Cedar Creek Restoration, Cedar Creek, CA

The design team of Winzler & Kelly and Michael Love & Associates worked with Pacific Coast Fish, Wildlife and Wetlands Restoration Association, California State Parks, Department of Fish and Game, and the Smith River Alliance to design a crossing at Cedar Creek that would provide unrestricted passage conditions for all migrating salmonids while minimizing impacts to the adjacent stream channel and mature riparian areas.

The results of the project have all been positive. The channel modifications were completed just as the inaugural storm events of the season arrived. Water flowed freely through this channel reach for the first time in 59 years. In the new channel, water pooled and plunged over the rocks, with lower velocities along the edges providing a path for fish to swim along as they move upstream. Chinook salmon and steelhead trout responded immediately; moving through the project reach as they had decades ago, meeting the goal of the project. Since completing the project, adult Chinook salmon, steelhead, and cutthroat trout have been documented spawning in the excellent upstream habitat.