This basin-wide research, prioritization, and design project improved tools and data for Pacific lamprey recovery across the Sacramento River system. Work included extending the state’s Pacific lamprey distribution GIS layer to include third-order streams in the Sacramento Basin, refining a standardized field barrier assessment form, using FishPass software to prioritize barriers, and developing passage modification designs for three high-priority sites. The Sacramento Basin has been severely impacted by impassable dams limiting lamprey to roughly half their historical range, and this project advances the integration of lamprey needs into California’s broader fish passage planning framework.
Location: Sacramento River Basin, California. The project area encompasses the Sacramento River and its tributaries across the Central Valley and surrounding mountain ranges, draining into San Francisco Bay. This is a basin-wide assessment and design effort covered multiple sub-watersheds.
Historical Fish Presence: Pacific lamprey (Entosphenus tridentatus) historically occurred throughout the Sacramento-San Joaquin River system. Current distribution of Pacific lamprey in California is approximately half of its historical range statewide, with barriers to migration representing a primary threat to the species. The Sacramento Basin has been particularly affected by large impassable dams and water infrastructure that block lamprey access to vast areas of historical spawning and rearing habitat. Multiple sub-watersheds in the Sacramento Basin are ranked as critically imperiled or imperiled for lamprey under the USFWS Pacific Lamprey Conservation Initiative assessment framework.
Project Lead: Western Fishes (Stewart Reid, Principal Investigator)
Project Partners: U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission; California Fish Passage Forum (Science and Data Committee)
CFPF Funding: $21,000.00
Project Description: This was a basin-wide research, prioritization, and design project with four objectives. First, the project assessed and refined a standardized “First Pass” lamprey passage evaluation form for field application. Second, it extended the existing fourth-order Pacific lamprey distribution GIS layer in the California BIOS system to include third-order streams in the Sacramento Basin, improving the resolution of known historical and current lamprey distribution data available to land managers. Third, it used FishPass software to systematically prioritize Sacramento Basin barriers for lamprey passage improvement. Fourth, based on the prioritization results, the project developed lamprey-specific passage modification designs for three high-priority barrier sites identified through the field surveys and stakeholder coordination process.
Expected Completion: December 2021
Project Effectiveness: The project built directly on prior statewide lamprey distribution and passage work by Reid and Goodman and represents a critical step toward incorporating lamprey needs into the broader fish passage planning framework in the Sacramento Basin.