Big River (California)

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Coordinates: 39°18′8″N 123°47′41″W / 39.30222, -123.79472

Big River
river
The Big River, from the Big River Unit of Mendocino Headlands State Park.
Country	United States
State	California
Region	Mendocino County


Source	Impassable Rocks
- location	7 mi (11 km) south of Willits, California
- coordinates	39°19′3″N 123°22′23″W / 39.3175, -123.37306 ^[1]
Mouth	Pacific Ocean
- location	Mendocino, California
- elevation	0 ft (0 m)
- coordinates	39°18′8″N 123°47′41″W / 39.30222, -123.79472 ^[1]

Basin	181 sq mi (469 km²)

The Big River is a river in Mendocino County, California, draining an area of about 181 square miles (469 km²). The Big River watershed borders the watersheds of the Noyo River to the north, the Eel River to the east, and the Little River, Albion River, and Navarro River to the south.

Part of an old bridge on Big River

The river's headwaters are thirty miles inland from the Pacific Ocean in the Mendocino Range, part of the California Coast Range. The headwater area of the river is fed by Montgomery Creek as it flows through the upland riparian habitat and virgin redwoods of Montgomery Woods State Reserve. From there, the river flows roughly west through Jackson State Demonstration Forest. The lower portions of the river pass through Mendocino Woodlands State Park and the Big River Unit of Mendocino Headlands State Park before reaching the mouth of the river at the Pacific Ocean just south of the town of Mendocino.

The Big River is fed by precipitation, 90 percent of which falls between October and April, and which averages 40 inches per year at Fort Bragg near the coast and 51 inches at Willits inland. Winter weather is characterized by low intensity rain. The summer are dry and cool, with coastal fog.

The Big River has an estuary at its mouth that provide habitat for a wide variety of organisms. Salt water from the ocean reaches 8.3 miles (13.4 km) upstream in the summer and 3 miles (5 km) in the winter, when flows are larger. The mouth, which closes in the summer on some rivers, stays open all year.

Timber production is the primary land use in the area. Jackson State Demonstration Forest forms roughly a third of the area in the watershed, and land owned by the lumber companies Mendocino Redwood Company, Pioneer Resources, Hawthorne Timber Company and Weger Holdings make up most of the rest. As with most watersheds on the northern coast of California, the most significant ecological problem in the area is increased erosion caused by logging, leading to excessive sedimentation in the river and its tributaries.