A collaborative effort to restore watershed processes and habitat in the Youngs Bay and Big Creek watersheds

Introducing Return of the Redds, an exciting new collaboration between the North Coast Watershed Association, local landowners, the forest products industry, nonprofits, state and federal agencies all united around a common goal: To revitalize the once abundant Big Creek and Youngs Bay watersheds and chum salmon populations.

Why Chum? Because chum are some of the hardest workers of the salmon family and their aggressive spawning behavior can actually help repair lower watershed health. Historically, they returned here by the thousands and, after creating their “redds” and spawning, their carcasses fed everything from eagles and bears to the very chinook, coho and trout that define our great community.

Our plan began in January 2021 and will continue into the future along two parallel tracks: One, restoring the habitat structure by adding large woody debris, increasing off-channel wetlands, protecting riparian areas and even removing invasive species and replanting native vegetation. And two, we’ll collaborate with private timber companies, land trusts and landowners to build healthy ecological processes into the future.

The map below illustrates the two project areas, Youngs Bay and Big Creek, which include the Big, Gnat, Little, and Bear Creeks and the Lewis and Clark, Skipanon, Youngs, Wallooskee, and Klaskanine Rivers.

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