This project will design and permit repairs to a failed weir at the site of the original 2009 Dutch Bill Creek Barrier Elimination Project near Camp Meeker, restoring fish passage for endangered coho salmon and threatened steelhead trout to upstream spawning and rearing habitat in this Russian River tributary in Sonoma County.
Location: Dutch Bill Creek at the former Market Street/Camp Meeker barrier elimination site, on a parcel owned by St. Dorothy’s Rest adjacent to Camp Meeker Recreation and Park District’s Anderson Hall, in unincorporated west Sonoma County near Occidental and Camp Meeker. Dutch Bill Creek is an 8-mile tributary of the lower Russian River, flowing from headwaters near Occidental to its confluence with the Russian River at Monte Rio.
Historical Fish Presence: Endangered Central California Coast coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and threatened CCC steelhead trout (O. mykiss). Dutch Bill Creek is one of only a handful of Russian River tributaries where wild juvenile coho persist in every year, and NMFS and CDFW have identified it as a high-priority watershed for coho recovery.
Project Lead: Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District (RCD)
Project Partners: Streamline Engineering (design), PCI Inc. (permitting and constructability review), Trout Unlimited (streamflow monitoring), Coast Range Watershed Institute (flow modeling and analysis), St. Dorothy’s Rest (site landowner), Camp Meeker Recreation and Park District (neighboring landowner and community partner), and the California Wildlife Conservation Board (in-kind match funder).
CFPF Funding: $77,733 funded, matched by $95,650 in already-secured WCB funding, fully funding this design and permitting phase.
Project Description: Gold Ridge RCD’s 2009 Dutch Bill Creek Barrier Elimination Project installed six rock weirs to replace an 8-foot vertical jump barrier at this site, but the lowermost weir was built hastily with undersized material ahead of a rain event and later failed, leaving a 1.2-foot jump that recreates a barrier for migrating coho and steelhead, especially juveniles (PAD ID #712087). This award funds the project’s first phase: a topographic survey and updated engineered design for the weir repair, informed by streamflow and flow-analysis data, along with preparation of permit applications (CEQA, Sonoma County, Regional Water Quality Control Board, CDFW, US Army Corps of Engineers, and federal consultations) and two community outreach events at this highly visible site near Camp Meeker’s post office and pedestrian bridge. Repairing the weir would reopen roughly 0.21 miles of coho and 1.74 miles of steelhead spawning and rearing habitat, with up to 3.4 miles potentially accessible further upstream, including reaches known to stay wet and cold even during drought years.
Expected Completion: Design and permit application work is expected to be completed by 2027. A separate second phase will pursue construction funding.
Project Effectiveness: A future implementation phase will include a detailed monitoring plan assessing fish presence, and covering geomorphic and channel stability and revegetation status.
