Picture: NPS Local weather Change Response/Flickr
Cedar Creek is a tributary to the South Fork of the Eel River, positioned in Mendocino County, California. The Eel has been within the information of late after a choice by California utility firm Pacific Gasoline & Electrical (PGE) to take away all dams on that river.
Whereas these dams have but to be eliminated, different dams alongside the Eel River hall have been eliminated lately. A kind of was the Cedar Creek Hatchery Dam, positioned on Cedar Creek. This dam was eliminated in 2022 by CalTrout and their companions, and its removing has opened up miles of chilly water habitat to salmon and trout.
Now, CalTrout is reporting that juvenile coho salmon have been noticed upstream of that dam removing website on Cedar Creek. Per a weblog put up from CalTrout, “CalTrout workers performed a snorkel survey of Cedar Creek from its confluence with the South Fork Eel River, by means of the previous dam website, and as much as the Freeway 101 crossing. Throughout this survey, 34 juvenile coho salmon have been noticed, many of which have been upstream of the previous dam website. Juvenile steelhead and resident rainbow trout have been additionally noticed all through the survey, each under and above the previous dam website.
“Earlier surveys of Cedar Creek didn’t routinely detect coho salmon adults or juveniles, and none had been noticed previously 15 years. Though we can’t rule out the likelihood that coho had been current throughout latest surveys, there would have been so few as to not be detectable.”
Whereas CalTrout is cautious to not take an excessive amount of credit score for this, we should always give them among the credit score that’s due right here. The chance of juvenile salmon bypassing the hatchery dam is low, and only a bit greater than a yr after the dam’s removing, we’re seeing juvenile salmon make the most of their new habitat. That is additional proof that if we may give salmon and steelhead again a few of their habitat, these fish are greater than able to shortly re-establishing themselves.
You possibly can learn the remainder of this story right here.
