If you want to river raft the Eel river you can. If you want to hike the ROW between Willits and Eureka it's unlikely anyone would stop you. If property owners objected to you being on the NCRA ROW you could climb down into the river basin. The high water mark is the boundary of the Eel river and it belongs to the people of the United States of America. What's ironic about the middle fork of the Eel river is that it's so inaccessible without a trail that its pristine. There is no plastic or garbage, junk or homeless people.Leaving it inaccessible does more to help the environment than developing it with all the problems and pollution people bring. The Russian River Between Hopland and Cloverdale looks terrible on the beaches were people swim in the summertime . They haul all of there goodies down to the beaches including glass bottles that get broken and leave it there. The fecal bacteria count gets so high in some spots they recommend you don't swim there. It is also Sonoma county's drinking water. I believe if you want to help the Eel river environment... continue doing nothing.