Saturday, August 24
Restoring Mill Creek along the Valley Floor in Hoopa, CA (9:30am - 12:30pm)
Justin Alvarez, Hoopa Tribe
Mill Creek in the valley bottom of Hoopa was channelized in response to the 1964 flood and was completely detached from its floodplain. The Hoopa Valley Tribe secured funding from the state and NOAA to remove one of the dikes, move the main stem stream, and reconnect the stream to 11 acres of its historical area. Two years post construction the site has experienced some evolution in channel form and excellent riparian recovery. This tour will involve walking the rehabilitation site to look at specific construction features, large wood placement, and locations of notable change from construction. We will also cover design considerations and lessons learned.
Klamath Floodplain Pond at Stanshaw Creek and Thermal Refugia Tour (1:30 - 4:30pm)
James Peterson, MKWK
"This tour will focus on the importance of thermal refuge sites utilized by salmonids to escape poor summer conditions in the mainstem Klamath, and highlight MKWCs manual fish passage and habitat enhancement work. Tour will stop at Aikens Creek, Bluff Creek, Stanshaw Creek and Sandy Bar Creek to discuss the history of these sites and snorkel the refuge areas looking for adult and juvenile salmon currently present in the river."
Logistics: Meet Jimmy at Aikens Creek Campground (five minutes north of 96 bridge crossing the klamath at Trinity confluence). Will look at Aikens refugia pool, hike to the mouth of Bluff Creek and then drive north to Stanshaw and Sandy Bar Creek. We can snorkel all the sites if people are interested or focus on a few. Bluff should have a lot of fish at the mouth and Stanshaw and Sandy Bar both have coho currently rearing in the floodplain ponds. participants are encourgaged to bring snorkels and masks if they have them and bring clothes to swim with. MKWC can provide approximately 10 masks.
Horse Creek Tour: Can’t Keep a Good Creek Down! Restoring Coho Populations in Horse Creek After Severe Impacts from Mining, Channelization, Human Development and Fire
Will Harling and Mitzi Wickman, Mid-Klamath Watershed Council
Horse Creek is evidence that the strategy of "Protect the best, then restore the rest" needs revisiting. While we should protect wild places, focusing on restoring sites with the highest potential for producing coho salmon, no matter how impacted they are, is key to restoring coho runs in the Klamath Basin. Despite significant impacts, Horse Creek continues to pump out healthy coho smolt with a little help from recent restoration efforts.
Sunday, August 25
Trinity River Restoration Project Field Tour from Lewiston to Junction City
DJ Bandrowski, Yurok Tribe
This tour will look at a variety of large scale habitat restoration projects spanning a decade of implementation from 2005 through 2019. The project review will encompass project sites from Lewiston to Junction City.
The driving tour will begin in Lewiston near the Lewiston/Trinity Dam and proceed downriver to Junction City. The tour will look at approximately 10 different project sites with a variety of restoration techniques ranging from floodplain lowering to in-channel flow splits and large wood jam implementation. We will end the tour visiting an active construction site in Junction City called the Chapman Ranch project.
Exploring the Use of Beaver Dam Analogues as a Restoration Tool in McGarvey Creek, Lower Klamath River
Rocco Fiori, Fiori GeoSciences and Sarah Beesley, Yurok Tribal Fisheries Program
Attendees on the McGarvey Creek BDA field tour will be able to see the two BDA sites constructed in fall 2018 as well as other constructed features within the project reach (i.e. off-channel wetlands & constructed wood jams). We will be discussing everything from planning, design, permitting, construction, lessons learned, and monitoring. If time allows, we could also explore future BDA sites within West Fork McGarvey Creek.
Attendees should bring waders or knee boots OR be prepared to get your feet wet. Some of the sites allow for keeping your feet dry but if you want to explore, it’s best to be prepared to get wet. Also be prepared for mosquitoes and stinging nettle – long sleeves & pants are suggested. This tour will require light hiking – mostly up/down forest trails and along or in the creek.