Big Mill Creek Restoration, East Fork Scott River

Big Mill Creek Restoration, East Fork Scott River

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Project Goal:

Restore access for coho, resident rainbow trout, and steelhead to Big Mill Creek, which will open 3 miles of cold, perennial habitat upstream of a perched culvert. Reduce sediment input in the East Fork Scott River from eroding roads and pasture; Reduce river temperatures by increasing shade and cover from planting native riparian species.


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Project Stages

Planning

100% Planning, Design, and Permitting

Implementation

Estimated Completion Date:
2025

Project Funders

California Department of Transportation

California State Water Board

Fish Affected:

Project Description

Big Mill Creek is a tributary to the East Fork of the Scott River, which consistently generates some of the largest return of wild coho in the entire state. However, habitat for coho within the Scott River basin has been degraded by numerous human threats, including legacy mining, grazing, and agricultural water diversions. This project will restore fish passage to critical cold-water over-summering habitat for juvenile salmon and steelhead. The project is also critically important in the context of salmon recovery throughout the larger Mid-Klamath Basin. Four Klamath dams are scheduled to be removed in 2023/2024 which will improve water quality in the mainstem Klamath River, reduce disease and increase the number of returning adults looking for suitable habitat conditions in historic spawning and rearing streams. Spawning and rearing tributaries to the Klamath, like the Scott River, act as salmon nurseries for the entire basin.

Project Partners:

The Wildlands Conservancy

Scott River Watershed Council

Siskiyou Resource Conservation District

local Tribes

California Department of Transportation

California State Water Board

Cascade Stream Solutions

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