Mission: is to restore the Eel River and all her tributaries to a natural state of abundance, wild and free.

Goals: immediate goal is to remove two antiquated dams that block hundreds of miles of prime spawning grounds. A river needs to stay in the watershed where it is birthed for that river system to remain healthy -Friends of the Eel River

The Eel River is California’s third largest watershed, third largest salmon producing river, and second largest steelhead producing river. This fishery was the first to fail on the north coast, before the Klamath and before the Sacramento. The Eel’s headwaters are dammed and diverted to the Russian River, taking more than half of this cold, clean water so necessary for a healthy fishery to mask the problems on the Russian. It’s dams are now a century old, block spawning and rearing habitat so necessary to this once vital fishery and hold back much needed gravels for a fully operative river system.

If we are to deal effectively with global warming, then we must correct and stop the abuse that has lead to this circumstance. This issue is in the north coasts’ back yard, in the counties of Marin, Sonoma, Lake, Mendocino, and Humboldt. Rivers and watersheds respond and heal when we humans stop destructive practices. Please help us heal the Eel by joining our efforts to remove two antiquated dams and close a water diversion tunnel owned by Pacific Gas and Electric company, PG&E, that supplies water to the Russian River via their Potter Valley Hydroelectric Project, PVP. The 9 mega watts of power this project produces for less then half the year is not cost effective and destructive to both fish and a once healthy watershed. This is truly an unsustainable water delivery system in the guise of a power plant.