Friends of the Noyo River strives to conserve and restore healthy biodiversity along the Noyo River, in Northern California’s coastal redwood forest.
Our Current Activities
Our Executive Director Joel Thompson monitors and observes flora and fauna daily, in the estuary along the Noyo River. Members of our special advisory group observe and record wildlife here on the Noyo River and in other parts of the community.
We are in the process of deploying several game cameras to monitor wildlife activities of threatened species. We’re also working to keep the area free from illegal dumping and squatting.
We’ve successfully petitioned the logging corporations who are active in the area to utilize better erosion control methods that will now prevent thousands of pounds of silt from entering the watershed this year.
Most notably — in the last two years, tree frog and cricket populations have declined along the Noyo River. These keystone species are vital in supplying food sources to salmon and other wildlife.
Drought, climate change, and unnecessary, destructive agriculture practices continue to threaten species extinction in Mendocino’s sensitive watersheds and wildlands. We will work to help reform harmful industry practices and restore healthy biodiversity on the Noyo River and in other parts of our community; it’s all connected.
Public Conservation Endorsements:
The Healthy Future Students and Earth Act
At 30 million meals a day, and seven billion meals each year, serving healthy and climate-friendly school lunch menus has the power to nourish our children while helping secure their future by fighting climate change.
The Healthy Future Students and Earth Act will establish a pilot program for schools to apply for grants for more plant-based entree and milk options. Whether for health, environmental, ethical or cultural reasons, students and their families are increasingly asking for more plant-based meals. But schools face barriers, including a lack of technical assistance, culinary training, and finances, since animal-based foods and cow’s milk are vastly more subsidized in school meals than plant-based options. Students who are already marginalized are disproportionately reliant on school meals as a primary source of nutrition, making culturally appropriate, plant-forward menus a crucial point of intervention to mitigate racial health disparities and fight hunger.
The Mendocino Trail Stewards
California owns some of the best carbon sequestering forest in the world, but it is presently being managed as commercial timberland. Protecting this land is a crucial step in slowing climate change. Join the Mendocino Trail Stewards in helping to create a 20,000 acre redwood forest reserve with the primary mandates of Climate Change Mitigation, Ecosystem Restoration, and Outdoor Recreation.
Two-Basin Solution Partnership
The Eel River is the third-largest watershed in California, traversing Trinity, Lake, Mendocino, and Humboldt Counties. It was once home to some of the West Coast’s most productive salmon and steelhead fisheries. Dam removal of Scott Dam and restoring fish passage to once prime spawning grounds will increase salmon populations and restore healthy biodiversity in the upper Eel River watershed.
We stand with Center for Biological Diversity in their campaign to end the extinction crisis:
Plan: Ending the Extinction Crisis
Create 500 new national parks, national wildlife refuges and national marine sanctuaries so that 30% of U.S. lands and waters are conserved by 2030 and 50% by 2050, and clarify that the primary mandate of federal public lands is to protect biological diversity, ensure clean water, provide recreational opportunities, increase climate resiliency, and sequester carbon dioxide.
Restore the full power of the Endangered Species Act and invest $20 billion to save the 1,800 endangered species in the United States, along with dedicating $10 billion to state fish and game agencies to ensure abundant population levels.
Crack down on all forms of air and water pollution, toxics and pesticides to protect sensitive species from the harms caused by the modern industrial world; require 100% recycling mandates for all plastics while moving away from plastic production