West Weaver Creek Salmonid Habitat Rehabilitation Project

The Trinity County Resource Conservation District is proposing a project on West Weaver Creek (a tributary to the Trinity River), which includes channel and floodplain rehabilitation.

The headwaters of West Weaver Creek provide high water quality ideal for supporting coho salmon and steelhead. It is located in the Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast coho salmon Evolutionary Unit (ESU) and the Klamath Mountains Province steelhead Distinct Population Segment (DPS). There are no major migration barriers to anadromous fish downstream of the project reach.

This reach of West Weaver Creek has been severely impacted by historical hydraulic mining operations and multiple recent wildfires. The existing stream in the project reach is incised with predominantly exposed bedrock and tall banks of coarse substrate. Incoming sediment is efficiently transported through the project reach. Despite its location in the mountain watershed, the altered setting does not have hillslopes to supply colluvium needed to maintain a natural stream bed. This has led to several elements of impaired fish habitat: reduced fish passage, lack of alluvium needed for spawning and macroinvertebrate production, and a lack of summer rearing habitat. Areas adjacent to the stream lack the conditions (i.e., soil and available water) for riparian and upland species to establish (aside from some primary succession species such coyote brush and poison oak). The extent of damage to West Weaver Creek, primarily by hydraulic mining activities, prevents "restoring" the stream at this location to its pre-disturbance condition. However, despite its extremely degraded condition, the project reach does contain a positive attribute: an adjacent floodplain that runs along the east (left) bank. Implementing the proposed rehabilitation actions that make use of this opportunity will significantly improve the condition of the project reach.

Project Summary

Last Updated: 9/18/2017