Thursday April 30, 2026
CalTrout —
The Elk River was once the heartbeat of Humboldt Bay. Salmon swam freely through its waters, the Wiyot people harvested and smoked fish along its banks, and the river’s estuary nourished a web of life that defined the region’s ecology and culture. For decades, diking and draining for agriculture and heavy logging for timber degraded the landscape and, today, continues to cause problems for landowners and native fish. Alongside our partners, CalTrout is working to revitalize this life-sustaining watershed.
We’re proud to share several major milestones in the Elk River Estuary restoration project, a 857-acre effort just south of Eureka to bring tidal marsh, salmon habitat, and estuarine function back to one of the North Coast’s most significant landscapes. We also just launched an interactive StoryMap that lets you explore the history, ecology, and restoration vision for the Elk River Estuary and Lower Valley firsthand.
An altered watershed
The Elk River is the largest freshwater tributary to Humboldt Bay and once supported abundant runs of coho and Chinook salmon, steelhead, and coastal cutthroat trout. Today, their populations have dwindled, highlighting how dramatically the watershed and its denizens have been impacted by human activities. Intensive logging has left the river choked with sediment, and CalTrout has been leading technical studies since 2014 to build a roadmap toward recovery.