Friends of Gualala River

04/09/2025

Re-posting this vital message from the summer of 2012, by Jeanne Jackson and Peter Baye

Friends don't let friends drive in the Gualala River.

The Gualala River, now closed to the Pacific Ocean by a huge sandbar, is a coastal treasure. Creatures big and small make it their home. Care must be taken to protect them and this beautiful wild river that is a part of our lives.

The week before Memorial Day weekend, the beds of the Gualala River's upstream reaches were pristine gravel bars with stream-side shrubs and wetland vegetation, and flowing channels with water up to several feet deep. The week after Memorial Day, the river bed became a gravel road bed, with scores of tire track ruts crossing every bar, and channels two feet deep. This is an annual unauthorized event, with peak off-road vehicle use on holiday weekends - especially Independence Day weekend.

What does the river look like from the windshield of a truck?

By Jeanne Jackson and Peter Baye July 20, 2012 April 9, 2025: Re-posting this vital message Friends don't let friends drive in the Gualala River. The

03/14/2025

NOAA Fisheries News, March 5, 2025

Last winter, Central California Coast coho salmon returned to Mendocino Coast rivers in the highest numbers since monitoring began. The overall numbers remain low compared to the species’ past abundance, but NOAA scientists are excited by the results.

Last winter, endangered Central California Coast coho salmon (CCC coho) returned to Mendocino Coast rivers and streams in the highest numbers since monitoring began 16 years ago. Monitoring led by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to track their population status estimated more than 15,000 adult CCC coho returned to spawn during the 2023–24 season. The Ten Mile and Noyo rivers exceeded recovery targets set by NOAA for delisting CCC coho under the Endangered Species Act, and the Big and Garcia rivers experienced record returns.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA Fisheries News March 5, 2025 [excerpt:] Last winter, Central California Coast coho salmon returned

02/25/2025

If you read the paper two weeks ago or have felt the bump in your car, you know about the sinkhole at the bottom of Old State Highway. The 4ft x 4ft pothole, caused by a failing culvert 60 feet under the street, has caught the attention of CalTrans, who submitted emergency orders for a permanent repair.

The decrepit 5-foot-wide, corrugated steel culvert transports the discharge of China Gulch hundreds of feet under the highway, eventually pouring out into the Gualala estuary. Over the decades, the large flow of water from the pipe has dug a hole below the outfall, creating a fish barrier during low flows.

The ever-changing pothole / sinkhole at the convergence of Old State Highway and Highway One is generated by a decaying culvert far underground. If you read

02/22/2025

Mouth of the Gualala River after heavy rain, & Storm waves overtop the barrier beach of the Gualala River - Feb. 14. And then:
Mouth of the Gualala River after a quieter week, & Gualala River estuary turns 'steelhead green' - Feb. 21

Mouth of the Gualala River after heavy rain - Feb. 14, 2025 Storm waves overtop the barrier beach of the Gualala River - Feb. 14, 2025 Mouth of the Gualal

02/07/2025

After days of steady rain









Photos courtesy of Jeanne Jackson

After days of steady rain          Photos courtesy of Jeanne Jackson

12/17/2024

by Dylan Freebairn-Smith, Conservation Analyst

The Gualala River has been listed as impaired under the federal Clean Water Act due to elevated sediment levels since 1993 and has exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) of sediment since 2001. This issue has powerful implications for the Gualala's ecological, economic, and anthropogenic beneficial uses.

The chief sources of sediment are roads, landslides, and legacy timber harvesting practices. FoGR’s successful 2021 litigation against the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board required the Gualala River’s Sedimentation issue to be amended to the Regional Basin Plan.

by Dylan Freebairn-Smith, Conservation Analyst One of the first projects that Dylan has tackled is analyzing the TMDL program for the Gualala. Summary

12/10/2024

by Laura Baker, Board Member

In 2021 FoGR learned of a chemical found in tire grit that pollutes stormwater and kills a number of different aquatic species. It is especially toxic to coho salmon— 40 parts per billion in a quart of stormwater kills juvenile coho. Information has been pouring out of the State of Washington where the effects of 6 PPD were first discovered as scientists race to learn more about how the compound kills and what can be done about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZsqLvX5ZoI

The compound is intentionally added to tires as a safety measure to reduce wear when the rubber is exposed to ozone. The bad news is that this compound is found in tires, playground rubber mats, and anywhere that tires are recycled and re-used.

by Laura Baker, Board Member In 2021 FoGR learned of a chemical found in tire grit that pollutes stormwater and kills a number of different aquatic species.

12/04/2024

Winter arrived November 20th with an atmospheric river that swept over the coast, bringing record rainfalls to the Mendonoma area. Overnight, the airborne river fell across our watershed, swelling the Gualala, sending huge logs hurtling down the chocolate-colored waters. . .

Read Friends of Gualala River's Annual Newsletter 2024:

Introduction to Friends of Gualala River's Annual Newsletter 2024 November 22nd, 2024. The mouth of the Gualala River opens while thousands of gulls ride out

11/23/2024

Gualala River mouth after atmospheric river pours down rain for 36 hours, Nov. 21, 2024, photo by Thomas Wolbarst, used with permission.

Gualala River mouth after atmospheric river pours down rain for 36 hours, Nov. 21, 2024, photo by Thomas Wolbarst, used with permission. Note: When the river

10/23/2024

https://youtu.be/7nBsz8reauU
Video by David Lichtman, October, 2024, used with permission

https://youtu.be/7nBsz8reauU Video by David Lichtman, October, 2024, used with permission

10/05/2024

Western Rivers Conservancy and the California Rangeland Trust successfully protected a critical stretch of the Wheatfield Fork Gualala River and a series of cold-water salmon and steelhead streams in Sonoma County, at the heart of wine country. The partners accomplished this by placing a conservation easement over the 4,440-acre Silva Ranch, an extraordinary California Coast Range property that contains a rare swath of old-growth redwoods.

Western Rivers Conservancy and the California Rangeland Trust successfully protected a critical stretch of the Wheatfield Fork Gualala River and a series of col

10/04/2024

Yellow-legged Frog in the Gualala River, photo by Amy Ruegg

"Down by the Gualala River near the Hot Spot, we enjoyed seeing a variety of small aquatic creatures like water beetles, tiny fish, and a foothill yellow-legged frog! It was just a small one in the water blending in perfectly with the rocks. No more than an inch or so long. - Amy Ruegg

Yellow-legged Frog in the Gualala River, photo by Amy Ruegg "Down by the Gualala River near the Hot Spot, we enjoyed seeing a variety of small aquatic creat

10/03/2024

The Copper Top timber harvest plan (THP 1-24-00103-MEN) was filed by Gualala Redwood Timber on July 17, 2024. The plan calls for logging redwood and Douglas fir trees in 163 acres adjacent to Old Stage Road, just north of the Gualala Arts Center.

Agency review team, chaired by CalFire, recommended plan approval on September 5, 2024. Public comment period ended on September 16. Director’s Decision (final approval) was published on September 19, 2024.

The Copper Top timber harvest plan (THP 1-24-00103-MEN) was filed by Gualala Redwood Timber (GRT) on July 17, 2024. The plan calls for logging redwood and Dougl

07/25/2024

Peter Baye wrote, “Here’s the underwater fish-eye perspective on the Wigeongrass canopy, reaching up like a vine growing through submerged dead tree branches – which these are, ma…

07/21/2024

The Copper Top timber harvest plan (THP 1-24-00103-MEN) was filed by Gualala Redwood Timber (GRT) on July 17, 2024. The plan calls for logging redwood and Dougl

07/01/2024

Gualala River Lagoon, June, 2024, photograph by Anthony Cuesta, reprinted with permission

"When the sandbar stops much of the river water from entering the Pacific Ocean, the mouth of the river floods beautifully into its natural floodplain. Anthony Cuesta photographed the Gualala River from Gualala Point Regional Park, showing Mill Bend.

Gualala River Lagoon, June, 2024, photograph by Anthony Cuesta, reprinted with permission "When the sandbar stops much of the river water from entering the

06/15/2024

June 9, 2024 by a Friend of the Gualala River

We walked the Wheatfield Fork of the Gualala River under the second twin bridge off Annapolis Road. What a beautiful and peaceful walk!

We couldn't photograph any birds as they were mostly in the canopy and quickly catching insects.

June 9, 2024 by a Friend of the Gualala River We walked the Wheatfield Fork of the Gualala River under the second twin bridge off Annapolis Road. What a beau