Friday July 31, 2026
CalTrout —
Beneath a century-old historic bridge in St. Helena, a fish ladder that was meant to help steelhead and Chinook salmon move upstream had slowly become a barrier instead. Shifting flows and debris often clogged the structure, blocking migration and creating a recurring problem for nearby landowners. Clearing the blockage required dangerous manual cleaning by landowners and when the ladder backed up, flooding occurred on the adjacent County road.
By 2012, concerned landowners and community members recognized both the ecological and community impacts, and decided to take action. But like most enduring restoration projects, the highest impact solution would not be a quick fix.
Working alongside the Napa County Resource Conservation District (RCD), landowners and community members initiated a conceptual design process to identify solutions that could restore fish passage while preserving the historic bridge and maintaining property access. Early efforts focused on understanding the problem and exploring options —how do you restore fish passage in a working landscape, without losing the historic character of the bridge or access to the properties it connects? By 2018, California Trout joined the effort to help secure funding, support with the regulatory process, and move the project toward implementation.