In the late 1970's, residents of the Mattole Valley noticed a precipitous decline in the numbers of returning salmon. Investigation led to the discovery that the salmon spawning habitat was being impacted by sediment.

In 1978, residents within the Mattole River basin began proactive restoration efforts aimed at increasing salmon numbers. It quickly became apparent, however, that salmon do not live just in streams, they live in watersheds. In order to save the native salmon runs, residents began to consider how to care for the whole system. This led to the formation of the Mattole Watershed Salmon Support Group (MWSSG) in 1980.

The Mattole Restoration Council was born in 1983 at the base of the Council Madrone near Ettersburg, of which MWSSG was a member group. It's original intention was to provide community support for restoration of the Mattole River watershed. Mattole Watershed Salmon Support Group evolved into the Mattole Salmon Group, which works directly with salmon and streams, while the Mattole Restoration Council assumed the work of public outreach and upslope restoration.

Since its inception, the Mattole Restoration Council (MRC) has been at the forefront of community based watershed restoration. The activities of the MRC have been featured in numerous articles, books, and videos on ecological restoration, both locally and internationally. The story of the Mattole restoration movement is known as the first community-based restoration effort in the state of California.

Today, the Mattole Restoration Council is actively working on roads restoration, reforestation, public outreach, ecological education in the local public schools, water conservation, and hazardous fuels reduction. The Council's work is persistantly working towards our vision, "a time when restoration is no longer needed."

If you would like to read more about this history of the Mattole Restoration Council, please read this interesting article:

What We Have in Common is the Salmon