Wildcat Creek Fish Passage & Community Engagment Project (Phase 1) 

Project Lead: The Watershed Project

Location of Project: 37.96103, -122.3596

Description of Project:

The primary goal of the overall project is to replace a failed fish passage facility constructed in the mid-1990s by the Army Corps of Engineers, the most downstream of the three significant barriers to Central California Coast Steelhead migration in Lower Wildcat Creek. The project will result in the restoration of 1.125 stream miles and 13 acres of habitat helping to reconnect the headwaters of Wildcat Creek with San Francisco Bay, and provide additional spawning and rearing habitat for steelhead and other anadromous fish, and potentially restoring steelhead in the creek. This project will develop final design drawings for the fish passage facility replacement and obtain the permits necessary to reevaluate the Corps/NHC design to enable the project to move forward. The California Department of Water Resources supports the project and has committed the remaining funding needed for 100% designs.

The project site is in a disadvantaged community that is currently involved in a stream trail enhancement effort and near an elementary school that could benefit from a nearby restoration effort. Community outreach and education is a critical element in the success of this project, and includes outreach to increase awareness of creek ecology and fish passage restoration. Outreach deliverables will include K-12 educational programing, development of a children’s book, community facing web page, and presentations at community meetings.  

​Project partners include Contra Costa Flood Control and Water Conservation District, Trout Unlimited, FlowWest Consultants, and Wildcat-San Pablo Creeks Watershed Council.