Salmon Spawning Habitat Rehabilitation on the Merced River, California: An Evaluation of Project Planning and Performance
- 1 November 1996
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
- Vol. 125 (6) , 899-912
- https://doi.org/10.1577/1548-8659(1996)125<0899:sshrot>2.3.co;2
Abstract
From 1986 to 1995, over US$2.5 million has been spent or allocated for projects to modify channel conditions to improve spawning habitat for Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha in the Merced, Tuolumne, and Stanislaus rivers, tributaries to the San Joaquin River, California. We evaluated the planning, design and performance of the Riffle 1 B reconstruction on the Merced River. This is typical of the nine individual riffle reconstructions completed to date, involving excavation of the existing channel bed (here, to 0.6 m) and back-filling with smaller gravels believed to be more suitable for salmon spawning. We reviewed project documents, interviewed agency staff, and conducted field surveys to document channel conditions in 1994 for comparison with the project as constructed in 1990. The project planning and design did not consider the site's geomorphic context nor processes of erosion and sediment transport under the current flow regime. As a consequence, spawning-sized gravel placed in the c...Keywords
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