Lower Clear Creek Rehabilitation Project - Succesful Spawing Salmon in Increasing Numbers--I love good news like this. Only ten years ago, the Lower Clear Creek tributary was a death trap for Salmon, Trout and any other fish in the creek. The creek long ago decimated by years of gold mining was divided into seven channels. The water flow so low that the fish would over heat and die. Ten years ago the Chinook salmon had dwindled to 1,200.
Restoration efforts by local, state and federal agencies have resulted in an increasing number of Salmon spawing and the number now reaches 16,000. This is a huge success for our local community.
To bring back the fish the Bureau of Land Management which oversees muhc of the land along the creek, returned the creek to its original channel. The Conservation District is pouring in spawing gravel as the fish prefer the fine rocks to bury their eggs.
Starting in the 1850s, gold prospectors used dredges to rip through the creek bed. Dredging continued intil the 1940s with gravel the goal in latter years. The result was a creek turn upside down in literal terms.
The BLM and others involved have won national awards for their efforts and the restoration if one of the most succesfull in the Western United States.
The restoration included the BLM's removal of the nearly century-old Saeltzer diversion dam in 2000. This opened up 10 miles of spawing habitat. Along with the returning Salmon the birds are also coming back to the Lower Clear Creek tributary. The creek winds some 17 miles between Whiskeytown Lake and down into the Sacramento River, where the Salmon head upstream to spawn.
The Lower Creek Rehabilitation Project - Succesful Spawning Salmon in Increasing Numbers--is a wonderous thing in this day and time. It makes one feel hope for our community and for our environment. Helping to restore any habitat is a good thing for us all.
Special thanks to Gayle Rich-Boxman for inspiring me to do better Localism work and for raising the bar for us all with her work. Not only does she take great photos....but she loves where she lives and she shares it with us in spirit, in her writing and in her photography. She rocks!
I am Jeanean Gendron, your Redding and Shasta County Specialist.
You can reach me at 530 276-7417. I answer my phone.
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