Forum-Funded Restoration Projects

Since 2012, The Forum has helped support projects across California, from research, assessment, implementation and monitoring of fish passage improvement and habitat enhancement, collectively representing a significant investment in the recovery of anadromous fish populations statewide.

From 2012-2025, the California Fish Passage Forum has supported 53 projects across California, collectively representing a significant investment in the recovery of anadromous fish populations statewide. These projects include 36 projects removing one or more fish passage barriers, six habitat enhancement projects, four research and two monitoring projects, and two fish passage assessment projects. These have lead to 70+ barrier removals, opening 300 miles of habitat, and engaging 2,249 partner organizations.

Zoom in on the map below to populate project names.

Orange-lined points are active projects, black-lined points are projects which are complete.

Montague-Grenada Weir Retrofit & Barrier Removal

This project modified the Montague-Grenada Weir — a concrete flow measurement structure on the mainstem Shasta River in Siskiyou County that functioned as a near year-round fish passage barrier — by raising the low-flow sill to eliminate the hydraulic drop while…
Application of FISHPass in the Smith River

This project applied the FISHPass barrier prioritization tool to the Smith River watershed in Del Norte County, California — the largest undammed river in the state — to develop an optimized list of fish passage barrier removals for the benefit of…
Upper Noyo River Fish Passage Improvement and Sediment Reduction Project

This project replaced a failing, undersized 9-foot culvert on the Mendocino Railway (Skunk Train) line with a 50-foot span corrugated steel arch structure to restore fish passage and eliminate a total barrier to migrating salmonids on the upper Noyo River in…
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…
M1-Road Fish Passage Improvement Project

This project replaced an undersized, deteriorating corrugated metal culvert on the M-1 Road with a full-sized 96-inch diameter culvert to restore fish passage on No-Name Gulch, a tributary to Big River in Mendocino County, California. The old culvert was a partial…
Lamprey Passage Design for Priority Obstacles in the Sacramento Basin

This basin-wide research, prioritization, and design project improved tools and data for Pacific lamprey recovery across the Sacramento River system. Work included extending the state’s Pacific lamprey distribution GIS layer to include third-order streams in the Sacramento Basin, refining a standardized…
Lamprey Passage at Rowdy Creek

This project installed a dedicated lamprey passage tube at the hatchery diversion structure on Rowdy Creek — a tributary to the Smith River in Del Norte County — which had functioned as a complete barrier to Pacific lamprey at low flows.…
Iron Horse Vineyards Dam Removal Project

This project removed an obsolete flashboard dam on lower Green Valley Creek at the Iron Horse Vineyards property in Sonoma County — the second of two remnant dams identified as the primary fish passage barriers in the lower creek. Approximately 35…
Neefus Gulch Wood and Fish Passage at Appian Way

This project developed engineering plans for replacing a failing road crossing on Neefus Gulch — a tributary to the North Fork Navarro River in Mendocino County — with a stream simulation arch culvert, and for installing 14 large wood structures to…
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…
Davy Brown and Munch Creek Fish Passage Engineering Project

This project completed final engineering designs for the removal of three concrete low-water crossings on Davy Brown and Munch Creeks, tributaries to Manzana Creek within Los Padres National Forest in Santa Barbara County. One Munch Creek crossing will be removed and…
Cooper Mill Creek Fish Passage Improvement Project Designs

This project funded site characterization and engineering design work for two legacy fish passage barriers on lower Cooper Mill Creek, a tributary to Yager Creek within the Van Duzen River basin in Humboldt County — a boulder step-weir complex at the…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Sharber-Peckham Fish Passage Project

This project replaced a failing undersized corrugated metal pipe culvert on Galaxy Drive, which had blocked Sharber-Peckham Creek — a Trinity River tributary near Salyer in Trinity County — for at least 20 years. The barrier was replaced with a 12-by-14-foot…