Monday December 18, 2023
Modesto Bee via Yahoo News —
The main diverters of the Tuolumne River will pay for $80 million worth of habitat projects for its fish.
The work will run until 2030 for the Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts and the city of San Francisco. They hope the projects will fend off calls from environmental groups to release more reservoir water for fish downstream.
The three announced the plan in a news release Wednesday, Dec. 13. It involves the 52 miles from Don Pedro Reservoir to the Tuolumne’s confluence with the San Joaquin River.
The agencies have long expected to fund such efforts under state and federal rules for river users. The projects will include restoring gravel beds where salmon spawn and riverside forest that shelters newly hatched fish.