Wednesday October 19, 2022
KCRA 3 —
An effort to remove a nearly century-old barrier to salmon spawning, while still meeting the needs of competing water interests, is nearing completion within the Auburn Ravine near the city of Lincoln.
“It’s been amazing … to see the commitment and the construction is very cool to see it at work,” said Steve Hubbard, Gold Country Images photographer and member of the Friends of the Auburn Ravine.
Hubbard has been documenting the work of the Nevada Irrigation District’s Hemphill Dam Improvement Project.
Since the 1930s, a water-diversion dam, located several miles east of downtown Lincoln, has been a barrier limiting the number of salmon and Steelhead that swim upstream every fall and winter, said Hubbard.
The process to complete an analysis for an alternative Hemphill diversion and re-establish natural habitat began in 2016 and is nearing completion.