Project Title: Middle Klamath River Fish Passage (FFS #R8TC)

State: California

Initial Project Description: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service entered into Cooperative Agreements with the Mid Klamath Watershed Council and the Karuk Tribe to restore fish passage on 10 miles of streams in the Mid Klamath Basin. The project is underwritten by funds granted through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Fish passage problems in the project area include human-influenced barriers, natural barriers, or a combination of both. The majority of human-caused barriers are the result of road crossings. Other types of barriers include aggraded stream mouths where streams will either run sub-surface, or become too shallow for fish to navigate because of large alluvial deltas. This problem has been made worse by past upslope disturbances, such as road failures and mining that have increased the sediment load, particularly at the confluence of these tributaries with the Klamath River. Many channels and stream mouths have been severely altered during past flooding (1955, 1964, 1997, and 2005). Flood damage was also intensified because of Highway 96 crossing failures, which has left many channels steeper and straighter than the historic condition.

Long-term solutions include road decommissioning and other upslope restoration. Short-term solutions include manual manipulations of the immediate stream mouth through construction of temporary fishways. A temporary fishway is a simple, hand-constructed channel with the appropriate velocity, depth, and width that will pass adult salmonids during fall spawning migration, or juvenile salmonids seeking thermal refugia during the hot summer months. This work is seasonal and not expected to remain after annual winter flooding, but is very cost-effective and provides immediate results to the fishery.

Purpose: The Mid Klamath Watershed Council (MKWC) and the Karuk Tribe will collaborate with the Salmon River Restoration Council (SRRC) and the U.S. Forest Service to implement fish passage treatments on tributary streams in the Mid Klamath Basin, in coordination with the SRRC and Karuk Fisheries crews. MKWC and SRRC will play a critical role in organizing volunteer workdays, providing outreach to landowners, and organizing workforce to implement these treatments. This work is a continuation of work begun in 2006 and is funded on a rotational basis through informal agreements among the fishery management agencies.

To date, there is no comprehensive effort to maintain adult or juvenile coho, Chinook, or steelhead fish passage at the mouths of tributaries of the Mid Klamath and Salmon River subbasins, or for the lower Scott River. Tribal, Forest Service, and MKWC biologists have identified streams throughout the subbasin that chronically have fish passage problems at or near their confluence with the mainstream Klamath River.

The Mid Klamath Subbasin Fisheries Resource Recovery Plan calls for the identification and implementation of improved fish passage, as well as the assessment and evaluation of long-term restoration projects. Assessments will be made on over 50 tributaries to the Salmon, lower Scott, and Middle Klamath River. Assessments of these streams will include: temperature profiles, barrier identification and description, potential long-term solutions to historic problems, and assessments of qualitative features. Low-flow barriers to these anadroumous streams and temporary dams built for recreational purposes will be manually reconfigured to allow for adult and juvenile fish passage, where feasible. Through this agreement, efforts will be made to gain access to all tributaries in the project area for future assessment and modification where fish passage at or near the stream mouth may be an issue.

The project objectives include:

1. Monitor tributaries in the Mid Klamath, Scott, and Salmon River subbasins for blockages to juvenile and adult fish passage from April to October in FY 2010 and 2011.
2. Improve juvenile and adult salmonid fish passage to over 50 tributaries in the Middle Klamath, Salmon, and Lower Scott River subbasins through manual modification of seasonal barriers (over 200 miles of andromous habitat).
3. Report findings to increase understanding of alluvial fish passage issues in the Middle Klamath, Salmon, and lower Scott Rivers.
4. Educate local residents on techniques for maintaining fish passage at nearby creeks through involvement in volunteer workdays.

Since 2001, the Mid Klamath Watershed Council and the Karuk Tribe have been working to restore the threatened Klamath River in Northern California, and the upslope habitats upon which the river depends. On this project, they are coordinating with project partners to monitor approximately 50 tributary mouths on the Klamath, Salmon, and Lower Scott Rivers for fish passage barriers, to design solutions for remediating barriers, and to implement fixes to improve fish passage. According to Will Harling, Executive Director of the Council, “This project will allow us to continue ongoing monitoring and treatment of barriers at tributary mouths. It will also provide partial wages for three full-time employees, three part-time employees for MKWC, and more jobs with our project partners.” Harling added, “Our economy is largely based on recreational tourism around our productive fishery. In addition to direct job creation, benefits to the resource will eventually result in more recreational and retail income to our rural communities.”

Scope:

A. The Service shall:

1. Provide $90,000 in ARRA funds.
2. Participate in the development of the implementation phase of this project.
3. Provide technical guidance and assistance to ensure that the work performed allows fish to pass into treated tributary stream. This assistance will entail, and requires, specialized expertise in fish passage and fish behavior.

B. The Recipients shall:

1. Involve the Service in all phases of project implementation.
2. Consider technical input provided by the Service.
3. Provide access to the Service to the project site.
4. Work in a partnership manner with the Service.
5. Implement the project design to finalize the project.

The project performance will be evaluated as a success by achieving the following:

1. Completed assessment of the lower 1000 feet of up to 50 tributary streams to the Klamath River, Lower Scott River, and the Salmon River.
2. Based on the assessments, work at each site will be performed using manual methods and will ensure that each treated tributary stream is accessible to juvenile salmonids on a volitional basis.
3. Number of volunteers involved in workdays to improve fish passage.
4. Number of landowner access agreements for fish passage improvement work attained.

“This project brings together multiple partners to address a critical limiting factor in the life history of threatened coho salmon, which is access to refugial habitat,” explained Harling.

Project Status: The contract was awarded to the Mid Klamath Watershed Council of Orleans, California, on April 15, 2010. Of the project total of $90,000, MKWC was awarded $35,031 and the Karuk Tribe received the remainder. The two organizations are working together on this project. The project is expected to be completed by November 2010.

November 2011 Project Update: All work on this project has been successfully completed. During the 2010 and 2011 field seasons (approximately mid-April through September each year) crews from the Mid Klamath Watershed Council and the Karuk Tribe surveyed the lower portions of streams emptying into the Klamath River along approximately 140 miles of the middle Klamath Basin. Surveys of the lower 1000 feet of more than 55 creeks were completed, and a total of 48 creeks were treated to allow juvenile fish passage, using hand and small machinery methods. Types of barrier modifications (treatments) implemented included debris removal, hand-construction of step pools in alluvial areas, and the removal of small dams built to create swimming areas. Modifications performed at each site varied, depending on the amount of potential blockage present. These low-disturbance modifications allowed juvenile fish to move from warmer river areas into cooler water areas to rear, and all modifications were done as minimally as possible.

Photos:

The Mid Klamath Watershed Council and the Karuk Tribal Fisheries Program partner up to create a low gradient step-pool fishway at the mouth of Rogers Creek. (Photo by Will Harling, Mid Klamath Watershed Council.)

The Mid Klamath Watershed Council creates a step-pool fishway with Junction Elementary School students at Sandy Bar Creek, opening up access to high Quality juvenile coho rearing habitat. (Photo by Will Harling, Mid Klamath Watershed Council.)

Crew working on step pools to improve juvenile fish passage on the lower portion of Boise Creek, in the middle Klamath river watershed.

Tributary sites where fish passage barrier modifications were performed along the middle Klamath River to allow juvenile salmonids to access areas of cooler water and safer habitats.

Yreka Fish and Wildlife Office: The mission of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service is to work with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, and plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people.

The Yreka Fish and Wildlife Office is one of four U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service offices that work to protect and restore healthy populations of fish and wildlife and their habitats in the Klamath River Basin. The other offices include the Arcata Fish and Wildlife Office, the Klamath Falls Fish and Wildlife Office, as well as the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex.

In addition, the Yreka FWO works closely with a variety of partners at the national, Tribal, state, and local levels.

“This project provides meaningful jobs for tribal youth seeking gainful summer employment in an area with high rates of drug and alcohol abuse,” commented Harling. “It also connects them to their ancestral territory, provides positive role models, and trains them in fisheries sciences so they can apply for natural resource management positions in the area.”

For more information, visit the Yreka Fish and Wildlife Office website, or contact:

Misty Bradford
Yreka FWO
Administrative Officer
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1829 South Oregon Street
Yreka, California 96097
Phone: (530) 841-3110
Misty_Bradford@fws.gov

Gary Curtis
Supervisor
Habitat Restoration Program
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Yreka FWO
1829 South Oregon Street
Yreka, California 96097
Phone: (530) 841-3117
Gary_Curtis@fws.gov

Matthew D. Baun
Public Affairs Specialist
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Yreka FWO
1829 South Oregon Street
Yreka, California 96097
Phone: (530) 842-5763
Fax: (530) 842-4517
Matt_Baun@fws.gov

Will Harling
Executive Director
Mid Klamath Watershed Council
P.O. Box 409
Orleans, CA 95556
Phone: (530) 627-3202
Fax: (866) 323-5561
will@mkwc.org

Originally posted 05/25/2010
Updated 05/26/2010
Page Completed 11/17/2011