Capital Region Cares Capital Region Cares 2017-2018 | Page 46

n
Success story
f
o
y
t
n
e
l
p
fish in the
creek
SPAWNING CHINOOK
SALMON HAVE RETURNED
TO DEER CREEK FOR THE
FIRST TIME IN
NEARLY A DECADE
p h oto : co u rt e sy o f l i s a co u p e r
46
CAPITAL REGION CARES 2017 | comstocksmag.com
BY Robin Epley PHOTO: Joan Cusick
I
n order for spawning Chinook
salmon to return to Deer Creek
this autumn, they first had to swim
against the stream from the San
Joaquin River to the Mokelumne
River, east of Rio Vista. Then, the deter-
mined fish had to make their way up to
where the Mokelumne meets the Cos-
umnes River, and finally, migrate sever-
al miles more to get to the shady shores
of Deer Creek. They found that respite
thanks to a multi-year environmental
restoration project from the Sacramen-
to Valley Conservancy in coalition with
Teichert Construction.
The creek has been historically
mined and thirsty ranchland placed
nearby, says SVC Stewardship Director
Lucie Adams. With the help of a Nation-
al Fish and Wildlife Foundation Grant,
“Our goal was to restore the habitat and
landscape.”
The project was for a small section of
the conservancy’s 375-acre Deer Creek
Hills North parcel, just east of Scott
Road, along the El Dorado County line,
Adams says. A mile of the creek runs di-
rectly through their preserve lands, and
their goal has been to restore the area in
general — the spawning salmon return-
ing to the creek for the first time since
2009 was a big, big bonus, she says.
“We planted over 300 trees and
shrubs along the creek corridor to re-
store the shade and enhance these
areas,” Adams says. Even though the