In an historic opportunity, Western Rivers Conservancy is partnering with the Yurok Tribe to conserve the watershed of Blue Creek, a vital tributary to the lower Klamath River on the Redwood Coast of California. At the same time, the project will help re-create a homeland for the Yurok, California’s largest Native American tribe, and help advance the restoration of the Klamath River as one of the world’s great salmon rivers.

Once the second biggest producer of salmon on the West Coast, the Klamath River’s great salmon runs have been reduced by hydropower dams and irrigation projects. When the Klamath River is stressed by low flows and high temperatures, Blue Creek is the first refuge encountered by salmon migrating from the Pacific Ocean. In fact, scientists predict Blue Creek will remain colder longer in the face of climate change. Blue Creek provides high-quality spawning habitat for chinook and coho salmon and steelhead. The Blue Creek watershed also provides essential wildlife habitat for marbled murrelet, Northern spotted owl, deer, elk and bear.

Western Rivers Conservancy and Yurok Tribe have established an agreement to work together to buy 47,000 acres along the lower Klamath and Blue Creek from Green Diamond Resource Company. The land includes the entire lower watershed of Blue Creek below the Six Rivers National Forest, as well as extensive frontage along the lower Klamath. The Tribe will conserve 20,000 acres of the Blue Creek watershed as a Yurok Tribal Preserve, protect cultural sites, develop heritage-based ecotourism and manage 27,000 additional acres for sustainable forestry.

This project presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to simultaneously restore the once-great salmon runs of the Klamath River, protect habitat in one of the most biologically rich areas on Earth, and re-establish a homeland and economic base for the Yurok Tribe.

Critical support for the Blue Creek Salmon Sanctuary - Yurok Tribal Park Project has been provided by the Compton Foundation, the Foundation for Sustainability and Innovation, Lawrence Foundation, G. and E. Mead Foundation and Weeden Foundation.