Monday June 5, 2023
Red Bluff Daily News —
In collaboration with project partners, the Resource Conservation District of Tehama County is facilitating the planning process and construction of an improved fish passage and vehicle crossing at the Dye Creek and Shasta Boulevard Weir Crossing north of Los Molinos.
One hundred percent of designs are complete, with permits currently underway, according to a press release issued by Wednesday RCDTC. An environmental impact analysis has begun.
The existing culverts at the crossing are undersized and plugged with stream sediment during high-flow periods. In addition, the trenches are too high for upstream fish passage under most flow conditions. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife determined that the weir crossing impedes fish passage during low or receding flows. During these events, it acts as a barrier and separates upstream from downstream fish habitat and the larger Sacramento River watershed.
Project partners KSN Engineering, Tehama Environmental Solutions, Tehama County Public Works, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife determined that it would be financially and ecologically beneficial to replace the two underperforming culverts with eight concrete box culverts lined in native channel bed material while keeping the current vehicle low water crossing intact, the release said. On behalf of the project partners, the RCDTC recently received $2.65 million in Prop 68 grant funds through the State of California Wildlife Conservation Board to implement the Dye Creek and Shasta Boulevard Weir Crossing project. The crossing modification is tentatively slated to be completed by June 30, 2024.