Monday December 16, 2024
Turlock Journal —
Construction of the Tuolumne River Mainstem Channel Restoration project, which aims to provide healthy habitat in which fish can thrive, was completed this week by partners Turlock Irrigation District, Modesto Irrigation District and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
The three utilities provided more than 7.5 acres of mainstem restoration, more than 2.5 acres of floodplain habitat, and more than 50,000 cubic yards of spawning gravel, which is expected to result in a five-fold increase of trout and salmon habitat about 1.5 miles upstream of Old La Grange Bridge.
“We remain committed to be good stewards of the Tuolumne and implement solutions to provide a healthy river habitat,” said TID General Manager Brad Koehn. “There is new spawning and in-channel habitat, and we’re encouraged as we’re already seeing fish spawning in the new gravel.”
Spawning habitats were created by cleaning, washing and returning gravel to the lower Tuolumne — in the form of riffles and gravel bars where the fish thrive — that originally was removed from the river during California’s Gold Rush of the mid to late 19th century. In addition to the creation of a spawning habitat, large wood features and boulder clusters were added to increase in-channel habitat diversity.