Low flow crossing in the Calaveras River (photo: USFWS)

by Ramon Martin, USFWS-Stockton, AFRP Lodi
The Service's Anadromous Fish Restoration Program (AFRP) in Lodi, California, has partnered with Stockton East Water District, Fisheries Foundation of California, the University of the Pacific, California Department of Fish and Game, and the California Department of Water Resources to tour and assess fish passage impediments in the lower Calaveras River.

AFRP staff and partners evaluated the feasibility and priorities of proposed designs to replace and/or retrofit one or more of these migration impediments to fall-run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and threatened steelhead trout (O. mykiss).  This partnership has committed to working together to restore passage to about 10 miles of habitat for anadromous fish populations in the lower Calaveras River.

As a collaborative project, it will also serve as a community-based restoration model to demonstrate that agricultural, governmental, environmental, and educational interests can effectively work together to implement projects that benefit and foster sustainable fish populations without adversely affecting water supplies or land access.