The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) today announced the selection of 15 projects that will receive funding for the restoration, enhancement and protection of salmon and steelhead (anadromous salmonid) habitat in California watersheds. The total funding for these projects amounts to more than $15 million in grant awards.
Among these 15 projects, the Salmon River Restoration Council was awarded $1,888,060 for the Windler Floodplain Habitat Enhancement Project. The project will enhance salmonid rearing habitat at the Windler River bar, on a reach of the North Fork Salmon River, by lowering the floodplain and increasing connectivity. The project also includes riparian revegetation, which will increase shade and diversity along channels and across the river bar.
“As climate-driven disruptions to California’s ecosystems continue to evolve, so must our efforts to support the critical work our partners are doing to restore and protect habitat throughout our rivers and streams,” said CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham. “Supporting these restoration efforts is a necessary and critical step forward to improving native fish health and resiliency. With these funds, we are enhancing the incredible resilience of these species for more sustainable populations over time.”
Projects were awarded through CDFW’s Fisheries Restoration Grant Program (FRGP). This program was first established in 1981and since 2000, has included funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund, established by Congress to reverse the declines of Pacific salmon and steelhead throughout California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska. This award also includes funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act to help support the recovery, conservation and resilience of Pacific salmon and steelhead.
In response to the 2024 Fisheries Habitat Restoration Grant Solicitation, CDFW received 48 proposals requesting more than $39 million in funding. The proposals underwent a thorough technical review involving subject matter experts from CDFW and NOAA. For additional information and a complete list of all FRGP-awarded projects, visit FRGP’s Funded Project Summaries webpage.
Highlighted Project Summaries
Ventura River Arundo Removal and Riparian Restoration - South Santa Ana Site
($846,598 to Ojai Valley Land Conservancy)
The project will treat and remove 2 acres of arundo and more than 30 invasive plants identified throughout the 5-acre worksite along the Ventura River. It will also restore 2.7 acres of riparian habitat by planting 300 native plants and seeding native grasses.
South Fork Usal Creek Log Jam-boree
($1,669,436 to Trout Unlimited, Inc.)
The project will install approximately eight engineered large wood jams and 142 non-engineered log jams within 3.5 miles of South Fork Usal Creek, covering almost all the anadromous channel. This is expected to increase stream habitat complexity, pool frequency, pool depth, over-summer rearing habitat and winter high-flow velocity for salmonids within the project area.
Albion River Instream Coho Habitat Enhancement Project
($1,281,076 to Trout Unlimited, Inc.)
The project will install approximately 53 engineered large wood structures composed of approximately 200 logs that will promote deposition of coarse sediment to create an alluvial channel bed through select reaches on the Fork Albion River. Additionally, two undersized and failing culverts will be replaced.
Huckleberry Creek Coho Refugia Project
($194,030 to Eel River Watershed Improvement Group)
The project is designed to improve the geomorphic function and ecological complexity in Huckleberry Creek for salmonid habitat through a process-based approach. A total of approximately 32 large wood structures will be constructed along a 1.2-mile reach of Huckleberry Creek. The roughness elements added to the stream will increase pool and flatwater area and depth, increase shelter complexity, sort substrate for spawning habitat, increase the frequency of side channel and flood plain inundation and provide refugia during high flows.
Robinson Creek Instream Habitat Enhancement
($236,622 to The Conservation Fund)
To increase salmonid spawning habitat, the project is designed to install 106 large wood debris structures at 38 selected sites in Robinson Creek.
Chamberlain Creek Fish Passage Implementation Project
($1,378,920 to the Mendocino Land Trust)
The project will remove a current fish passage barrier and replace it with a new engineer-designed road-stream crossing culvert that will allow for unimpeded upstream/downstream migration of all aquatic species, including salmonids such as coho salmon, as well as Pacific lamprey.
North Fork Elk River Channel Instream Habitat and Upslope Restoration Project
($1,455,436 to Trout Unlimited, Inc.)
The project will enhance and improve instream salmonid habitat within a 1.8-mile reach of the lower North Fork Elk River by installing over 50 large wood structures and decommissioning portions of the Elk River Mainline Road, which runs parallel to the channel and encroaches onto the floodplain.
Sebbas Creek Off-Channel Project
($799,895 to the Eel River Watershed Improvement Group)
The project will create approximately 20,000 square feet of off-channel habitat, depending on stream flow conditions in Sebbas Creek, and includes installation of three engineered deflector jams and grading and the installation of several engineered “roughness” element log features. Additionally, there will be two grade-control log structures.
Soda Creek Fish Passage and Habitat Enhancement Project
($1,452,926 to Trout Unlimited, Inc.)
The project will replace a rusted, failing culvert that is a partial barrier to coho salmon and steelhead, as well as restore 500 feet of channel by constructing four alcoves with pools and large wood structures near the mouth of Soda Creek.
LA River California Environmental Flows Framework Study
($785,000 to Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority)
The project will utilize the California Environmental Flows Framework to inform tradeoffs between ecological and non-ecological goals. Project outcomes will help define environmental flow recommendations to inform future decision making, while emphasizing ecological attributes.
California Conservation Corps Fortuna Fish Habitat Assistant
($273,374 to California Conservation Corps - Fortuna)
The Fish Habitat Assistant will independently develop and implement at least two fish habitat restoration projects, conduct public outreach, assist with project implementation and monitoring, train staff in stream habitat restoration techniques and attend workshops.
California Conservation Corps Watershed Stewards Program in Partnership with AmeriCorps
($688,041 to California Conservation Corps)
The California Conservation Corps Watershed Stewards Program (WSP) in Partnership with AmeriCorps, will engage 44 WSP corpsmembers throughout coastal California to enhance anadromous watersheds through restoration and protection, support community education and outreach events, recruit volunteers for hands-on restoration projects and professional development.
SRF 2025 and 2026 Coho Confabs
($46,940 to Salmonid Restoration Federation)
The project will produce two annual Coho Confabs to educate and train restoration specialists and watershed restoration groups on coho salmon recovery strategies, restoration techniques, and best management practices to restore coho habitat and recover the species.
Northern California Rural Land and Water Best Management Practices Education Series: Phase 2
($99,967 to Salmonid Restoration Federation)
The project will educate interested parties in Humboldt, Trinity, Del Norte, Mendocino and Siskiyou counties about coho recovery strategies, including flow enhancement and habitat restoration techniques, as well as associated legal considerations such as water rights, regulatory compliance and permitting. The Salmonid Restoration Federation will create education materials, curriculum, and a series of workshops on water transactions, a sediment and erosion control field school, a large wood field school, and beaver co-existence and beaver dam analog techniques workshops. These materials and workshops are designed to reach landowners, tribal restoration crews, municipalities, watershed planners and ranchers.
The awarded projects further the objectives of state and federal fisheries recovery plans that focus on removing barriers to fish migration, restoring riparian habitat, recovering wildfire impacts detrimental to rivers, and creating a more resilient and sustainably managed water resources system (e.g., water supply, water quality and habitat) that can better withstand drought conditions. These projects also further the goals of the California Water Resilience Portfolio, State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP), California’s Salmon Strategy for a Hotter, Drier Future and fulfillment of CDFW’s mission.
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Media Contacts:
Matt Wells, Watershed Restoration Grants Branch, (916) 216-7848
Krysten Kellum, CDFW Communications, (916) 825-7120