Mattole Estuary Gets Heli-wood Drew Barber Mattole Salmon Group
Guest Article by the Mattole Salmon Group
poles were made and delivered as close as possible to all sites. The Sikorsky helicopter arrived This fall the Mattole Salmon with its extensive crew of mechanics, Group (MSG) led a project to use fuel trucks, boom trucks and ground a helicopter to place a massive crew. In two days and 11.5 hours of amount of whole trees and wood fly time, we moved more wood into into the estuary. This type of wood the estuary than we had previously in loading has been done in many other ten years combined. This years effort places but never in the Mattole. It included placement of 180 whole has a distinct advantage of being trees, 15 grapple- hauls of slash, 88 able to place whole trees, which 15’ pine logs representing another 20 can last longer in a river system trees, and 44-30’ poles. than smaller pieces. The helicopter “built” on-bank When faced with an estuary that and in-stream structures to mimic lacks complexity and has a minimal a system with large quantities of carrying capacity, the scientific naturally introduced wood. In three community is in consensus that areas, materials were piled for the introduction of large wood can make excavator to create island-building a significant habitat improvement. apex jams. A fourth pile was created to Over the last ten years the MSG use in 2014 for slough enhancement. has been leading projects to After the trees were flown off the install large wood structures in slope, the excavator re-contoured the estuary to improve the quality areas where the trees were removed. of this key habitat for salmonids The Mattole Restoration Council Sikorsky-64 Skycrane helicopter transports 180 whole trees for placement in the Mattole River of the Mattole. While many of estuary in two days—the largest installation of fish habitat-creating instream wood that the managed the revegetation aspect. Mattole River has ever seen. Photo: Drew Barber, Mattole Salmon Group. the structures MSG has installed Their crew mulched and sowed a in the last ten years have moved downstream, site tour with members of our Technical Action combination of native and naturalized grasses in all are still present in the estuary. Many of the an effort to encourage speedy re-vegetation of all Committee (TAC) and Humboldt Redwood structures are associated with deep holes and disturbed up-slope areas. The field construction Company (HRC) two years ago. At that time, we work was completed within two weeks. complex fish habitat. were limited by what we could haul on the road. Since the construction aspect of the project A significant aspect of large wood projects Trees had to be bucked down and limbed before has been complete, MSG has led a monitoring in the past has been anchoring. We have hauled they were delivered to the river. HRC floated the effort with the goal to understand how the in large boulders and anchored structures suggestion that a helicopter working on a local introduced trees get sorted by the river over by securing the wood to a boulder base. The harvest of theirs might be a cost-effective way to time. MSG staff inserted identifying tags into anchoring methods are effective – the anchored get whole trees into the river. all whole trees and mapped the topography of rocks reduce buoyancy of the wood, and slow the Under BLM’s lead, with the planning direction work areas and the location and orientation movement of the structures. However anchoring of Dave Fuller, the BLM implemented a 5-year of all trees. is expensive and timely. We would rather allocate restoration plan in the estuary. With this plan they The success of this project is the result of many those resources to the installation of more wood. were able to permit 5 years’ worth of projects at once. peoples hard work; the MSG is very grateful for Anchoring is required for wood brought in by With the permitting complete, a helicopter project the massive amount of support from staff and the road. Without branches and rootwads, the wood was in reach. MSG’s new executive director at the community. Funding and support for this project is short-lived in the river. Occasionally nature time, Sungnome Madrone, relentlessly pursued was provided by USFWS, NOAA, The Nature delivers whole trees to the estuary and we observe the idea. Excitement grew and two years later, we Conservancy, and the California Department of those rare trees moving slower through the system had funding, permits, access to trees, and finally an Fish and Wildlife. than our anchored structures. Logistically whole available helicopter. trees are challenging, as they require special The crew prepared over 180 trees for transport To learn more about our projects, equipment such as a helicopter for delivery to the estuary. Patrick Queen Construction took or to make a donation to support MRC, to the sites. on every heavy equipment task needed to make the The scale and expense of a helicopter kept helicopter time as efficient as possible. Trees were please visit www.mattole.org. us from considering this type of project until a tipped, root-wads were cleaned, trees were weighed,
EcoNews
Jun/Jul 2014
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