Logo of the California Fish Passage Forum

The Forum is a collaborative partnership formed to protect and revitalize anadromous fish populations in California by promoting collaboration among public and private sectors for fish passage improvement projects and programs.

Author: Holly Steindorf

  • Upper Green Valley Creek Fish Passage Project

    This project replaced a severely undersized, failing private road culvert on Upper Green Valley Creek — a Russian River tributary in Sonoma County — with a 15-foot bottomless arch culvert and a 157-foot step-pool roughened channel with boulder weirs for grade control. The culvert had blocked coho access under all flow conditions. The project opened…

  • Pennington Creek Steelhead Barrier Removal Project

    This project removed a 1920s-era concrete diversion weir and ineffective fish ladder on Pennington Creek at the Rancho El Chorro Outdoor School in San Luis Obispo County, replacing approximately 160 linear feet of channel with engineered step pools. A new fish screen was installed at the diversion intake with a minimum bypass flow protective of…

  • Benbow Dam Removal Project

    This project fully removed the Benbow Dam from the South Fork of the Eel River at Benbow Lake State Recreation Area, approximately two miles south of Garberville in Humboldt County. Originally built in the 1930s for power generation, the dam had become a safety hazard blocking upstream migration. Removal spanned two construction seasons (2016–2017) and…

  • Pacific Lamprey Passage Assessment Database (PAD) Project

    This statewide data and GIS infrastructure project developed standardized barrier assessment tools specifically for Pacific lamprey to complement existing salmonid-focused assessments in California’s Passage Assessment Database. Work included creating historical and current distribution GIS layers, defining lamprey-specific data fields, and developing a standard barrier assessment form. The project directly supports prioritization of barrier removal to…

  • Manly Gulch Coho Access and Habitat Restoration Project

    This project replaced a failing road-stream crossing on Camp Road in Manly Gulch — a tributary to the Little North Fork of the Big River flowing through Mendocino Woodlands State Park in Mendocino County — with a 30-foot span timber bridge and realigned approximately 600 feet of channel. Log steps, pools, boulder weirs, rootwads, and…

  • Juvenile Fish Passage Criteria Assessment Project

    This research project tested the leaping abilities of juvenile steelhead and coho salmon ranging from 40–130mm at the Warm Springs Fish Hatchery on Dry Creek in Sonoma County, using a flume with waterfall heights of 6, 12, and 18 inches. Four experiments examined waterfall height, fish size, species differences, and water temperature. Findings directly informed…

  • Central California Traction Railroad Bridge Fish Passage Improvement Project

    This project improved fish passage at the Central California Traction Railroad Crossing on the Stockton Diverting Canal, within the lower Calaveras River system near Stockton in San Joaquin County. A second flume, notches, and a downstream roughened rock ramp were installed to provide passage at flows between 30 and 1,000 cfs. The project opened approximately…

  • Memorial County Park Fish Passage Barriers Remediation Project

    This project removed two fish passage barriers from Pescadero Creek at Memorial County Park near Loma Mar in San Mateo County — a remnant dam and a concrete vehicle ford — replacing them with a restored natural creek bed and v-notched weirs with arched culverts allowing passage across a wider range of flows. The project…

  • Rafting Through the Former Iron Gate Reservoir with the California Fish Passage Forum

    On May 28th, the California Fish Passage Forum, partnering with Karuk Tribe, CalTrout, Yurok Tribal Fishieres Department, and Momentum River Expeditions rafted through the footprint of the Iron Gate Reservoir as part of our Steering Committee meeting, which occurs annual at locations throughout California. Twenty-eight river restoration professionals, including engineers, hydrologists, program managers, restoration practitioners,…

  • The Forum Hosts Hands-On Barrier Assessment Workshop at International Fish Passage Conference

    Davis, CA — The California Fish Passage Forum hosted a technical training workshop at the May 2026 International Fish Passage Conference at UC Davis, bringing together restoration practitioners, agency staff, and researchers for an intensive, hands-on introduction to fish passage barrier assessment. The workshop drew participants from across the region eager to build field skills…