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SALMON PROTECTION AND WATERSHED NETWORK
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November
30, 2002 Group Maps County Spawning Barriers By Mark Prado A local fish protection group has charted 53 barriers in the Lagunitas Creek watershed that it says keep federally threatened salmon and steelhead from migrating into the San Geronimo Valley to spawn. The barriers are particularly troublesome because the Lagunitas Creek watershed is among the most fertile in all of California for coho salmon. The creek and its tributaries are among the state's prime coho salmon spawning grounds, contributing 10 percent of California's coho population, officials say. Steelhead trout also thrive in the watershed. Now with barriers mapped, fish advocates hope money can be found to remove the impediments. "With the information we have accumulated, we can now move forward with a comprehensive plan to open up important spawning and rearing habitat for salmon," said Reuven Walder, Salmon Protection and Watershed Network watershed biologist and primary author of the report. "These areas of our creeks have been blocked for decades by culverts, small dams and other structures." Thirteen creeks in the San Geronimo Valley were surveyed and 31 culverts - concrete or steel pipes that divert water under road crossings - 12 dams and 10 miscellaneous structures were identified for removal. "If we can muster the resources and political support to repair or replace all these migration barriers, we can open up more than 4.5 miles of habitat that have been completely or partially lost to the fish," said Todd Steiner, director of SPAWN. The report does not look at large dams built to supply drinking water for residents, but rather small dams and culverts that no longer serve any functional purpose or can be replaced with fish-friendly technology. Other barriers, such as culverts that allow the creeks to flow under roads, can easily be replaced by newer designs that allow fish to pass through, Walder said. "Some of these barriers are small dams that were built decades ago, when the area was largely rural," he said. "They were probably used to water livestock, and serve no purpose today." Contact Mark Prado via e-mail at mprado@marinij.com |
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