CalTrout News
A Field Note from the Truckee River
by Michael Wier, CalTrout Field Reporter & Videographer
The Truckee River holds a special place in my heart. What an anomaly of a river — it flows through three major cities, is highly developed, has highways following almost its entire length, is easily accessible for recreation yet continues to consistently produce exceptional quality large wild trout. It’s truly a testament to the quality of habitat and the resiliency of the Truckee River.
There is oral history that tells tales of early explorers sharing meals with the Paiute, who taught them about the distinction between Lahontan cutthroat trout and salmon. At that time the Tahoe Pyramid strain of Lahontan cutthroat trout were some of the biggest trout in the history of salmonids and were known to regularly reach upwards of 50 pounds.
In the early 19th century, the massive Lahontan cutthroat trout were severely impacted by loss of habitat, commercial fishing, and the construction of Derby dam on the lower Truckee River which blocked their migratory route between Pyramid and Lake Tahoe. By the late 1930s, the original Tahoe and Pyramid strain had largely disappeared. Rainbow trout and brown trout were planted in the river, and Kokanee salmon were planted in Lake Tahoe. By the 1940s and 50s these species had taken over and a solid recreational fishery had emerged. From then to now, the Truckee has long been revered as one of California and Nevada‘s greatest rivers for trout fishing.
I was very fortunate to grow up fishing the Truckee and for over 16 years I was able to guide fly-fishing on the river. The Truckee has brought me a lot of joy and great memories with friends and clients over the years. I’ve had some epic tussles with large trout that made for memories I hope I never forget. When the opportunity arose for me to help orchestrate some restoration on the Truckee I jumped at the chance.
Today, the Truckee River is a highly altered system. There has been a lot of work done in and around the river over the past 100 years. Industrial activities negatively impacted the river and its fishery such as building a railroad, major highways, and network of flumes and hydro power systems throughout the entire Truckee River Canyon between Reno and the town of Truckee. As you can imagine, fish habitat, erosion control, and public recreation were not high priorities during this era of development in US history. However, in the past decade or so there has been a lot done in the name of restoration. A movement has begun to reverse past trends and to help the environment and river ecosystems.
In 2020, CalTrout received a bequest from the Mark D. Chamberlain Trust to restore a stretch of the Truckee River. Mark was a long-time member of California Trout with a love for the Truckee River and a desire to leave a lasting legacy through his gift. Honestly, that’s what I would want too. What an honor to have this opportunity to help do something good for a river I love while also honoring someone special’s wishes.
I knew I wanted to do something that would benefit anglers and boaters as well as help solve an environmental problem. Through a friend, I was connected with Peter Kulchawik of Balance Hydrologics and John Svahn of the Truckee Donner Land Trust. We met on the Truckee a couple times to talk about issues that were important to us and potential projects to embark on.
For me, one of the issues that had risen to the forefront was the loss of access to a historic stretch of the river that I used to fish quite often. A local contractor bought a plot of land down below Hirschdale and blocked access to several miles of river from the public. We used to float from the start of the Boca section and take our boats out at a piece of fish and wildlife property that you could access by driving through the old quarry and down to the river. Now that entire area is closed off and the only way to fish that section is to run a class 4 rapid section of white water. For most people, that makes it inaccessible.
When John and Peter suggested we do a project to help address an erosion issue on a piece of land that had been owned by the Truckee Donner Land Trust I knew that would be a great project to help solve an environmental problem as well as provide access for anglers and a takeout for boaters. The area in question is a pull out off Interstate 80. There, a series of undeveloped user trails had emerged from people working their way down to the river. There was one section of bank in particular that was sloughing and crumbling off and you basically had to slide down it to get to the river.
Collectively, we decided if we were going to do something to address the bank stabilization and erosion control that we should also build some access to the river and a takeout for recreational boaters. That would drive traffic to that one spot and take pressure off the surrounding riparian area as well. A network of random user trails was emerging that were trampling riparian areas and creating even more erosion issues, dispersed trash, and people scrambling around to get to the water.
Balanced Hydrologics did the engineering for the project and helped secure the permits which was a multi-year process. We worked closely with the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Lahontan water board to make sure biological assessments had been completed and our project met all environmental guidelines for the watershed.
Truckee Donner Land Trust was also able to secure some additional grant funds from the Truckee River Fund issued by the Community Foundation of Northern Nevada. These funds we needed to help bolster the growing scope of the project and cover additional construction costs.
In fall 2023, we were finally able to break ground. For the project construction, we partnered with Triangle Construction, a subsidiary of Tichert. They were an amazing partner and worked closely with us to get the project exactly right. Peter and the team from Balanced Hydrologics did most of the heavy lifting as far as initial layout and being on site to direct the work as it progressed. The project was completed in just a few weeks and is already being used by the public today!
We did our last site visit at the end of November 2023 to do some willow transplanting and riparian restoration work to close out the season there. And of course, I wanted to be the first to float that section of the Truckee and take out our boat there. We were blessed with a great winter this past year and the Truckee still had solid flows well into the late fall.
The Truckee is an amazing watershed and truly an anomaly for California and Nevada. I hope to keep the momentum going and keep working on projects that make the river better for anglers, boaters, and the general public while also benefiting fish and wildlife.
Learn more about the project here. Watch the project video below to learn even more!
1 Comment
Nice work Mikey! Cant wait to go check it out.