2020 Projects
Pacific Lamprey | Sacramento County

Lamprey Passage Design for Priority Obstacles in the Sacramento Basin (Phase 2)

Project Leads: Western Fishes & US Fish & Wildlife Service​

Location of Project: 39.7004 N  121.94237 W – Sacramento Valley below impassable dams​

Description of Project:  Obstructed passage is the primary threat to anadromous Pacific Lamprey in California, as determined by the Pacific Lamprey Conservation Initiative (PLCI) threat assessment and regional implementation plans. Recent projects supported by the California Fish Passage Forum have included: ​

    1. Revision of the First Pass Barrier Assessment to include Pacific Lamprey needs
    2. Development of Historical and Current Distribution GIS layer for the CDFW Biogeographic Information and Observation System (BIOS)
    3. Development of and recommendations for Pacific Lamprey – specific fields in the Passage Assessment Database (PAD).

​The proposed lamprey passage design project builds on these recent products, strategically applying them as management tools for barrier assessment and optimization of remediation strategies for Pacific Lamprey, using 3rd order and higher streams in the Sacramento Basin (upstream of Delta & below large impassable dams) as a test case. This project will result in five passage project conceptual designs for top priority barriers and will pave the way to help reconnect Pacific Lamprey with their historical habitats in California.