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Restoration: Stream Clearance in Ten Mile River

Stream clearance was one of the first phases of "restoration" on coastal rivers in Mendocino County beginning in the late 1950s. The idea was to re-establish fish passage around large wood jams that formed after  logging activities. Holman and Evans (1964) documented large wood removal on the Noyo River and stated that a secondary purpose of the activity was to allow sediment to flush from upstream of log jams where good spawning gravels were buried under fine sediment. 

Large wood removal in the Ten Mile River Basin is documented by memos from 1982-1984.  These documents are available in the KRIS Bibliography and were used by Hawthorne Timber Company staff to produce a map and some summary tables documenting the known extent of wood removal activities in the Ten Mile River Basin.  These tables identify reach lengths, locations, number of log jams, and jams removed for streams of the South Fork, Middle (Clark) Fork, and Mainstem Ten Mile River.

	This map image shows in pink the reaches of the Ten Mile River basin where wood removal activities were conducted by CDFG in 1982-1984 according to work reports. The reports describe stream reach start and endings and provided township and range.  The North Fork Subbasin was evidently spared from wood removal during this period. Map created by Hawthorne Timber Company and available in KRIS Maps.
	This chart shows the number of log jams removed from streams in three areas of the Ten Mile River basin by CDFG in 1982.  In the South Fork Ten Mile River sub-basin, 356 log jams were removed over 45 total miles of stream. Wood removal activities in the Middle Fork and Mainstem areas were not as extensive, but also involved the removal of approximately 6-8 log jams per stream mile.

References

California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG). 1982. Fish habitat improvement completion form for Bear Haven Creek (Ten Mile River tributary). No author.  CDFG unpublished file memo. Yountville, CA. 2 pp.

California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG). 1983a. Booth Gulch (Middle Fork Ten Mile River tributary) stream survey, 14 June 1983. CDFG unpublished file memo from M. Kidd to A. Grass. Yountville, CA. 3 pp.

California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG). 1983b. Cavanough Gulch (North Fork Ten Mile River tributary) stream survey, 11 June 1983. CDFG unpublished file memo from M. Kidd to A. Grass. Yountville, CA. 3 pp.

California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG). 1983c. Little North Fork Ten Mile River (Ten Mile River tributary) fish habitat improvement completion form. CDFG unpublished file memo. Yountville, CA. 3 pp.

California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG). 1983d. O'Connor Gulch (North Fork Ten Mile River tributary) stream survey, 15 June 1983. CDFG unpublished file memo from M. Kidd to A. Grass. Yountville, CA. 1 p.

California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG). 1983e. South Fork Bear Haven Creek (Bear Haven Creek tributary) field notes, 4 July 1983. CDFG unpublished file memo, by A. Grass. Yountville, CA. 1 p.

California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG). 1983f. Virgin Creek (Pacific Ocean tributary) field notes, 02 June 1983. CDFG unpublished file memo, by M. Kidd. Yountville, CA. 1 p.

California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG). 1984. Fish habitat improvement completion form for South Fork Ten Mile River. No author.  CDFG unpublished file memo. Yountville, CA. 2 pp.

Holman, G. and W. Evans. 1964. Noyo River Stream Clearance Projects. California Department of Fish and Game. 12 p.