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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

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Category: 2016

  • 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 included bank regrading and riparian revegetation. It was the second-largest dam removal in California history at the time, opening 100 miles of South Fork Eel River habitat to coho salmon, Chinook salmon, steelhead, and Pacific lamprey.

  • 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 aid Pacific lamprey restoration across California, where current distribution is estimated at roughly half the species’ historical range due largely to impassable dams and water infrastructure.

  • 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 a backwater alcove were installed to improve habitat. The project opened approximately 4,000 feet of upstream habitat for federally endangered coho salmon and threatened steelhead, species for which Manly Gulch is designated critical habitat.

  • 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 the 2019 NMFS Guidelines for Salmonid Passage at Stream Crossings, including an increase in the allowable maximum hydraulic drop for juvenile salmonids from 6 to 12 inches.

  • 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 13.4 miles of stream to fall-run Chinook salmon and Central Valley steelhead — a core recovery population in the Southern Sierra and San Joaquin watershed.