The Carmel River Steelhead Association used a helicopter to help establish steelhead habitats. A helicopter positioned logs and boulder to form pools near the river mouth. The work was made possible by a 350 thousand dollar grant from the California Coastal Conservancy. Steelhead are federally protected and at one time up to 24 thousand returned annually to the river. For the last decade returning steelhead have number less than 1 thousand.
