Cow Creek Watershed Restoration Tour

November 19, 2008

 

 

Cow Creek is a tributary to the critical Sacramento River, entering from the east near the township of Palo Cedro, southeast of Redding in Shasta County, CA. The watershed drains approximately 275,000 acres, roughly the size of the state of Delaware, and encompasses 430 square miles, collecting drainage from the base and foothills of Mt. Lassen. Cow Creek is fed by multiple creeks, including Little Cow Creek, Oak Run Creek, Clover Creek, Old Cow Creek, and South Creek. The watershed is unique in that land ownership is almost evenly divided between commercial forestland, commercial agriculture, ranch operations and small rural property owners. Land use is critical. An argument against current land use practices targets negative impacts to salmonid habitat. However, an argument for current land use offers that improvements to water use and continued restoration will allow both to co exist, in addition to keeping these land tracts large, which may help protect animal corridors and open space. Land use that reduces water diversion and pollution, and erosion is essential.

Water quality in the Cow Creek watershed has been impacted by excessive temperatures and fecal coliform bacteria, changes in the riparian community vegetation, diversions of stream flow, and barriers to fish passage. These factors negatively affect quality of spawning and rearing habitat for the threatened and endangered Chinook salmon, steelhead trout and other native aquatic species. Restoration projects hope to address these issues.

 

 

The Department of Fish and Game, in conjunction with Cow Creek Watershed Management Group (CCWMG) operates a fish counting weir on the main stem Cow Creek, which tracks the presence of these species, and contributes data for state and regional management. A paddle wheel powered fish screen along one of the water diversions was installed to protect juvenile salmonids.

 

 

To improve irrigation operations, agricultural retention ponds provide a collection point for e coli and fertilizers to settle. One pond reuses the water, while the other slows it down, allowing it to cool by a few degrees before returning to the creek.

 

 

Eel River Restoration Tour

November 6, 2008

 

The determination to restore the salmon population on all California rivers, not only the Sacramento and San Joaquin, was highlighted in a day-long Watershed Restoration Tour on the Eel River hosted by The Institute for Fisheries Resources, Thursday, November 6^th.

The participants of the tour learned how the Van Arsdale Fish Station works to keep tabs on the endangered and threatened wild salmon and steelhead populations on the Eel River, and how the Fish Station, a part of the hundred-year-old Potter Valley Project, has been altered to mitigate for lost habitat and flows. The Potter Valley Project is comprised of two dams, two reservoirs, and a diversion tunnel that pumps water from the Eel River to the Russian River. Alan Grass of the Department of Fish and Game provided the tour of the Fish Station, while Zeke Grader, Executive Director of the Department of Fish and Game, spoke to the importance of restoring the salmon population on the Eel for the commercial salmon fishery.

 

 

 

The afternoon was spent in Covelo, Calif., where the Round Valley Indian Tribe is restoring Mill Creek. Mill Creek, a tributary of the Middle Fork Eel River, is plagued by low flows in the warmer months and before restoration began, was a wide channel that did not flow. Warren Mitchell, Fisheries Biologist for the Tribe, highlighted different sites on the large scale restoration project and explained how the project is managed through an integrated, holistic approach. Tour participants were able to complete some restoration work themselves, and planted 75 cottonwood trees and willows for the Tribe’s restoration project.

 

 

The Eel River is the 3^rd largest watershed in California. It is approximately 200 miles (322 km) long. The Eel River flows in a unique northwestern direction from Mendocino County to Humboldt County. The river and its tributaries total 3,448 river miles and flows through five counties. The Eel River has received both State (1972) and Federal (1981) Wild and Scenic River designation, a title meant to protect the river from dams and ensure that environmental concerns rank equally with development and industry. The Chinook and coho salmon and steelhead trout that still spawn on the Eel River are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act.