A project aimed at bringing back local Chinook Salmon nesting grounds is underway along the Sacramento River near Salt Creek, and it involves shoveling thousands of tons of gravel into the water. This is the second attempt at this project after crews were rained out at the beginning of 2023.
Crews with the coalition group, "The Sacramento River Settlement Contractors" have had to wait before returning so the Chinook Salmon that use that area to nest wouldn't be impacted. Now the spawning season is over, the work is back underway. Made up of irrigation districts, reclamation districts, and riverside communities, the coalition is utilizing grants from the US Bureau of Reclamation to fund the project.
“This coalition, this organization had applied for and received grant funding," Josh Watkins, Redding's Water Utility Manager says. "And one of the projects we’re doing is reintroducing this gravel, this spawning habitat.”
Watkins says they've already put a good portion of the 21,000 tons of gravel they've brought to the site into the river, leaving crews just about 10,000 tons left to put in over the next two weeks. While it might seem like a lot to put in one place, Watkins shared it's expected to spread through the river.
“We truck the gravel in and then we use heavy equipment and push it into the river," Watkins says "And then we allow the higher winter flows to move that gravel and wash it down, and let that settle out.”
Before human intervention, gravel like what they're putting in would flow naturally down the river from the mountains. Now with several dams in the way, that natural flow has been obstructed. Which has led to more and more salmon nesting grounds disappearing. Watkins says even besides the wider environmental benefits the project brings, it has a direct impact on the local community.
"It has impacts on our water supply," Watkins says. "So it is in everyone’s best interest to help the species, specifically the endangered and threatened Chinook Salmon.”
The project at Salt Creek is set to go until mid-October.
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Thousands of tons of gravel being put in river to help endangered fish - KRCR
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