Uploaded October 2017 | Updated September 2026, 4 hours ago
This poet once logged old-growth redwoods and is now a contractor doing redwood forest restoration. This was filmed in October 2017, at the Holter Ridge restoration site at Redwood National Park.
This poet once logged old-growth redwoods and is now a contractor doing redwood forest restoration. This was filmed in October 2017, at the Holter Ridge restoration site at Redwood National Park.
![Find Your Peaceful Redwoods: Walking Along Prairie Creek
Episode 5:
Take a couple of virtual minutes to get your feet slightly wet as a ranger walks along the banks of Prairie Creek. This is ancestral Yurok lands.
[Video description: a uniformed national park ranger walks along a cobbled creek. Redwoods, maples, fir and other trees line both sides of the creek. The ranger steps over logs and under branches. The creek is about 20 feet wide and is fairly shallow and calm]. Find Your Peaceful Redwoods: Walking Along Prairie Creek](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/98oDnHWvNLU/mqdefault.jpg)



![What Good is a Redwood?
Join Ranger Greg to discover some of the unexpected, but important things redwood forests do for us all.
[Note: In 2016 - a year after this video was produced - new research showed that an acre of old-growth redwoods can hold 1,000 metric tons of carbon. This is almost four times the previously reported data that was used in this video] What Good is a Redwood?](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/B2FemnzAHuk/mqdefault.jpg)




![Coho Salmon at Prairie Creek, 1.13.2014
Park geologist Vicki captured this scene on January 13, 2014 while working not far from the Prairie Creek Visitor Center: A female coho was building a redd [a nest or spawning area]. We could see her turn sideways to excavate the gravels and build a nest for her eggs. A male coho was defending his spot on the redd and was chasing all other male challengers away. In between the skirmishes, the successful male would spawn with the female and the challenger would move downstream and rest on the gravels with his back out of the water. The sides of the males are colored a vibrant red and are hard to miss...The flow in Prairie Creek is extremely low for this time of year and it is not much higher than summer baseflow. This affords an opportunity to observe the fish since the water is clear. Typically when the fish are spawning during the winter the flows are higher and the water muddier. This will be a great opportunity for people to see fish spawning.
Take Ranger Vickis advice and head out to Prairie Creek Redwood State Park to see for yourself. For more info, give us a call at 707-465-7335 or stop by the Prairie Creek Visitor Center for updates on the latest sightings. Coho Salmon at Prairie Creek, 1.13.2014](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/F74RGsVlkNg/mqdefault.jpg)
