Noyo River
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The Noyo River is a river on the north coast of California in Mendocino County. The river's headwaters are in the steep Mendocino Range, but downstream the river flows through gently sloping marine terraces before draining into the Pacific Ocean. The 113 square mile-watershed extends east to the small city of Willits and the river's mouth is in Fort Bragg, which uses the river for drinking water. The average rainfall is between 40 and 65 inches per year.
The watershed has been logged for timber since the 1800s. Unfortunately, historical logging practices, particularly widespread clear-cutting, caused severe erosion, which lead to excessive sediment buildup in the river and its tributaries. In addition, large woody debris that trapped sediment was removed from the streambed to improve flows. In 1998, the river was listed as sediment impaired by the State of California North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board. The watershed is slowly improving, but it is far from full recovery.
Timber production continues to be the primary land use in the watershed. About half of the land is owned by Mendocino Redwood Company and Hawthorne Timber Company, which bought its land from Georgia Pacific in 1999. Jackson Demonstration State Forest, owned by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, makes up about one fifth of the watershed. The rest of the land is split into smaller parcels, such as ranches and private residences. Public land is largely limited to the state forest.
