In September 2023, Patagonia’s Holdfast Collective awarded California Trout $1 million over three years to support work to remove dams on the Eel River, Battle Creek, and San Francisquito Creek. This includes PG&E’s Potter Valley Project dams, PG&E’s Battle Creek Hydroelectric Project dams, and Searsville Dam on Stanford University campus.
California has thousands of dams, many of which provide critical water supply, flood control, and hydroelectric power. Most of these dams were constructed between the 1930s and 1960s with little consideration for their effects on fish. Today many have outlived their functional lifespans. California Trout is focused on reconnecting habitat for native fish and removing obsolete dams for ecosystem repair.
“We are thrilled to receive funding from Patagonia’s Holdfast Collective,” said Curtis Knight, CalTrout Executive Director. “This investment will significantly bolster our efforts to reconnect habitat for California’s native fish.”
In 2022, Patagonia declared Earth to be its only shareholder, forming the Holdfast Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting the environmental crisis and defending nature. Each year, the money the company makes after reinvesting in the business is distributed as a dividend to help fight the environmental crisis. We are grateful for Patagonia’s dedication to the environment and how the company’s mission interweaves with our own mission to ensure healthy waters and resilient wild fish across California.
Native salmon and steelhead have lost large amounts of habitat with dams and barriers blocking migration upstream to high quality habitat and restricting migration of juvenile fish to the ocean. CalTrout and our partners are working to remove barriers and get obsolete dams out to give native salmon and steelhead access to the clean, cold water of their native spawning and rearing habitats once again. We are actively working on dam removal efforts for 17 dams in six different watersheds that would open over 750 miles of habitat. Learn more about CalTrout’s Dams Out efforts.
Thank you to the Marin Community Foundation for their support in facilitating investment in this important ecosystem restoration work.
Cover Photo: Searsville Dam by Michael Wier