By David Kligman
Larger numbers of threatened Chinook salmon have returned to spawn upstream from where a PG&E hydroelectric dam once stood in Tehama County, the site of one of the country’s largest cold water fish restoration projects.
Salmon now have better access to the North Fork of Battle Creek above the site of the former Wildcat diversion dam.
This fall, wildlife officials reported seeing more than four times the number of Chinook salmon nests normally seen upstream in North Fork Battle Creek above the former Wildcat diversion dam, PG&E and wildlife officials announced on Wednesday.
In the past 10 years, only about 7 percent of the nests were upstream of the dam compared with 33 percent this year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said.
The greater numbers indicate the fish were better able to swim upstream into the restored area, where stream conditions are better for nesting and survival.
Partners in the restoration project say the growing number of fish signifies that the project goal of increasing populations of anadromous fish—which begin life in freshwater creeks and live part of their lives in the ocean—is already under way, even while project construction continues.
“It’s an early success,” said Liv Imset, PG&E’s project manager for the Battle Creek salmon restoration project. “Obviously this is the goal of the project. It shows that it’s working. It’s happening.”
In this 2003 photo, redds where salmon lay their eggs can be seen in the creek.
PG&E is helping direct the massive Battle Creek Salmon and Steelhead Restoration Project, which involves removing or renovating eight dams to allow winter- and spring-run salmon to pass through 48 miles of streams and habitat.
Restoration of Battle Creek, a Sacramento River tributary, is being accomplished primarily through the removal of five diversion dams, placement of screens and ladders on three other diversion dams and increasing in-stream flows.
At the request of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, PG&E immediately modified its operations to increase water flow on North Fork Battle Creek to help protect the salmon eggs when water flows began a seasonal decline. The utility will maintain the increased water flow throughout the spawning season.
It wasn’t a difficult decision for PG&E. “This is in line with our environmental stewardship principles,” Imset said.
Although the increased flows meant some loss of hydroelectric power generation, the utility is further showing its environmental commitment by forgoing reimbursement from the California Department of Fish and Game for lost hydro power.
When the restoration project is complete, PG&E will have reduced a third of its hydroelectric power, about 69 gigawatt hours of electricity per year, at its Battle Creek facilities.
The project, near Manton, began in 2009 and is expected to be completed in 2015.
Click here to see a video on the project.