Cedar Creek Barrier Removal

Cedar Creek Barrier Removal

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Project Goal:

Restore migratory access to approximately 9 miles of salmon and steelhead habitat. Protect important cold water refugia in the South Fork Eel River.


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Project Stages

Planning

Conceptual Design

Permitting Phase

65% Planning and Design

Post Monitoring

Estimated Completion Date:
2022

Region:

Project Funders

CA Department of Fish and Wildlife

WCB

Fish Affected:

Threats:

Project Description

Cedar Creek has approximately 9 miles of high-quality salmonid habitat currently inaccessible to South Fork Eel River Chinook, coho, and steelhead populations. Migration into the watershed is blocked by an 8 foot high concrete dam left behind when the Cedar Creek Experimental Fish Hatchery was decommissioned after the 1964 flood. The proposed Cedar Creek Hatchery Dam Removal Project will build on previously developed planning documents, including the fish passage analysis conducted by Ross Taylor and Associates and CalTrout’s 2018 proposal, which contained conceptual designs for the Hatchery Dam decommissioning. CalTrout is currently preparing engineering designs and construction plans for the removal of the fish barrier, which, once implemented, will allow migration into Cedar Creek in perpetuity during all life stages for Chinook, coho, and steelhead. The engineering design phase is evaluating alternative water management approaches, along with how to delineate the concrete dam and abutment structures for demolition and removal clear down to the natural bed elevation, and is analyzing the potential destabilizing action on the abutment structures and bedrock canyon walls from removal of the concrete dam and abutments.

Project Partners:

Yangshe Gomde Buddhist Retreat Center
CA Department of Fish and Wildlife
McBain Associates
SHN Engineering
Hanford Applied Restoration & Conservation (Hanford ARC)