thoroughly with tap water. (This method should only be used where the chemical solution will not run-off into a water body). The second treatment is to expose mudsnails to intolerant physical conditions, including:

1)    Freezing gear for a minimum of 4 hours.

2)    Soaking gear in hot bath water (minimum 120°F) for 10 minutes.

3)    Drying gear before reusing. Gear must be dry for at least 48 hours with low humidity. Places like pockets and boots stay damp longer and may need longer to dry.

The New Zealand mudsnail is an incredibly tolerant and proliferative invasive species. It hasn’t been seen on the North Coast for long, and solutions to its spread, and safe means of eradication will not be easy to develop. But our fragile and often pristine North Coast ecosystems demand that we take up the challenge.

SLC_Coho_Recovery_Comments

Siskiyou Land Conservancy’s comments focus solely on the Smith River. Although the Smith is California’s most pristine major river, even here Coho are listed in the Recovery Plan as a “high extinction risk.” This is due in part to an overall decline of the entire SONCC population of Coho, but also in large part to destruction of Coho habitat at the Smith River estuary, and at Rowdy Creek, one of the two most important Coho spawning streams on the Smith. (The other major Coho tributary on the Smith River is Mill Creek, which also experienced widespread logging and therefore alteration of spawning habitat. But the lowermost reach of Mill Creek is protected by Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, and much of the upper reach is undergoing intensive restoration work led by the Smith River Alliance in partnership with State Parks, the state Department of Fish and Game (DFG), the Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) and Save-the-Redwoods League.)

In large part, our comments focus on the Smith River estuary, where, as noted in the Recovery Plan, habitat destruction and simplification, and excessive pesticide use on surrounding Easter lily farms, pose the greatest threat to survival of Coho salmon in the Smith River.

SLC’s comments also emphasize the need to address continued clear-cut logging and herbicide applications by Green Diamond Resource Co. on Rowdy Creek, which runs through the Smith River estuary. The SONCC Coho Recovery Plan contained only one paragraph on Green Diamond’s ownership in the Smith River basin, a “punt” to the wholly inadequate Aquatic Habitat Conservation Plan devised by the company.

Please feel free to comment on this paper. We appreciate your input.

Greg King, Executive Director

Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch)

UPDATE (March 1, 2012): NMFS has extended the Coho Recovery Plan comment period to May 4, 2012. Keep checking this site for updates.

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In early January the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) released its long awaited draft Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast (SONCC) Coho Recovery Plan. Though we’ve hardly had a chance to penetrate the 1,400-page document, the first meeting is coming right up:

January 31 – Humboldt Area Foundation 5-8:30 p.m. 373 Indianola Rd. (between Arcata and Eureka)

We have asked NMFS to hold future meetings in Arcata or Eureka proper.

We encourage supporters of North Coast salmonids to attend this meeting, or one of the following:

February 1 – Willits
February 2 – Brookings
February 14 – Yreka
February 15 – Medford area (Central Point)

For more information on these meetings contact Julie Weeder at NMFS: 707-825-5168 or julie.weeder@noaa.gov.

The entire Recovery Plan can be viewed here.

As most of you know, Siskiyou Land Conservancy serves five counties in Northwestern California (Humboldt, Del Norte, Mendocino, Trinity and Siskiyou), representing some of the most important remaining Coho habitat in the West. In this region, the best remaining salmonid habitat by far is on the Smith River. In fact, the Smith River is the most pristine watershed its size on the West Coast of the United States.

However, what the Smith River chapter of the Coho Recovery Plan makes clear is that Coho numbers are plummeting on the Smith as well, veering toward extinction. The Recovery Plan lists the Smith River’s Coho salmon population as a “high extinction risk.” This despite the fact that the majority of the 719-square-mile watershed is in excellent condition, relative to other western streams. Where the Smith’s salmonid habitat is not excellent, according to the Recovery Plan, is at the estuary. And it’s the estuary that Coho salmon love the most. They spend a whole year in fresh water before migrating to sea, so they need the calm pools and abundant food production of an estuary.

The Coho Recovery Plan utilizes information generated by Siskiyou Land Conservancy, and its predecessor the Smith River Project, to illustrate one of the greatest potential threats to the Smith River estuary: Pesticides used to produce 90 percent of the U.S. production of Easter lilies.

The Recovery Plan also makes clear that Rowdy Creek, which feeds the Smith River estuary, is one of the two best remaining Coho streams on the Smith, yet Coho numbers are far lower on Rowdy Creek than they should be. The Recovery Plan offers just one paragraph on an elephant in the Rowdy Creek room: the timber giant Green Diamond owns almost all of the best Coho habitat in the watershed.

Siskiyou Land Conservancy is developing comments on the Coho Recovery Plan, which we will post here. Our supporters should try to comment as well, asking for reductions of pesticides on lily fields surrounding the estuary, and greater scrutiny of the clear-cutting and road building by Green Diamond that have diminished and eliminated Coho salmon habitat. (Green Diamond also uses pesticides in the watershed.)

Siskiyou Land Conservancy’s Contribution to the Coho Recovery Plan

Since 2004, and on a limited budget, Siskiyou Land Conservancy has been the only NGO, indeed the only organization of any kind to insist on a review and reduction of impacts to the estuary potentially wrought by pesticides.

The Recovery Plan notes that “restoration of the Smith River estuary … is imperative. … Agricultural run-off needs to be addressed to reduce the concentration levels of pesticides reaching the Smith River and its tributaries. … Of particular concern is the lily farming that occurs on the floodplain. One study showed that intense use of pesticides between 1996 and 2000 by lily farmers led to high levels of chemicals including carbofuran, chlorothalonil, diurin, disulfoton, and pentachloronitrobenzene. [The authors should also have listed metam sodium and 1,3-Dichloropropene. Also, pentachloronitrobenzene is no longer used on the Smith River.] Recent testing in the lower Smith River has revealed copper concentrations that may have acute toxic effects and impair olfaction and reproduction of coho salmon (North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (NCRWQCB) 2011). The current level of chemical contamination is a high risk for juvenile salmonids (Bailey and Lappe 2002).”

It was our Bailey-Lappe (CETOS) study that initiated scrutiny of pesticides at the estuary, and the “recent testing” noted above came only after several years of continual pressure by Siskiyou Land Conservancy on the State Water Board to conduct the tests. The Water Quality report on the testing, which revealed potentially devastating levels of copper in a stream leading to the Smith River estuary, notes that it was Siskiyou Land Conservancy that requested the analysis.

Siskiyou Land Conservancy supports farmers, lily growers included. If analyses of pesticide use and their effects on the Smith River estuary show a need to transition toward less chemically-intensive agricultural practices, then we are committed to assisting lily growers do so without impacting their livelihoods. Already Siskiyou Land Conservancy has inquired with Congressman Mike Thompson’s office about securing Farm Bill funding to assist with any such transition. Like the lily growers, many of whom can be found on their days off fishing the Smith, we are in this for the long haul. Together we can protect the Smith River’s vital salmonid habitat.

Humboldt State University master's student Vanessa Vasquez loads slash onto a burn pile.

Siskiyou Land Conservancy has completed Phase I of a planned multi-part restoration project to improve forest health and reduce the danger of catastrophic fire on private land along the South Fork Smith River.

Last June, Ashland, Oregon-based Lomakatsi Restoration Forestry completed most of the heavy work to thin and pile conifers and brush on 12 acres of the 148-acre parcel, which is surrounded by the Smith River National Recreation Area. Since then SLC personnel and volunteers have continued piling slash in the restoration area, and we have been busy pruning branches up to six feet on every tree in the project.

Lomakatsi Workforce Director Aaron Nauth measures tree diameters during restoration activities on the South Fork Smith River. Siskiyou Land Conservancy donated the larger boles to local residents for firewood.

Debris from restoration work was piled and burned in the six-acre “north unit” of the restoration project. SLC has opted to scatter the smaller material on six-acre “south unit” to decompose under the heavy rains of the Smith River, which can reach 200 inches per year in the Big Flat area. Decomposing material will provide important soil structure in the recovering forest, and will prevent carbon loading from burning piles. If the material breaks down quickly, as expected, then SLC may opt to maintain the practice throughout the life of the project. Most of the larger material, such as five-foot Douglas fir boles ranging from three to six inches in diameter, were removed from the site and donated to local residents for firewood.

“Before the current owners acquired this property it was held by industrial timber companies that clear-cut much of the landscape, resulting in densely regenerating conifers that are choking out wildlife and forest diversity and compacting and eroding soils,” said Greg King, executive director of Siskiyou Land Conservancy. “We’re really thrilled to be jump-starting the recovery of this forest.”

Thinning the densely packed conifers opened up the forest canopy to allow light to penetrate the forest floor, thereby diversifying plant growth and habitat structure. Added light will also allow the otherwise stifled conifers to grow at a normal rate and improve timber volume.

Siskiyou Land Conservancy holds a conservation easement that protects habitat and water quality on the property. The South Fork Smith River restoration effort will occur in several phases, eventually treating up to 100 acres of the 148-acre property. The rest of the property consists primarily of pristine meadows, white oak woodlands, and mature redwood groves. The property also contains the easternmost redwoods on the Smith River, and the largest privately owned flat along the South Fork. Rare stands of Port Orford cedar, which appear to be unaffected by the root disease (Phytophthora lateralis) that has devastated the species throughout much of its range, dot the landscape.

Burning piles at dawn (shown here on the north unit of the Smith River restoration site) is a great way to get warm in the morning. Fire is a safe and effective means of disposing of slash from restoration work, though it does contribute some carbon to the atmostphere.

Funding for the restoration effort was provided in large part by the a 50 percent grant from the U.S. Natural Resource Conservation Service. Lomakatsi, the landowners, the SLC general fund, and SLC contributors and volunteers provided the other half of the cost-share program.

Contributions in support of SLC’s restoration efforts may be sent to: Siskiyou Land Conservancy, P.O. Box 4209, Arcata, CA 95518. Donations are tax deductible and much appreciated.

A spray rig applies the fungicides copper hydroxide and chlorothalonil onto lily fields adjacent to Smith River Elementary School.

Scientists at the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board have discovered significant pesticide contamination in a stream leading to the Smith River Estuary.

In August 2010, a team from the North Coast Regional Water Quality Board visited the Smith River estuary and sampled water in two streams, two places in each stream (above and below pesticide use). It took a full year, but in August 2011 Water Quality released its chilling results: Copper levels in the sampled water were nearly 28 times higher than the California Toxics Rule allows for freshwater habitat, and “demonstrate evidence of chronic reproductive toxicity,” according to the report, which cites Siskiyou Land Conservancy as the organization that requested the testing. (Copper is a common ingredient in pesticides and is harmful to aquatic life.)

A ditch leading from lily greenhouses directly to the Smith River estuary.

For several years Siskiyou Land Conservancy has pressured Water Quality to test the Smith River estuary and surrounding streams for pesticide residues resulting from lily farming on the Smith River Plain. The recent results indicate that aquatic life in the Smith River, particularly its celebrated salmon and steelhead runs, may be at risk.

Christopher Pincetich, Ph.D., an expert on the effects of pesticides on aquatic organisms, said of the state’s test results, “The chronic toxicity result is very significant; I saw almost zero reproduction. That test uses Ceriodaphnia dubia, a freshwater invertebrate, the ‘water flea.’ It is very relevant to use as it is the base of the food-web. If Cerio can not reproduce in your watershed, you can technically extrapolate this to say that salmon habitat is likely impaired as their food source (small aquatic invertebrates) is impacted.” In late August, Pincetich and Greg King, executive director of Siskiyou Land Conservancy, co-led a panel on pesticides and salmonids at the annual Coho Confab, a statewide conference held this year at Rock Creek Ranch on the South Fork Smith River.

“With results like this, the next step is for Water Quality, state Fish and Game, the state Department of Pesticide Regulation, the National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. EPA to take a serious look at pesticide use surrounding the Smith River estuary,” said King. “This means more monitoring of streams and soils, and monitoring of air quality as well to protect residents of the nearby town of Smith River. It also means working directly with lily farmers to reduce chemical use. The farmers themselves may hold in their hands the fate of the Smith River’s fabled fish runs.”

The town of Smith River (below-right, pop. 2,000) is surrounded by lily fields.

The Water Quality Board’s report is potentially bad news for California’s healthiest anadromous fishery. State and federal agencies list the Smith River as a “key watershed” for recovering the West’s salmon, steelhead and cutthroat trout populations. Pesticides can have slow, insidious impacts on aquatic habitat, reducing fish populations and other species over time. Alongside the Smith River estuary, highly toxic pesticides such as metam sodium and 1,3-Dichloropropene are used in per-acre amounts that are higher than anywhere else in California.

Other pesticides used near the estuary are equally alarming. In 2010 the National Marine Fisheries Service released its Endangered Species Act/Section 7 Consultation Biological Opinion for salmonids, identifying 12 pesticides that can directly reduce salmon populations. At least three of these 12 salmon-killing pesticides are used on Smith River lily fields.

Siskiyou Land Conservancy is seeking additional water quality monitoring and enforcement of the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and recent case law to protect Smith River salmonids. Although government action is slow in coming, the Water Quality Board’s recent monitoring would not have occurred at all had not Siskiyou Land Conservancy pressured the agency. Siskiyou Land Conservancy remains the only organization working to reduce pesticide use on lily fields surrounding the vital Smith River estuary.

Most importantly, Siskiyou Land Conservancy has initiated discussions with farmers in Smith River, who produce 90 percent of the U.S. crop of Easter lily bulbs. Siskiyou Land Conservancy supports working farms and ranches, including those on the Smith River. For many years Smith River lily farmers have explored alternatives to pesticides. Siskiyou Land Conservancy is committed to assisting the transition.

Here is the full Water Quality report:

WQ Testing results 8_11

Photos and story © 2011 by Greg King.

With greedy ears I learned the history of that murderous monster against whom I and all the others had taken our oaths of violence and revenge.

            Herman Melville, Moby Dick

In early summer she came, just two days after Solstice. The weather was fair for the time and place, in the mighty Klamath estuary, where summer fog can chill to the marrow if you are not active and acclimated. But this summer has been different. The foggy days are fewer, sunshine reigns in the land of moisture and tall trees. It was to this place, at this time, that the whale came.

She arrived alongside her baby. Here were the great gray whales, baleen cetaceans, filter feeders, makers of mystery and myths. They delighted so many. To enter such a river as the Klamath was not unheard of, it had happened twenty-two years before. But to swim as she did almost incessantly, almost always in the same place — below the Klamath River bridge, the one that carries the summer tourists and lumber trucks and long distance commuters along the highway called 101 — that was something new.

She could have been anywhere on the lower river, but she chose this place beneath the bridge, and she chose this crucial time of change. The Native Yurok people called her a messenger. To see her alone at the end of July, one month into her visit, was to welcome an ambassador from another world. The ocean space. The great mystery beyond human knowing, a spirit creature entrenched in our imagining and our lore and our tales of survival and death.

It was a visitation. Yes, she carried a message, even as her health waned. Eventually people came from across the West to see her and hear her message. Few listened closely, so she made up what was lacking in cognition by circling, turning, breathing, directly below the bridge. She was as visible as the sun in the sky. She circled, she surfaced, her tail fluked, her twin blowholes spouted routinely directly below the bridge.

She was patient, and as such she begged our patience as well. Humans stood for hours on the bridge, later shaking heads as they realized how long they’d been watching.

Tourists from Germany and Pennsylvania, workers from Eureka and Crescent City came to see the whales. Highway Patrol officers and Tribal cops did the dance along the paved bridgeway, admonishing viewers to stay off the road and restrict themselves to the narrow walkway subservient to that created for cars. When she swam under the bridge the masses passed back across the lanes, west to east, east to west, like a scene from a comedy. Drivers stopped to ask why so many people on the bridge? “A whale!” they said.

And still she circled. For hours and then days and then weeks she circled, sometimes turning on her side as if to feed, but always coming back, spouting, breathing. Breathing. Breathing.

You have called us gray whale. Sometimes you said “devilfish” because we fought so fiercely against your weapons. We never could understand why you hated us so. You are very clever, smelting your metals into boats and harpoons and great steel vats where you melted our skins to make lights and cosmetics. Long into the slaughter you stopped hunting us, and we have been forever grateful. But please listen. Listen, please. Slow down and hear my plea. There is little time.

Watch me move. You think I am beautiful, and I am flattered. I move my long body for you, under your great bridge that crosses an even greater river. Ah, our Klamath! Long we have known this river. Long have we ranged past its waters, a fecund river we have always known during our journeys from what you call Alaska to our breeding tides far in the warm south.

You watch my great tail fin stroking the stream. I propel. I move with grace because life is graceful. You, though, you move so quickly. I am so glad to see you out of your cars! Look upon me. I am powerful, yet I do not threaten. I am giant yet I am love. Can you understand? Do you know why I come here?

You too are beautiful! Look among yourselves, with your flowing hair, your fine skin and muscles. Your proud faces and smiling eyes. You see me and it is good, you see each other and it is also good.

We, all of us, of little more than air and water, fire and earth, and love. You come with violins and play for me along the shore. You float to me on your little plastic sphere.

You sing to me from the bridge. You have come in your boats and drummed for me. You have come in your powerboats too close to me, but I do not fear you.

Yes, it is dangerous for me here, and for my baby. You have tried to drive us back to the ocean, but that is not why I am here, to succumb to your wishes. I am here with a message.

You long to witness beauty and power, and you see these things in me. Many of you would possess me, but others understand that this is not possible. My beauty and power are already within you, within all life. You cannot possess me nor my beauty nor my power any more than you can possess the air, or a shooting star. We are not things apart. We are one. Destroy me and you destroy yourself.

Look at your work! You build great factories and these great factories create machines that make more machines. And your machines move you and move things, and they heal sickness and provide you with food and teach your children. I see you inside of machines, on top of machines, writing on machines, listening to machines. I see you with machines attached to your bodies, machines in your ears. Can you see me? Can you see how slowly I move? Can you hear this sound I make? Listen closely. Watch closely. Slow down. Please hear my story. Please understand that the hour is late. Listen.

We hear your sonic explosions across the ocean, a machine sound you use to test your military weapons. These sounds assault us. We can hear across oceans. We can hear across time. We hear you whisper. We can hear your wars. We have watched your great ships sinking to the bottom of the seas, your people struggling, shocked, grieving. We have heard your screams. We wanted to help you, but there was no helping you.

You no longer hunt us, yet we are hunted. We are haunted. Our ocean is dying. My baleen scrapes the ocean floor to scoop crustaceans, plankton, mollusks, squid and fish. I filter it all, disgorge the mud, and give thanks for the plenty from our glorious ocean. But today there is less food. What shall I feed my baby?

We find your machines at the bottom of the ocean. We eat your plastics. Our bodies contain mercury, lead, PCBs, pesticides. We are at the top of what you call a food chain, and so these things concentrate in us. Our food is sacred. All life is sacred. You call us “intelligent,” and we would agree. We are intelligent enough to leave well enough alone, to take only what we need, to revel in the purity of Earth and all she offers us, to give thanks for our meals and our home.

You have your laws. Laws to protect you. Laws to protect freedom. Laws to protect religion. Laws to protect murder.

You have laws to protect the environment! And yet what about these laws? We all know about laws and how they work, how they don’t work. The laws you made to stop hunting us seem to have worked, but mostly because you discovered petroleum. Your black oil, too, we find in our oceans.

Let us talk about beauty, about the beauty of life. See me turn in the water, right below you! You are in awe of me, I can feel that. Now look upriver, see the mountains, look downriver, see the sweet turn of the mighty Klamath, see the great forest standing even after you took almost all of it.

We remember the looming dark forest that once stood here, as this is not the first time we have traveled up this great river! Are you still in awe when you look away from me? Look upon this wild earth. I am no more grand than the forest, no more powerful than the river. I am a part of all, as are you. But it is almost too late. Please listen.

We feel the ocean acidifying. Carbon. Carbon is a great thing, but you are releasing it like locusts upon all life. Our ocean is dying. The polar ice is melting. Even the currents, the great currents that flow like blood through our seas — you are even altering the currents, and the weather. Your bombs are nothing compared to this.

Our food is disappearing, our beautiful home is changing. We know you care. We can see it in your faces when you look upon us. You love beauty, you love life. How is it, then, that this could come to be?

We are here with a message. Look upon us. Revel in our beauty, in our life. Our life is your life, but all life is in danger. Look upon us. Look upon the river. Look upon the sky. The eagle. The bear. The salmon. The children. Look upon your children, and their children. Look upon my child, swimming at the mouth of this great river while I turn and swim past you, turn and swim past, turn and swim past. Look. Look. Before it is too late.

Your scientists have told you there is a number, a number representing carbon in the atmosphere. That number is 350 parts per million. Today everyone knows that this number should not be exceeded, yet your scientists report that today the number has reached nearly 400 parts per million. How have your leaders responded? What have they done to save the precious life of Earth, for you and your children, for me and my child? Last year, a year when humans should know better, you put more carbon into the atmosphere than any year in history. A record! Humans love records.

It is almost too late. Your leaders want oil from Alberta tar sands and from the ocean, from my home in what you call Alaska, from this very shore! They want coal from the interior of this great continent shipped overland to the shores of North America to be put upon the great ships to power the factories of China, to make the plastic things whose last, and lasting, home is the ocean, our ocean, water that my baby filters to find her food. The great garbage gyres are now twice the size of your state of Texas! Another record.

Please listen. It is almost too late. Hear me as I travel your great river.

Slow down.

Stay out of your cars.

Keep watching the river.

Change your ways.

Help my baby.

Sit in silence.

We are friends. We are love. Now is the time. Now.

This is my message. I sow the message in my path, through this great river. Do you see me? Do you really see me? Why am I here? What could make me swim like this, far from my home, where my family now feeds, and I do not feed at all.

From awareness we must grow.

This is our home.

This is your home.

There is no other.

There is no other time but now.

Please help us.

Peace.

“Before-After” photos of SLC’s restoration work on a 148-acre property along the South Fork Smith River. (Click photos to enlarge.) Photos by Greg King.

Siskiyou Land Conservancy has contracted with Ashland, Oregon-based Lomakatsi Restoration Project to begin a major restoration project on a 148-acre property along the Wild and Scenic South Fork Smith River. Siskiyou Land Conservancy holds a conservation easement on this private parcel, which supports a rare diversity of species and several habitat types.

The Wild and Scenic South Fork Smith River runs below the property protected by Siskiyou Land Conservancy.

In June, Lomakatsi brought a crew of 12 workers to the site to begin the heavy task of clearing and piling brush and small trees on 12 acres of the property. The project is intended to improve forest health and reduce the danger of catastrophic fire in areas that were clear-cut 40 years ago by an industrial timber owner.

Lomakatsi's Aaron Nauth briefs the work crew during an orientation session in the dense confier forest that grew in following clear-cutting 40 years ago.

Siskiyou Land Conservancy’s South Fork restoration effort will occur in several phases, eventually treating up to 100 acres of the 148-acre property. The rest of the property consists primarily of pristine meadows, white oak woodlands, springs and seasonal wetlands. The parcel also contains the easternmost redwoods on the Smith River, and the largest privately owned flat along the South Fork.

Mature second-growth redwoods and meadow on the South Fork Smith River property protected by Siskiyou Land Conservancy.

Lush meadows and seasonal wetlands run throughout the large flat areas of the property.

The property also supports rare stands of Port Orford cedar, which appear to be unaffected by the root disease (Phytophthora lateralis) that has devastated the species throughout much of its range.

A healthy Port-Orford cedar tree grows alongside a meadow on the 148-acre Smith River property protected by Siskiyou Land Conservancy.

SLC’s restoration project is supported by the Smith River National Recreation Area, which is currently working on a similar fuels/forest health project on federal land adjacent to the SLC property. Funding for the initial 12 acres of work was provided in part by a $19,800 (50 percent) matching grant from the U.S. Natural Resource Conservation Service. Lomakatsi has also contributed to the project, while private donations have made up a small portion of the remaining 50 percent.

Dave Casey, of the National Resource Conservation Service, inspects the restoration site prior to work on the project.

If you would like to help see this important restoration effort to conclusion you may send contributions to: Siskiyou Land Conservancy, P.O. Box 4209, Arcata, CA 95518. Donations are tax deductible and much appreciated.

"Before": Dense brush growing on the property prior to work beginning.

"After": The same area shown in the photo above, after restoration work.

Photo point #3: "Before"

Photo point #3: "After"