Part 1 | Prairie Creek

Restoring Redwood Creek’s Largest Tributary: Prairie Creek

As the largest tributary to Redwood Creek, Prairie Creek’s importance is paramount — 98 percent of this sub-watershed is in public ownership — and its cold, pristine upper reaches remain some of the best salmon habitat left on the West Coast, alone supporting roughly 80 percent of the coho salmon spawning in the entire Redwood Creek watershed. One property of the remaining 2 percent that, until recently, was not under agency ownership was a lumber mill built in the late 1950s that had paved and graded 125 acres of historic floodplain. Highway 101 and Bald Hills Road constrained the creek’s flow under narrow bridges and legacy sediment from upstream logging had carved 6- to 10-foot banks that cut the creek off from the floodplain it once relied on to support young fish.

CalTrout began working to reverse that damage in 2014, partnering with Save the Redwoods League, the Yurok Tribe, NOAA Fisheries, and a wide coalition of state and federal agencies on the Prairie Creek Floodplain Restoration Project. Over more than a decade, the $33 million effort removed over 20 acres of asphalt and concrete, restored roughly a mile of creek channel and 50 acres of floodplain and upland habitat, carved new off-channel ponds and side channels for juvenile salmon and steelhead, and planted more than 420,000 native plants. Construction wrapped in November 2025 — and on August 1, 2026, the site reopened to the public as the ‘O Rew Redwoods Gateway, formally returning the 125-acre property to the Yurok Tribe for their stewardship of the site after generations. Since restoration completion, researchers have documented record coho salmon returns to the site — a hopeful finding for coho salmon populations that continue to face the threat of extinction.

“Watching fish thrive in Prairie Creek at ‘O Rew is testament to what can happen when we invest in restoration and work together toward a shared goal. We’re proud of the incredible collaboration that powered this project and grateful to every partner who helped restore this landscape. By stewarding rivers and forests, we are restoring ecological function, and we are rebuilding our relationship with the land and water that sustain us.”

Mary Burke, California Trout North Coast Regional Manager

“This project has meant so much more than the ecological wins, which are already extraordinary. Watching this public investment move through the local community — providing job opportunities, exciting scientific discoveries, and a sense of trust in collective action — I’ll always carry it with me. We built something together, and now it can be experienced by everyone.”

Ashley Shannon, CalTrout North Coast Project Manager

Restoring Prairie Creek is one of the most significant salmon recovery projects completed on California’s North Coast in years, but it’s only one piece of a watershed still working to heal. Near the mouth of Redwood Creek, decades-old flood control levees continue to cut off the estuary from critical floodplains and small tributaries. CalTrout and our partners are now developing plans to restore the natural processes that historic infrastructure disrupted.