CalTrout’s Northern Sierra office is participating in a number of monitoring and improvement programs in the Lake Tahoe area, including:
Truckee River
CalTrout — in partnership with the US Forest Service — is performing a pre-restoration baseline fisheries assessment of the Upper Truckee River, the largest tributary to Lake Tahoe and home to Lahontan cutthroat trout.
We’re also leading a team with UN Reno, UC Davis, and Trout Unlimited to compliment our upper river assessment with a fine scale study of the lower river.
The predictive model we develop will hopefully guide reintroduction of Lahontan cutthroat trout into the lower watershed — as will the Meadow Restoration Fisheries Analysis Tool (MRFAT) we developed in conjunction with our partner groups. Our goal is to bring a greater focus on fish to the six restoration projects planned for the Truckee River (most of this work was made possible by the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation and the Resource Legacy Fund).
West Carson River
CalTrout is partnering with the Alpine Watershed Group, American Rivers, and the Department of Fish & Game to install gauge stations along the West Carson River. Eventually, we hope to improve the v-weir at the headwaters in Red Lake/Creek.
Lake Tahoe Invasives
Finally, our Northern Sierra team has partnered with UNReno, Tahoe RCD, and Department of Fish & Game to perform a two year warm water invasive fish control project along the nearshore of Lake Tahoe and stock replacement Lahontan cutthroat trout into Emerald Bay and the Tahoe Keys while examining their depletion rates and relationship to the existing food web.
If you would like to get involved in any of these monitoring and/or restoration projects, contact Jenny Hatch, Regional Manager, at 530-541-3495 or via email at jhatch@caltrout.org
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Peter Moyle is the Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology and Associate Director of the Center for Watershed Sciences, at UC Davis. He is author or co-author of more than 240 publications, including the definitive Inland Fishes of California (2002). He is co-author of the 2017 book, Floodplains: Processes and Management for Ecosystem Services. His research interests include conservation of aquatic species, habitats, and ecosystems, including salmon; ecology of fishes of the San Francisco Estuary; ecology of California stream fishes; impact of introduced aquatic organisms; and use of floodplains by fish.
Robert Lusardi is the California Trout/UC Davis Wild and Coldwater Fish Researcher focused on establishing the basis for long-term science specific to California Trout’s wild and coldwater fish initiatives. His work bridges the widening gap between academic science and applied conservation policy, ensuring that rapidly developing science informs conservation projects throughout California. Dr. Lusardi resides at the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences and works closely with Dr. Peter Moyle on numerous projects to help inform California Trout conservation policy. His recent research interests include Coho salmon on the Shasta River, the ecology of volcanic spring-fed rivers, inland trout conservation and management, and policy implications of trap and haul programs for anadromous fishes in California.
Patrick Samuel is the Conservation Program Coordinator for California Trout, a position he has held for almost two years, where he coordinates special research projects for California Trout, including the State of the Salmonids report. Prior to joining CalTrout, he worked with the Fisheries Leadership & Sustainability Forum, a non-profit that supports the eight federal regional fishery management councils around the country. Patrick got his start in fisheries as an undergraduate intern with NOAA Fisheries Protected Resources Division in Sacramento, and in his first field job as a crew member of the California Department of Fish & Wildlife’s Wild and Heritage Trout Program.
1 Comment
How does mrfat differ from the meadow restoratoin analysis tool American Rivers has been using and with which they selected a much larger site in Hope Valley for restoration?