Habitat Restoration Page 1  2  3  4  5 Bogus Creek Habitat Restoration, Klamath Basin Bogus Creek, which often has large returns of naturally spawning salmon due to its proximity to Iron Gate Hatchery. Located in a drainage of hard volcanic rock, the creek lacked adequate gravel to support the numbers of fish attempting to spawn. This work was done in 1985 at a cost of $25,000. In 1989, boulder weirs to hold the gravel in place and provide resting pool habitat were added with further Stamp funding of $45,000. Judging from the often very large numbers of spawners in Bogus Creek in recent years, these projects were highly successful. Shackelford Creek Rechannelization, Scott River, Klamath Basin In 1983 Salmon Stamp matched funds with the Scott Valley Resources Conservation District to rebuild the creek channel in the lower mile of Shackelford Creek where it flows into the Scott River, a major tributary to the Klamath River. The creek was braided over a large alluvial fan, preventing salmon from getting up the creek. Thanks to this project, salmon are once again seen in Shackelford Creek today. The Scott River is a major Klamath River tributary that once supported large salmon runs. It is a difficult drainage to improve for salmon because water flows in the streams are severely impeded as a result of irrigation diversions. Water rights have historically been a major issue in the drainage, and these rights finally had to be adjudicated in court. Unfortunately, the adjudication of water rights in the drainage left precious little water available for salmon, except in a few locations. In fact, it has been stated that the adjudication allocated more water than was available in the stream. Still, there is hope for improvements that will increase salmon numbers in the drainage, and the Salmon Stamp Committee has strongly supported restoration efforts there over the years. Keswick Spawning Gravel Project The Stamp Committee and Proposition 70 cooperatively funded the addition of seven thousand tons of spawningsized gravel to the Sacramento River between Keswick Dam and Cottonwood Creek. The Salmon Stamp Program paid 25 percent of the $40,000 project. Gravel mining, stream bank erosion caused by Keswick Dam, and, most importantly, the presence of Shasta Dam, which blocks natural transport by the Sacramento River of badly needed spawning gravel from the watershed above the dam, have caused the loss of 30 miles of spawning habitat in the Sacramento River. This area was once a very productive spawning ground for fall- and late-fall-run chinook salmon. Lack of proper spawning habitat is a major reason that populations have dropped to 50 percent of historic levels. The project helped replace spawning areas, at least for the short term. The project scale required for gravel replenishment to be successful over time may restrict its use to steams where the method is likely to be most cost-effective. In the Sacramento River system, where mitigation for loss of salmon from construction of Shasta Dam was essentially an afterthought following all other project considerations, and which amounted to construction of an inadequately-sized hatchery on a tributary stream nearly 30 miles downstream from the dam, and where large salmon runs were decimated, long-term gravel replenishment is very likely appropriate. Page 1  2  3  4  5