News Release Archive

The American Society of Civil Engineers Honors Reclamation with the 2012 Small Project Award

Media Contact: Pete Lucero, MP Region Public Affairs Officer, 916-978-5100, plucero@usbr.gov

For Release: February 25, 2013

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Bureau of Reclamation’s Mid-Pacific Region was honored Feb. 20 at the 2012 Project Awards Banquet held in Sacramento by the American Society of Civil Engineers, Sacramento Section. Reclamation received the Small Project of the Year Award  for the development of the Coleman National Fish Hatchery Barrier Weir Site and Viewing Platform Project located on Battle Creek about 9 miles southeast of Anderson, Calif.
 
As the project manager and funding agency, Reclamation contracted with Contractor Services Group, Inc. to construct the project which provides visitors to the hatchery with a bird’s eye view of returning salmon as they enter the hatchery’s fish ladder for spawning. The project consists of an elevated viewing platform that cantilevers over the water and a fish ladder. With the project’s completion, hundreds of school children experienced the “bird’s eye” view of spawning salmon migrating up the fish ladder during the fall
of 2012.

The Viewing Platform Project is part of the much larger Battle Creek Restoration Project, which ranks as one of the largest cold-water anadromous fish restoration efforts in North America. When completed, the project will restore approximately 48 miles of Battle Creek’s Chinook salmon and steelhead habitat while maintaining the continued production of hydroelectric power by Pacific Gas and Electric.

The ASCE Project Awards Banquet is an annual event held in conjunction with Engineer’s Week. The Sacramento Section of ASCE consists of four branches (Capital, Central Valley, Feather River, Shasta) and encompasses the Central Valley and Northern portions of California. To be eligible for this award, the project must be predominantly civil engineering work, must be located in the Sacramento Section area, and must have been completed in 2012. 

 

The criteria includes contribution to the well-being of the people and communities, resourcefulness in planning and solving design challenges, pioneering in use of materials and methods, innovations in construction, impact on physical environment, and beneficial/adverse effects of the project including aesthetic value.

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