The Water Forum has been awarded a $650,000 federal grant for the study and design of up to 30 acres of enhanced habitat for juvenile salmonids along a 17-mile stretch of the Lower American River (LAR) as part of its ongoing Salmonid Habitat Enhancement Program (Program) activities.
The grant, funded through Bipartisan Infrastructure Law investments in the Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART program, will support the development of plans to improve rearing habitats for young salmon and trout, including side channels and seasonal benches, large woody habitat, and extensive native vegetation plantings, where juvenile fish can find shelter from predators, find food, and grow prior to their long journey to the Pacific Ocean.
“This project is significant because it focuses on rearing habitat for young salmon and steelhead, which is limited in the LAR and is as crucial to the survival of these native species as upstream spawning areas,” said Erica Bishop, the Water Forum’s program manager for science and habitat.
The Water Forum’s current Program sites include constructed elements to improve both spawning conditions for adult salmonids and rearing for juveniles.
“This new funding is perfectly timed since it allows us to leverage data from multiple Program efforts, including our ongoing Emigrating Salmonid Habitat Estimation model update, lessons learned from the construction of over 50 acres of habitat since 2019, and robust LAR-specific fisheries and physical data collection, to inform an expansion of the Program to high-quality sites outside our current implementation footprint,” Bishop said.
The project will include an evaluation of current LAR rearing habitat conditions, adjacent sensitive resource evaluations, refinement of conceptual designs, and identification of priority sites to be targeted within the next 10 years.
“The information developed with this WaterSMART grant will support the next phase of Water Forum’s habitat Program plans by helping to advance existing concepts to a “shovel ready” level of design, leaving the Program well-positioned for implementation funding,” Bishop noted.
The project will be informed by partner agency and targeted stakeholder input and will build upon the findings of a 2020 Water Forum report on potential rearing habitat needs.
This grant is part of a broader $92 million federal investment to restore and protect aquatic ecosystems across the West. For a complete list of WaterSMART projects, click here. For more information on the Water Forum’s habitat program, please visit https://waterforum.org/habitat-enhancement/.