Blog: Why is it taking so long to restore the sediment-choked Elk River?
The Elk River is the largest tributary to Humboldt Bay and provides habitat for three runs of salmon and steelhead. But after this timber-rich watershed was heavily logged more than 20 years ago, major storms washed soils from clear-cuts into the river, causing ecological devastation, local flooding, and contamination of local drinking water supplies. We talked to Darren Mierau of CalTrout about the Elk River Recovery Program and the big challenges facing this effort.