Habitat Restoration Page 1  2  3  4  5 San Joaquin Fish Habitat Improvement Shop Construction Salmon restoration in the San Joaquin River drainage has faced more than its share of problems. With completion of Friant Dam in 1944 blocking passage to upstream spawning areas, as well as dewatering the river for many miles downstream from the dam, and with no salmon hatchery to mitigate the dam’s effects, salmon spawning in the San Joaquin River came to an end. Runs of chinook salmon did, however, continue in three tributary streams, the Stanislaus, Tuolumne, and Merced Rivers. With the exception of a dedicated few stationed in the San Joaquin Valley, fisheries managers in government by and large had concluded that efforts to restore salmon in the San Joaquin River drainage would be futile, and believed that limited restoration dollars would be better spent in drainages with greater potential for success. The Stamp Committee did not share this belief. The Stamp Committee, led by the vision of member Dave Danbom, took on restoration of San Joaquin Valley salmon, beginning in the 1980’s. Initial support for work in the drainage focused on Merced River hatchery operations. Later, in the 1990’s, funding recommendations expanded to include habitat restoration projects, and equipment to help with work taken on by the fledgling DFG fish habitat restoration crew stationed in Fresno. Having the restoration crew headquartered in Fresno while most of their work was on the Merced, Tuolumne, and Stanislaus rivers to the north was not an efficient situation. Too much crew time was spent in travel to and from work sites, time that could better be spent on projects. A solution was needed. DFG staff in the San Joaquin Valley, working cooperatively with other agencies, had secured land on the Tuolumne River near LaGrange. The parcel was intended eventually to be home not only to a new habitat improvement shop, but to a small supplementation hatchery for San Joaquin basin anadromous fishes, as well as an educational and interpretive center. Construction of the rearing facility was put on hold because of concerns by a few vocal environmental groups and scientists over possible genetic problems that might result from releasing hatchery- reared fish into the system. Construction of the educational and interpretive center also continues to be on hold. However, the only impediment to construction of a fish habitat improvement shop was funding. The Stamp Committee responded to the call with funding recommendations sufficient to construct a “bare-bones” steel building. DFG assured the Committee that other funding would be found to finish the interior of the building. The building was completed in the late 1990’s and houses the habitat restoration crew and their equipment. Fish habitat restoration work in the San Joaquin basin now proceeds much more smoothly. Support for Other DFG Salmon Restoration Activities Through the years the Stamp Committee has regularly funded new equipment or replaced worn equipment for DFG facilities or programs in addition to hatcheries and habitat improvement shops. Some examples include: a precision flowmeter for evaluations of fish screen effectiveness; electronic survey equipment and software; a digital film recorder to inventory all water diversions and fish passage areas as part of DFG’s Geographic Information System (GIS) project, and a one-ton pickup and other needed items of equipment for the Cooperative Fish Rearing Program Coordinator. Page 1  2  3  4  5