Hoopa Valley Tribe receives funding for improved salmon passage

Hoopa Valley Tribe receives funding for improved salmon passage

by Dan Bacher

Salmon and steelhead will soon be able to "stretch their fins" into the upper reaches of Hostler Creek, a tributary to the Trinity River located on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation, thank to a final piece of grant funding awarded through partnership funds from American Rivers and the NOAA Restoration Center, according to a news release from the Hoopa Valley Tribe.

The Tribe said an antiquated, artificial waterfall that once served as part of an irrigation diversion limits fish access to just one mile of Hostler Creek. As a result, salmon and steelhead are cut off from high quality spawning and rearing habitat further upstream, just beyond reach.

“Removing fish passage barriers is an essential tool to restoring the salmon and steelhead populations of the Trinity River basin. We are honored to be one of only six projects selected for funding nationwide,” said Andrea Hilton, Senior Hydrologist for the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s Fisheries Department

This funding was matched by an award made by the Pacific Coast Salmon Recovery Fund through the Klamath River Intertribal Fish and Water Commission to make the project possible.

The project will be implemented during August and September 2012 and is anticipated to restore an additional two to three miles of fish habitat to Hostler Creek. The total cost of the project is approximately $250,000, according to the Tribe.

The Trinity River is the largest tributary of the Klamath River. This year fishery biologists are forecasting four times more fall run chinook salmon on the Klamath than last year – and an astounding 15 times more than in 2006. The ocean salmon population is estimated to be 1.6 million adult Klamath River fall Chinook, compared to last year's forecast of 371,100.

Meanwhile, high spring flows continue down the Trinity River. The restoration releases from Lewiston Dam, approved by the Trinity Management Council on April 17 for a "normal" water year, reached the peak flow of 6,000 cubic feet per second May 6-9 and will decrease to a summer base-flow of 450 cfs by July 26. A flow schedule is available on the Trinity River Restoration Plan (TRRP) current release schedule page, http://www.trrp.net/?page_id=150.