$40 Million Awarded for Sacramento River Habitat Projects by ACWA Staff Oct 30, 2020 Water News The Bureau of Reclamation has announced the selection of four award recipients to implement $40 million in salmon habitat improvement projects along the Sacramento River. The restoration projects will enhance and improve spawning and rearing habitat for salmon at approximately 25 different locations across 132 river miles. Two ACWA member agencies were among the recipients of the awards, which are for approximately $10 million over a five-year period. Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District and Reclamation District 108, on behalf of the Sacramento River Settlement Contractors, will implement seven habitat restoration activities to help restore, maintain, and improve Sacramento River salmon rearing habitat. The projects include increasing access to rearing and spawning habitat and implementing habitat restoration activities, with elements including gravel augmentation along the Sacramento River and side channel restoration activities. Project locations are along the Sacramento River from Keswick Dam down to the Feather River confluence. “Reclamation is pleased to make these awards and draw on the expertise of our partners to carry out this important restoration work on the Sacramento River,” Reclamation Regional Director Ernest Conant stated in a news release. “Our water operations along the Sacramento River are closely intertwined with the health of Chinook salmon populations. We are committed to the restoration actions laid out in our current operating plan to help restore, maintain and improve rearing and spawning habitat.” The recipients selected by Reclamation through a competitive process also included the nonprofit River Partners and Chico State Enterprises, an auxiliary organization of California State University, Chico. “On behalf of the Sacramento River Settlement Contractors, we are elated that Reclamation selected us to implement these projects which have been identified in Central Valley Project Improvement Act workplans,” Thaddeus Bettner, Glenn-Colusa Irrigation District General Manager stated in a news release. “This effort will expand on projects we have been doing since 2014 and are vital to Sacramento River salmon spawning and rearing habitat. With more restoration projects completed the last several years, we continue to see larger populations of out-migrating juvenile fish, and this investment by Reclamation will continue to improve on that trend.” “Reclamation 108, on behalf of the Sacramento River Settlement Contractors, is proud to partner with the Bureau of Reclamation and fellow recipients to continue the important restoration work we have been carrying out on the Sacramento River,” stated Lewis Bair, Reclamation 108 General Manager, in a news release. “The work on the upper Sacramento River along with the teamwork advancing floodplain restoration on the lower Sacramento River provide salmon with a promising future.” The projects are being implemented in accordance with the Central Valley Project Improvement Act and the 2019 Biological Opinions for the Coordinated Operation of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project.
