RESTORING URBAN CREEKS

In 2009, Humboldt Baykeeper initiated an internship program in conjunction with Dr. Alison Purcell O’Dowd, Assistant Professor and Environmental Science Program Coordinator at Humboldt State University. Humboldt Baykeeper provides sampling equipment and guidance to student interns enrolled in Applied Ecological Restoration (ENVS 450) who study riparian and instream conditions in Widow White Creek, a tributary of the Lower Mad River in McKinleyville.

Baykeeper Interns collect data on benthic macroinvertebrates, turbidity, pebble counts and embeddedness surveys, bank stability, and other indicators of watershed health. Widow White Creek’s health has been negatively impacted as a result of the urbanization of 25% of its lower watershed, as well as logging and low-density residential development in its upper watershed. The creek historically supported coho salmon, steelhead trout, cutthroat trout, three-spine stickleback, and sculpins, and is an important target for restoration.

As McKinleyville has developed, the increase in impervious surfaces from pavement and rooftops has increased peak flows during storm events, causing erosion and bank destabilization in lower Widow White Creek. With three years of data, it is increasingly clear that the restoration activities undertaken by Redwood Community Action Agency in the lower reach of the creek have had a positive effect on instream conditions, pointing to the need for such restoration work further upstream, where aquatic habitat conditions remain poor.