1/30/12

After more than a decade of work, the Martin Slough enhancement project -- which aims to reduce flooding and improve salmon habitat near the Eureka Municipal Golf Course -- will acquire the funding needed to complete its design.

Don Allan, director of the Natural Resources Service Division for the Redwood Community Action Agency, said the California Department of Fish and Game posted the approval of the project's grant last week.

Allan said agencies first began discussing the a two-phase fish passage improvement, wetland enhancement and flood reduction project on the south side of Eureka in 2000 when the golf course's manager noticed coho salmon living in the Martin Slough.

It's a dual-purpose project -- also supported by State Water Resources Control Board and the city of Eureka -- that will help golfers who use the public course and the salmon who seem to be drawn to slough, he said.

”It's really nice to have a project that can address two things that I think should be important to the community,” Allan said.

The funding from DFG, coupled with the North Coast Land Trust's recent purchase of connected agricultural pasture land, will help the project move forward. RCAA hopes to implement the first phase of the project later this year.

In December, the Land Trust purchased a 36-acre agricultural property at the mouth of Martin Slough for $315,000 in order to facilitate the first phase of the restoration, which includes replacement of the defunct tide gate at the mouth with a more fish-friendly and functional tide gate.

The phase one project will also involve widening the lower Martin Slough channel to increase flow capacity, construction of four acres of tidal wetland, establishment of riparian habitat along the slough and retention of 28 acres of pasture for grazing.

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