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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

Home » Funded Projects » Habitat Enhancement

Category: Habitat Enhancement

  • Mid-Klamath Tributary Fish Passage Improvement Project

    This ongoing annual project deploys field crews equipped with hand tools to assess and manually treat seasonal low-flow barriers on 30 to 40 tributaries of the Klamath and Salmon Rivers in Siskiyou and Humboldt counties, opening access to approximately 40 miles of cold-water refugia and spawning habitat each summer and fall for Chinook salmon, coho salmon, and steelhead.

  • Lower Stotenburg Creek Fish Passage Project

    This project removed all fish passage barriers along the downstream-most 0.6 miles of Stotenburg Creek, a small tributary of the Smith River on the coastal plain of Del Norte County, by upgrading or removing four stream crossings and adding habitat complexity features. The work benefited threatened Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast coho salmon, Central Valley steelhead, coastal cutthroat trout, Chinook salmon, and Pacific lamprey by opening critical non-natal winter rearing habitat and reconnecting the creek to the mainstem Smith River.

  • Lawrence Creek Off-Channel Habitat Connection Project

    This project constructed five large wood and earthwork structures — including a Venturi jam, deflector jam, apex bar jam, inlet jam, and excavated alcove — on Lawrence Creek, a tributary to Yager Creek in the lower Van Duzen River watershed in Humboldt County, to restore hydrologic connectivity to off-channel habitats and increase low-velocity winter rearing refugia for ESA-listed coho salmon.

  • Seiad Creek Off-Channel Connection / Fish Passage Enhancement Project

    This project restored connectivity between Seiad Creek and three previously constructed off-channel ponds — Alexander, Stender, and Durazo — in Siskiyou County, California, a tributary system of the Klamath River. By removing sediment blockages and installing wood and rock structures to redirect flow, the project improved access to 19,000 square feet of critical off-channel rearing habitat for ESA-threatened Klamath River Coho salmon, Chinook salmon, and steelhead, where off-channel winter habitat is a documented limiting factor in salmonid recovery.

  • Mid Klamath Fish Passage Improvement Project

    This ongoing annual project deploys trained crews each summer to assess and manually treat fish passage barriers at the mouths of up to 72 priority tributaries to the Klamath, Salmon, and Lower Scott Rivers across Humboldt and Siskiyou Counties. Barriers including debris jams, boulder cascades, and perched alluvial deltas are modified using hand tools to create step-pool fishways, and brush bundles installed to enhance thermal refugia. The project benefits coho salmon, Chinook salmon, and steelhead, with over 80% of treated sites showing documented increases in salmonid presence post-treatment by 2022.

  • Salt River Ecosystem Restoration Project

    This large-scale cooperative project addressed sediment aggradation, fish passage, flooding, and drainage throughout the Salt River, a tidally influenced tributary to the Eel River Estuary near Ferndale in Humboldt County. Work included river channel restoration, estuary restoration at Riverside Ranch through levee and tidegate removal, upslope sediment reduction, and flood relief. The project benefits coho salmon, Chinook salmon, steelhead, Pacific lamprey, and tidewater goby — all ESA-listed species — and ten years of surveys have confirmed active fish use of the restored channel.

  • Grape Creek Streamflow Restoration — Water and Wine Program

    This project addressed critically low dry-season flows in Grape Creek, a tributary to Dry Creek in the Russian River watershed of Sonoma County, by working with vineyard landowners to install off-stream ponds fed by groundwater and winter rainfall. This eliminated in-stream diversions that had historically reduced flows during salmon and steelhead migration periods. Additional work included fish passage barrier removal and streambank restoration, benefiting federally endangered Central California Coast coho salmon and federally threatened CCC steelhead.