Smith River Collaborative project area. Map: Courtesy of the Del Norte County Community Development Department

A coalition of local, federal and tribal government officials and conservation groups will use National Fish and Wildlife Foundation dollars and forest service money for watershed work North Fork Smith River area.

This watershed restoration and protection project will be conducted on roughly 53 miles of roads and trails within the sub-basin, according to a Sept. 30, 2019 report from Del Norte County Community Development Director Heidi Kunstal.

The project will consist of decommissioning 27 miles of roads and trails to protect water quality, fish and wildlife, sensitive plants and their habitat, according to Kunstal’s report.

The project is spearheaded by the Smith River Collaborative and is being paid for through a $330,526 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, according to a press release from the Smith River Alliance.

The U.S. Forest Service has also directed $440,000 of “internal funds” to the project, according to District 4 Supervisor Gerry Hemmingsen, who was quoted in the Smith River Alliance’s Nov. 24 news release.

The Smith River Collaborative includes the Smith River Alliance, Del Norte County, the Six Rivers National Forest, Elk Valley Rancheria, the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation, the Del Norte Fire Safe Council, the American Forest Resource Council, the Klamath Forest Alliance/EPIC, the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildland Center and Friends of Del Norte.

On Friday, Kunstal told the Wild Rivers Outpost that the grant application to NFWF was initially filed by the U.S. Forest Service. Del Norte County would provide contribution funds by way of other projects it had spearheaded, Kunstal said, but Forest Service officials learned they would not be able to be the applicant.

“Obviously they wanted the project very badly, so they put it out to members of the Smith River Collaborative and the county ended up agreeing to take on the project,” she said. “Our role is going to be primarily administration of the grant, we aren’t going to be doing any work — maybe the agricultural department will remove invasive weeds — but that hasn’t been decided yet.”

Most of the project will occur within the North and Middle Fork drainages of the Smith River, according to the Smith River Alliance’s news release.

The proposed matching contributions were $255,197, according to the NFWF grant application.

According to Kunstal, the project will implement some of the actions recommended in a travel management plan the U.S. Forest Service had previously adopted. In addition to improving drainage for water quality and fish habitat, the project may also include protecting meadows in locations Forest Service officials don’t want people entering, she said.

In June, the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors agreed to be an applicant for the NFWF grant.

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