A River Worth Protecting: 115 Miles for the Russian
Part 2 of Billy & Will’s source to sea journey on the Russian River
Billy Uhlhorn-Thornton
Will Hubert
I’m a high school student from Marin County, and I grew up spending time on the Russian River. It’s a place I care about a lot — a place where I’ve made memories, but also a place where I’ve watched trash pile up and pollution increase. Every spring, I’ve seen junk accumulate along the riverbanks. And that inspired me to do something.
My friend Will and I decided to paddle the Russian River from its source at Lake Mendocino in Ukiah to its confluence with the Pacific Ocean in Jenner — a full 115-mile journey. Our hope is to share what we see and learn along the way to raise awareness and funding to improve the health of the watershed.
Like Billy, I’m a student — currently at Sonoma State University. Each morning on my way to class, I sip coffee and feel grateful for the water that brewed it. That water comes from reservoirs in Marin County and the Russian River. I’ve come to realize how present — and yet underappreciated — Russian River water is in our North Bay communities. Every time I fill my bottle at school, it’s Russian River water that greets me at the tap.
When Billy suggested a source to sea expedition to learn about and protect the Russian River, I immediately said yes. I said yes because I believe, like he does, that this river is worth knowing and protecting. I said yes because, despite having lived in Marin most of my life, I’m only just beginning to understand how connected I am to this river.
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Expedition Overview
Billy:
Our goal for the first section of our trip was to make it from Ukiah to Healdsburg, but things didn’t go as planned. The narrow river corridor between Ukiah and Hopland was choked full of Willow branches and often blocked by large driftwood piles. We portaged at least once every mile and set up our first night’s camp much earlier than expected. We started our second morning with a portage and made it just beyond Pieta Creek (about 30 miles from our put-in location) before taking out.
Our non-self-bailing inflatable kayaking (i.e., bucket boat) got submerged in Boneyard rapid around sunset and we barely saved it from wrapping around a boulder. To our surprise, a local kayaker appeared in our greatest moment of need and helped us portage our boat and gear before it got dark. Tired and cold, we hauled our gear uphill to a pullout on Highway 101, called for help, and awaited a ride form our back-up driver – thanks Brian!
On May 2nd and May 3rd, 2025, we are planning to finish the 20-mile section that we didn’t complete during our first attempt, from Boneyard rapid to Memorial Beach in Healdsburg. After this section is complete, we will compile videos, photos, and journal entries from our first 50 miles and share our story about the issues impacting the watershed. Before completing the final stretch from Healdsburg to Jenner later this year, we plan to organize a community paddle day and river clean up to help raise awareness and protect the watershed. Most importantly, we want to raise money to support local organizations that are already working to protect this special place.
The Russian River is important not just to me, but to everyone in the area. It provides water for local communities, supports wildlife, and helps sustain farms and businesses along its banks. When the river gets polluted or damaged, it affects all of us. By taking this trip, we hope to raise awareness and inspire people to take action to protect this vital resource for everyone.
Will:
Billy and I started this journey with a scouting mission to find the right put-in beach. We traversed Coyote Dam, saw Lake Mendocino, and gazed south toward unknown territory. We met an employee at the fish hatchery who let us throw food pellets to hatchery fish – they wiggled and flopped by the thousands. As we continued our scouting mission we traversed private property, state property, and federal property; we met fishermen and hikers. We drove through reservation land. We saw graffiti.
It became increasingly clear to me that we were standing on contested ground, native ground, sacred ground, political ground. I wondered: Who claims this river? PG&E? California’s Department of Fish & Wildlife? The federal Army Corps of Engineers? Private homeowners just downstream? Native people who have always stewarded this place? There are so many people here now, each with different priorities, all of them intersecting where water meets gravel. And that is precisely where we began our journey: at a gravel beach on the East Fork of the Russian River just above where it joins the main stem.
Billy and I laughed a lot on this adventure. However, our joyful moments were often interrupted by pain and frustration. During our countless portages we discovered that most of the riverbank from Ukiah to Hopland has been littered with junk. Cars from a bygone era have been smashed flat like pancakes and embedded into the mud – Ford, Cadillac, or Chevy? It’s hard to tell anymore. These steel pancakes are fortified in place by retaining walls made of rusted bridge cables, old railroad ties, and barbed wire. Mysterious metal arms reach out from all directions into the center of the river corridor like demon tentacles emerging from the underworld. It was hard work to stay vigilant in uncharted territory. We often wondered aloud together: who thought it would be a good idea to line the river with barbed wire, cars, railroad ties, and rusted cables? The junk we discovered didn’t match the beautiful oaks, alders, and songbirds that soared above us mile after mile. What a place! What a juxtaposition.
Why This River Matters
It is both tragic and wonderful how people can destroy an ecosystem and then go about sincerely attempting to put it back together. The Russian River watershed is one such place — an ecosystem both revered and desecrated. This place holds stories that live here the same way water does. Some stories glimmer and reveal themselves in broad daylight, while other stories live in underground aquifers where they remain purified, protected, and out of sight.
When I [Will] said yes to embarking on this adventure with Billy, I wondered: How does my story fit with this river — where is our confluence?
Fish and people have always shared a mutuality in survival. People and fish need clean water, such that healthy fish are a signal of a healthy watershed. I wonder how many people have forgotten this, and how many remember?
As it happens, Salmon and Steelhead are struggling — in Marin and Sonoma counties, and all along the Pacific Coast. For me, completing this 115-mile journey has been about discovering what I don’t know that I don’t know — and there is a lot I don’t know. For example, I didn’t know that the underground gravel-bed aquifer beneath the surface of the Russian River extends two hundred feet down and two hundred feet to either side, and that the river’s gravel-bed filters water, which is why we can drink so easily from the Russian River.
Call To Action
We are calling people together to share in our collective wish for the enduring health and survival of this river. So many of us make memories here. We play, splash, lounge, drink, eat, float, and fish. As Billy noted, we will be organizing a river clean-up to generate support for local organizations and to raise awareness about important issues impacting the watershed, and ways people can get involved. We want to see you there!
Follow our journey and learn more at https://riversforchange.org/2025-russian-river/
To support or get involved, email kami@riversforchange.org
