Central Valley Project Improvement Act helps underwrite key habitat restoration
Crews construct habitat improvements on the lower American River
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - It’s fall on the lower American River, and that means more habitat restoration work to benefit fall-run Chinook salmon and steelhead trout is coming to fruition.
This year, the site is River Bend, just a few miles from the confluence of the American and Sacramento rivers. It’s a bucolic and peaceful environment; a place where bicyclists zoom by on the American River Bike Trail and pedestrians wander under the canopy of oaks and other native trees.
Just below the Harold Richey Memorial Bridge, crews are building habitat features that will improve the productivity of fall-run Chinook salmon and steelhead, two species that make the journey from the river to the Pacific Ocean and back again. The work, funded by the Central Valley Project Improvement Act and the Sacramento Water Forum, is a both a surgical and holistic approach to helping the fish reproduce and thrive.
The scope and scale of the work is impressive. Armed with expertly refined data and skilled acumen, River Bend is an exercise of creativity – a realization of a vision that recognizes the potential improvements that can occur, even in such a heavily altered environment such as the lower American River.
The approach is twofold: rehabilitate the riverbed with suitable gravel and enhance the riparian environment to restore its historic features. The gravel - 6,800 cubic yards of it – is precisely-sized for female salmon to create the nests, or “redds,” in which eggs are deposited. Once the juvenile fish emerge, they need protection. The project offers it in a variety of ways, with geographic elements that provide protection from strong currents and predators while boosting the available food supply.
Reclamation and a large cross-section of government agencies make projects such as River Bend work. Much of the heavy lifting is done by the Water Forum – the regional consortium of public and private partners all invested in balancing water supply and environmental needs. For more than 20 years, the Water Forum has been the architect of a chain of restoration sites from Nimbus Dam to River Bend, all of them designed to boost fish production.
River Bend is important because it is the first restoration site the fish encounter as they emerge from the downstream levied portions of the river. The broad, open expanse offers more optimal habitat conditions for fish and provides them with “the best chance of success,” said Erica Bishop, program manager for habitat and science with the Water Forum.
Each year, restoration sites support as much as 56% of all in-river spawning, accounting for inter-annual variability in hydrology and the number of returning adult salmon, according to Bishop.
Reclamation experts say the intensity and scope of the work is necessary because salmon and steelhead have been disconnected from their historic spawning and rearing habitat much higher in the watershed.
“We are taking an area that used to be very large and apply that same function in the lower portion of the watershed,” said Josh Israel, science division manager in Reclamation’s Bay-Delta Office. “We must focus on having projects that are frequent in site and frequent in placement in the lower American River.”
There is a proven record of success at River Bend. A 2013 project there reaped tangible rewards, with a bevy of salmon and steelhead nests evident long after the work was completed. High flood flows and natural river processes eventually eroded the progress, necessitating the return work. Floods, droughts and ensuring a smooth regulatory and funding process are among the challenges Bishop and others face in their pursuit of a more fish-friendly river corridor.
"We are realistic about the projects we build,” said Bishop. “This is a heavily altered system, and this part of the river is what we have to work with so we are trying to make these habitat areas as effective as we can. Due to the effects of hydraulic mining and dam building, these fish are now limited to as little as 10% of their historic habitat so it’s literally a very small basket that we’ve got these eggs in.”
Reclamation fish biologist John Hannon said the collaboration with the Water Forum has increased the success and visibility of the restoration work.
“The Water Forum unites everyone in the community and brings all of the stakeholders together to support these projects,” he said. “Without the partnership, we probably would not have been able to do half as much as what we've been able to accomplish.”
On a larger scale, River Bend represents the concerted effort that exists among a core group of professionals to enable Reclamation to fulfill its mission of balancing water supply management and fish protection in the Central Valley.
“We're not just doing these projects on the American River; we're doing them on other Central Valley Project streams and rivers on the upper Sacramento River and on the Stanislaus River to address a lot of the limiting factors that the water projects have caused and are stressing our anadromous fish populations - both steelhead and different Chinook salmon populations,” said Israel.
On a more immediate note is the promise River Bend offers of almost instantaneous engagement by the fish. “One of the exciting things about habitat restoration projects is we are often able to see the benefits right away,” said Israel. “Adult salmon are going to be returning, and they'll be spawning hopefully right here in these habitats, and we'll be able to see them right off the bridge.”
To view a gallery of images of the River Bend project, visit: Bureau of Reclamation | Flickr
