Wednesday December 4, 2024
Water Forum —
The Water Forum has completed the construction of its 2024 Habitat Project at River Bend on the Lower American River. Monitoring is now underway to assess the project’s effectiveness in improving spawning and rearing conditions for fall-run Chinook salmon and steelhead trout.
“This site is the farthest downstream of our current habitat program sites and it plays a crucial role because it’s one of the first suitable areas our adult salmonids encounter as they migrate upstream to spawn,” said Erica Bishop, Water Forum Program Manager for Habitat and Science. “By enhancing conditions here, we’re diversifying and expanding spawning opportunities across the upper river.”
Salmonids need clean, loose, “right-size” gravel to lay eggs. The addition of clean gravel and cobble in the river improves localized water quality conditions at habitat sites. The mix of rock sizes within the new substrate supports oxygenation of the water flowing through the spawning riffle, which is vital for the health of incubating eggs. Once those eggs hatch, the juvenile fish need somewhere nearby to hide from predators and grow.