The scott river watershed was described as beaver valley by early settlers because of the extensive beaver population and their associated dams, ponds, and wetlands

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service awarded a $212,346.20 Cooperative Agreement grant under the Partners for Fish and Wildlife program (CFDA 15.631) to the Scott River Watershed Council, a non-profit organization in Etna, California. The project aims to restore up to 2 miles of coho salmon habitat within the Scott River watershed by using techniques such as installing beaver dam analogs and wood structures to re-establish natural stream processes and create slow water rearing habitat. The grant will also fund riparian habitat restoration through native tree planting and non-native weed removal. This project occurs in three priority subwatersheds of the Scott River and is expected to be completed by September 30, 2029. The grant is intended to address the loss of coho salmon rearing habitats due to past management activities that have channelized streams and disconnected them from their floodplains.

These ponds and wetlands provided high quality rearing habitat for coho salmon. However, past management activities including beaver depredation and purposeful removal of wood, have channelized streams and creeks, disconnecting them from their floodplains and reducing the amount of instream structures. This has resulted in a significant reduction of slow water coho salmon rearing habitats across the scott river watershed. This project will use techniques including beaver DAM analogs and wood structures to restore natural stream processes and create slow water coho salmon rearing habitat. Planting of native trees and removal of non-native weeds proximal to the beaver DAM analogs and wood structures will also restore riparian habitats. This project will occur in three priority subwatersheds of the scott river watershed and will restore up to two miles of coho salmon habitat.