California Invests $15 Million On Salmon, Trout Habitat Resiliency

California is investing $15 million to offset climate change threats to salmon and steelhead trout in river and stream habitats through projects that improve watersheds such as adding wood and plants.

In December, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries determined after a five-year review of recovery efforts that four salmon and steelhead species of fish in northern California and southern Oregon should continue to be designated as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

“Habitat restoration carried out by numerous partners has addressed major factors limiting all four species and helped prevent local extinction,” a NOAA Fisheries statement noted Dec. 11. “Many challenges still stand in the path of species recovery. All four species suffer from historical habitat loss and degradation and the effects of climate change—drought, warming water temperatures, and increasing frequency and intensity of wildfire.”

“As climate-driven disruptions to California’s ecosystems continue to evolve, so must our efforts to support the critical work our partners are doing to restore and protect habitat throughout our rivers and streams,” Charlton Bonham, director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, stated in a Jan. 21 announcement about the grant awards.

The largest of the 15 grants ($3.88 million) was awarded to the nonprofit Salmon River Restoration Council in Sawyers Bar, Calif. The Siskiyou County habitat enhancement project includes lowering a floodplain, increasing river connectivity for salmon and adding plants to increase shade.

The nonprofit Trout Unlimited, founded in Michigan in 1959, received the next highest project grant of $1.66 million to install strategically placed wood in the form of eight large wood jams and 142 log jams within 3.5 miles of South Fork Usal Creek. The end result would be a more complex habitat where water can pool with greater depths and provide better living conditions for fish. The project also will add 730 pieces of large wood to the creek “where it will have meaningful impacts on channel morphology, and allow processes to improve habitat conditions in the watershed,” according to the grant proposal.

This grant was among four winning proposals awarded by the CDFW to Trout Unlimited for its projects in Mendicino County. Trout Unlimited won a $1.28 million grant for a project to install 53 large wood structures (made from 227 logs) and improve culverts in an Albion River instream project. Trout Unlimited also was awarded $1.45 million for a Soda Creek fish passage and habitat enhancement project that involves replacing an aged culvert that partially blocks movements of Coho Salmon and Steelhead Trout and restoring a section of channel.

In Ventura County, the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy was awarded an $846,598 grant to remove two acres of a nonnative

a highly flammable, invasive giant reed that grows fast and thick. “Due to its height, giant reed can carry fire to nearby trees and buildings. Fire does not kill this plant; Arundo simply resprouts from the roots after a burn,” says the Santa Clara Valley Water District. “The dense [Arundo] stands outcompete native plants, consume copious amounts of water, clog up creeks, and disrupt fish, insect, amphibian, and bird populations.”

The Ojai Valley project will also remove 30 invasive plants and restore nearly three acres of riparian habitat by planting 300 native plants and seeding native grasses.

“Supporting these restoration efforts is a necessary and critical step forward to improving native fish health and resiliency,” Bonham noted.” With these funds, we are enhancing the incredible resilience of these species for more sustainable populations over time.”

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