Video: Inside look at Redwoods Rising stream restoration

Rebuilding natural habitat for salmon and other wildlife

Natural rivers and streams have lots of things in them besides water. Over the years, logs and branches fall into them. Bushes grow along the edge. Rocks tumble into the water. These things and others create pools and shade that salmon and other wildlife depend on for survival. One leftover from the redwood logging era is that a number of streams were disturbed, redirected, and scraped clean of these natural elements.

One of the goals of Redwoods Rising is to rebuild these forest streams to their former state. And this is a key element of the project in Redwood National and State Parks that will eventually bring back more than 70,000 acres of historically clearcut forest.

Save the Redwoods League, California State Parks, the National Park Service, and the Yurok Watershed Restoration crew use heavy machinery to strategically place large pieces of wood in Prairie Creek. This will slow down the waterway and create better conditions for salmon to live and thrive.

This video is narrated by Vicki Ozaki, a hydrologist for the National Park Service.

About the author

Since 1918, Save the Redwoods League has protected and restored redwood forests and connected people with their peace and beauty so these wonders of the natural world flourish.

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