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The Yuba River is home to some of California's last remaining runs of wild chinook salmon and steelhead trout. These powerful fish are born in the river, then travel to the ocean to grow to full size before making the journey back up the river of their birth, swimming against the current for hundreds of miles, leaping obstacles more than ten feet high to reach the spawning grounds before they die. Unfortunately, populations of these incredible fish are dangerously low. Both are currently listed under the state and federal Endangered Species Acts.
Historically, the three forks of the Yuba and their tributaries churned several times each year with thousands of returning salmon and steelhead. (For more on the history of salmon in the Yuba, see SYRCL's Historical Report on Salmon in the Yuba.) The discovery of gold in the Sierra changed all that. With devastating speed, dams blocked the Yuba and diverted its water for hydraulic mining operations. For decades, the Yuba ran thick with mud, silt, and rock as whole mountains were washed downstream. To trap the debris, two dams were built on the Yuba's main stem: Englebright Dam and Daguerre Point Dam.
Salmon and steelhead still spawn in the lower Yuba, but the 260-foot Englebright Dam (completed in 1941) entirely blocks access to the upper watershed and hundreds of miles of potential spawning grounds. A dozen miles downstream of Englebright, the much smaller Daguerre Point Dam also impedes their passage. Although it is equipped with fish ladders, surveys reveal that barely half of the fish successfully negotiate them to spawn in the reach between the two dams. This problem is not limited to the Yuba: approximately 95 percent of California's historic spawning habitat has been destroyed or is inaccessible.
SYRCL is committed to restoring the Yuba's wild salmon runs. "Salmon are an indicator of a healthy watershed, a healthy place to live, and a healthy ecosystem for us all," says Janet Cohen, SYRCL's executive director. "We don't want our region's native salmon to go the way of the dodo or the passenger pigeon. We have a chance to save a species from extinction and should seize the opportunity to return the watershed to its proper balance." Restoration is a complex task, one that requires us to consider a wide range of environmental, social, technical and economic factors. SYRCL is currently involved in two separate restoration programs.
The Upper Yuba River Studies Program is a stakeholder-guided group formed to oversee studies on the feasibility of reintroducing salmon to the upper watershed above Englebright Dam.
The Lower Yuba Technical Working Group is another stakeholder group concentrating on improving the fishery and environment in the Lower Yuba including improving fish passage around Daguerre Point Dam.
Find out more:
Spring 2003 Sierra Citizen: "Restoring the Yuba’s Wild Fisheries."
Spring 2001 Sierra Citizen: "Restoring Salmon to the Upper Yuba."
Winter 2001 Sierra Citizen: "Deciphering the Daguerre Dam Dilemma."
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