Juvenile Chinook Salmon
Young Chinook salmon can be recognized by the patterns of dots and bars on their backs and sides.
Credit: Roger Tabor/USFWS
September 22, 2023 - SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Bureau of Reclamation announces the selection of five recipients to implement $34.3 million in salmon habitat improvement projects within the Central Valley Project. These awards represent the second year of the Central Valley Habitat and Facilities Improvement Notice of Funding Opportunity Announcement. The original announcement was released in 2021 for total awards of as much as $120 million, not to exceed $40 million in fiscal years 2022, 2023, and 2024.
The restoration projects will enhance and improve spawning and rearing habitat for salmon at five different locations between Clear Creek and the Stanislaus River. The projects are being implemented in accordance with the Central Valley Project Improvement Act and the 2019 Biological Opinions for the Coordinated Operation of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project.
Funding provided for these projects contributes to the Voluntary Agreements among state, federal, and local water agencies that would provide substantial new flows and habitat in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and their tributaries to help recover salmon and other native fish.
“Reclamation is excited to incorporate the priorities identified by the CVPIA Science Integration Team into identifying and funding habitat restoration with our partner agencies and interested parties,” said Reclamation Bay-Delta Office Manager David Mooney.
The recipients, selected by Reclamation and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service through a competitive process, are:
American Rivers Inc. – $9,999,750 The North River Garden Farms Floodplain Restoration Project will reconnect two parts of the Sacramento River floodplain to the channel via agricultural berm breaching. The project will create 196 acres of newly reconnected habitat along 3.5 miles of the Sacramento River upstream of the Feather River confluence.
East Stanislaus Resource Conservation District – $1,931,396 The East Stanislaus Resource Conservation District, in cooperation with California State Parks and California Department of Fish and Wildlife, will complete a salmonid habitat restoration project on the lower Stanislaus River to benefit juvenile Chinook salmon and Central Valley steelhead trout. The project aims to produce about 6 acres of floodplain habitat, while adding 12 acres of cover and removing 7.6 acres of predator hotspots.
Yurok Tribe of Northern California – $9,032,844 The Clear Creek Adaptive Restoration Program implements and evaluates restoration actions that fulfill the Clear Creek-specific actions documented in the Central Valley Project Improvement Act’s Near-Term Restoration Strategy. The project plans to produce about 24 acres of floodplain habitat, 10.2 acres of perennial rearing habitat, maintain 26 acres of existing spawning habitat, and add 5 acres of new spawning habitat and 25.3 acres of cover.
California Department of Water Resources – $9,962,000 The Kopta Slough Multi-benefit Project consists of rock facing removal along the Sacramento River to restore natural fluvial and floodplain processes, establishment of native floodplain habitat and a property transfer to the USFWS to facilitate long-term conservation and management, including public recreational opportunities. The project plans to produce about 1.8 acres of rearing habitat and 1 acre of cover.
Natomas Central Mutual Water Company – $3,361,800 The project replaces an existing pumping plant at its current location with a new pumping plant and fish screen to prevent fish entrainment. The project includes new cylindrical fish screens in conformance with state and federal fish screen requirements. The project plans to produce the equivalent of 3 acres of perennial rearing habitat and remove 0.1 acres of predator hotspot.
Source: USBR
