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Protect The Best
Reconnect Habitat
Integrate Fish & Working Lands
Steward Source Water Areas
Restore Estuaries
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Upper Sacramento Basin Source Waters Science Study
Home | Key Initiatives | Steward Source Water Areas | Upper Sacramento Basin Source Waters Science Study
Project Goal:
Provide a scientifically based toolset to better understand, manage, and advance the protection of the cold, clean spring waters in the Upper Sacramento Basin.
Learn More
Project Stages
Planning
Conceptual Design
Implementation
Resource Collection
Impact Study
Relationship Building
Completion
Outreach
Estimated Completion Date:
2026
Region:
Project Funders
California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Bob Oliver
Fish Affected:
Threats:
Project Description
The spring waters that emerge from the volcanic rocks of northern California’s Cascade Range are of critical importance to water security for both fish and people, yet relatively little is known about them and how they have been affected by recent drought and other climate change impacts. In 2023, CalTrout and our partners embarked on a three-year study to provide a scientifically based toolset to better understand, manage, and advance the protection of the cold, clean spring waters in the Upper Sacramento Basin.
Building on our past efforts to assess baseline conditions of springs in the Mount Shasta region, this study will define and quantify source areas and flows, assess ecosystem sensitivity to climate change, and determine how these systems support the diverse life history of wild cold-water fish. Study locations include the spring-fed streams above Shasta Reservoir: the McCloud, Upper Sacramento, Rising, and Fall rivers, Hat Creek, and Burney Creek, which feeds the iconic Burney Falls.
We have teamed up with organizations and universities with a wide range of expertise to get this work done. This study will help inform future policy and management to further protect these vital springs in an increasingly variable climate.
Project Partners:
California Department of Fish and Wildlife
CSU East Bay
UC Davis
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Friends of the Mount Shasta Avalanche Center
Stanford University’s Bill Lane Center for the American West
The Nature Conservancy
Mount Shasta Recreation and Parks
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Human use of streams, lakes, and surrounding watersheds for recreation has greatly increased with population expansion. Boating, swimming, angling, off-road vehicles, ski resorts, golf courses and other activities or land uses can negatively impact salmonid populations and their habitats. The impacts are generally minor; however, concentration of multiple activities in one region or time of year may have cumulative impacts.
Dams block access to historical spawning and rearing habitats. Downstream, dams alter the timing, frequency, duration, magnitude, and rate of change of flows decreasing habitat quality and survival.
