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Jim moved to Crescent City when he has in highschool. He fished commercially for years until he could no longer make a living because of closed seasons due to perceived depletion of species numbers. He knew the area well and had listened to the stories the oldtimers told of days of abundance in the ocean, in the estuary water, and in the creeks meandering to the sea. He saw for himself the anadromous fish making their way to up-creek spawning grounds and had pursued them in ocean waters. In 1977 Jim Schlotter was looking to buy a piece of property with a creek on it. What he found was acreage described best with the adjective "bleak". Somewhere under tons of logging debris lay a stretch of Yonkers Creek. Yonkers Creek is the second largest tributary into Lake Earl, Jordan Creek being the largest. When he looked out over acres of hard-pan Jim described to me as "an airstrip" he saw instead what it once had been; huge old growth redwood trees and lush greenery banking a creek teeming with life. He bought it and began the project of a lifetime. |
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I stood on this property yesterday, and sure enough the trees were back and the creek had fishes rising in it. The result of nearly three decades of a man's life work was breathtaking and humbling. The sun sparkled off the ripples of Yonkers Creek and it gurgled contentedly. Only eons of time could bring back the huge redwoods, but second-generation growth was abundant and joined by alders, willows and ferns. The land had regenerated with a lot of help. When Jim purchased this wasteland it had been logged completely. The logging company had pushed all the topsoil and underlying dirt into the creek. The creek was buried and the remaining area was a moonscape. Fish and Game declared the creek "dead" and offered no help, money, or equipment. The Forest Service was no help either. Jim Schlotter knew different. He had seen that cutthroat and steelhead were still coming into the upper reaches. Even after seeing his pictures, Fish and Game remained unconvinced. He knew that the fish were just waiting to return in numbers and the creek was still alive and kicking under the tons of rubble. The first order of business was to unearth the creek and then to repair the drainage. Jim went out and bought a backhoe. Eventually this led to starting a backhoe/dumptruck business. The plan was to take the material out of the creek, allow it to flush out, and then replace enough debris to create natural protection, feeding, and breeding areas for the wildlife. As water flows through a creek, it regains the ability to repair and reform itself. The digging of the redds by the fish also contributes to the evolution of the creek. In the process of creating a place to deposit their eggs, the fish turn over the gravel. Varying species of salmonids prefer specific sizes of gravel for this purpose. Cutthroat look for gravel up to 1" to 1 1/2" in size, while salmon and Steelhead move larger rocks. Their preference diversity results in greater areas of involvement. The current in the stream also contributes to movement of the rocks. When these rocks are not moved, silt fuses together with iron and becomes like concrete. With time the creek wears away this "mortar", but it is a painstaking process dependent on changes in rainfall.
For 23 years Jim brought in topsoil and dirt by the truckload from his jobs and built the land back up. Meanwhile, nature was also working her magic. Alders and willows responded to the creeks emergence. Wildlife reappeared as well, including some not-so-welcome visitors. Jim found that he was doing battle with a family of about 8 beavers. They were as large as 35 to 40 pounds and were determined to create their own lake from the willow regrowth. Jim broke down their dams and discouraged them as best he could. As the trees grew and created shade, the willows disappeared from lack of sunlight and eventually the beavers headed for more friendly ground.
Jim's involvement with fish has taken a "meandering" course as well, but he never lost his close ties to the fish community. In the 1980's he became involved in fledgling salmon restoration projects. This led to an offer to become a Commissioner on the Fish and Game Creek Advisory Board. This is a position that he still holds, working with the Board of Supervisors to make recommendations on projects and where they might best invest moneys collected from fines. In order to do any altering of a creek a homeowner must obtain an Alteration Permit from the Department of Fish and Game so this was another agency contact. Jim also became involved with programs run by Rural Human Services. In the 1990's Dan Burgess became the Coastal Stream Watershed Coordinator for them. In the years to come Dan and Jim worked closely with each other to revitalize Yonkers Creek. Dan was quick to realize that Jim's hands-on knowledge was invaluable. As a result, Jim is now in the process of liquidating his backhoe business and going to work for Dan as a Fish Habitat Technologist. His career continues to follow the fish. Unlike 1977, when Jim had no funds available to him for his reclamation project, there are more funding programs for landowners and conservation areas today. In fact, their agency is madly getting together proposals for projects that need to be implemented. I was even more appreciative of Jim's giving me some of his time in light of these deadlines.
The rejuvenated creek has brought the fish back. Every year Jim is seeing more fish returning to spawn. The creek and a couple of ponds that Jim has created have brought the predators back too. Racoons, otters, Merganser ducks, to name a few, have come back to feast. Returning from a trip, Jim found one of his ponds had been emptied of all the koi he had painstakingly raised from fingerlings. He seems to take it in stride. Life radiates from the creek like rings from a rising fish. It's vitality impacts in ever widening directions. Jim bought a piece of property adjacent to his own that had also been decimated by loggers. Once again he began the restoration process on another stretch of creek. He has since sold this to another steward. As a fishing guide, this person also has an innate love of the habitat. As we walked the creek, followed by Jim's Muscovy duck Eddy, Jim pointed out the new wood duck boxes he has installed on his property. The population has outgrown it's present nesting sites and the boxes are being occupied as soon has they are hung. The shimmering color of the water is reflected in the colors of their bodies soaring overhead. Their cries blend with the gurgling of the creek as it flows over one of the newly added digger logs. The dream is reality.
Previous Articles in the Environmental Stewardship Series:
Columnist Joan Carter co-owns, with her husband, Dan Carter's Guide Service. |
Jim could tell by the rock where to follow the old streambed. Moving the material out of the creek and back unto the land while replicating the natural flow pattern was a slow process. Jim explained to me the necessity of the "meander" in a creek. When a creek bed forms naturally, the water is deflected off rocks, stumps, logs and tree roots and cuts a snake-like pattern through the earth. Straightening out this pattern causes the water to flow too fast and too hard. Too much energy results in scouring of the bed, makes it difficult for the fish to proceed upstream, and obliterates nesting/rearing areas. Culverts create just such a situation, and part of creek/stream restoration involves replacing culverts and other man-made restrictions with railroad bridges. This spreads the water energy and reduces the flow.
Once the creek bed was uncovered and it had begun to clear itself, the process of recreating the "meander" began. Jim had made some of the classic mistakes in his restoration. Jim needed to view the creek from the fish's viewpoint. Debris might not be esthetically pleasing, but it is vital to the fish's life cycle. Stumps, logs and rocks provide habitat. Like humans, fish need food, shelter, and protection to survive. Cover provides protection from predators, a source of food, temperature regulation, oxygenation, and much more. As a secondary benefit the debris changes the flow of the creek. There are some formulas that can predict the resulting changes in flow from the introduction of an obstacle, but the process is more trial-and-error than science. The addition of a digger log, a rock, or a stump impacts at its source as well as downstream. A stump might trigger a direction or speed/flow change 30 feet below it as well as creating the formation of a cut-bank in its immediate vicinity. In a couple if instances Jim ended up cutting a notch in a log he had buried across the creek to alter flow. Places where he had introduced gravel or buried logs had to be altered because he did not have enough rainfall to settle the materials. Logs that would have been backfilled had to be reinforced with another log to avoid undermining. Rainfall becomes another variable in the equation.
Now Dan uses Jim as his "posterboy" for other property owners with creeks. Together they can advise them on how to revitalize their section, optimize the habitat, and bring the fish back. All the trial-and-error experience can be passed on to others, and information provided on any funding that might be available to assist them. Jim's section of the creek has become a demonstration area for events such as the Aleutian Goose Festival and for tour groups.
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