Rescue effort leads
to restoration
A few years prior to restoration in 2014, we were involved in a rescue operation on the south fork of the Scott River which was the target site for relocating nearly 30,000 juvenile Coho Salmon that had become trapped. Coinciding with the largest run of wild Coho Salmon ever recorded, drought conditions − record low surface flows and lack of connectivity between streams − had forced more than 2,700 adult Coho Salmon to spawn in the mainstem Scott River, unable to reach their customary spawning grounds in the Scott River tributaries.
Concerns quickly grew that the unusually large number and concentration of Coho Salmon juveniles emerging from the redds would not be able to get to and rear in streams that would stay flowing through the spring and summer. These conditions posed a real risk that an entire brood year of Scott River Coho Salmon, and as much as fifty percent of the natural run of adult Coho Salmon produced in the California that year, might be lost. The Siskiyou Resource Conservation District (RCD) and the Scott River Water Trust (SRWT) voiced concerns of the juvenile stranding and initiated coordination for rescue with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). In summer of 2014, teams worked quickly to rescue and relocate juvenile salmonids to holding tanks at Iron Gate Hatchery, and were later returned to the Scott River and its tributaries in late October when river conditions had improved. CalTrout and UC Davis have been monitoring conditions in the creek since then.
The successful Scott River Instream Habitat Restoration Project was an important opportunity to build strong, strategic partnerships between landowners, agencies, and conservation organizations. We are eager to see how the site evolves back to its natural condition.
Thank you to our partners, Siskiyou Resource Conservation District, Scott River Water Trust, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Western Rivers. Special thanks to our generous funders, California State Coastal Conservancy and California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
PROJECT UPDATE