The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced earlier this month a new selection of multi-benefit ecosystem restoration and protection projects to receive funding under its Proposition 1 grant program. CalTrout received a $996,986 award from CDFW Proposition 1 Watershed Grant Program for the Cochran Creek Fish Passage and Habitat Rehabilitation Implementation Project.
Earlier in February, CalTrout received $4.9M to Pursue Reconnect Habitat and Protect the Best Projects across the state from the CDFW voter-approved Prop 68 grant program.
Government grants make up 60% of our operating budget, allowing us to execute large-scale and significant programs that benefit wild fish and people in California. In 2014, voters passed Prop 1 which helps provide critical funding for ecosystems and watershed protection and restoration, water supply infrastructure projects, including surface and groundwater storage, and drinking water protection.
$996,986 award from CDFW Proposition 1 Watershed Grant Program.
The Cochran Creek (Humboldt Bay) Fish Passage and Habitat Rehabilitation Implementation Project (Project) will improve fish passage to sustain anadromous populations of coho, steelhead, and coastal cutthroat trout, as well as to enhance and expand tidal, brackish, freshwater and riparian habitats on Cochran Creek and Quail Slough.
In addition, the Project will restore 930 ft of new stream channel/backwater habitats, 0.6 acres of floodplain, and 0.4 acres of riparian habitat on Cochran Creek. Quail Slough will be widened to 25 ft with inset floodplain to provide tidal/brackish wetland habitats. The restored Cochran Creek channel will contain larger flood events within the channel, and allow out-of-bank flood flows to reconnect to Cochran Creek or Quail Slough. Collectively the tide gate, expanded channels and floodplains, and construction of tidal berms will enhance and protect agricultural lands.
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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.