Friday, January 7, 2011

Salmon-Redux, Marsh Creek, Brentwood, CA

With the opportunity to get back down to California's Bay Area I decided to take a look at the completed Fish-Ladder in Brentwood.
This is a project that had been conceived by the Natural Heritage Institute to enable the upper reaches of Marsh Creek to become available to spawning Chinook.
The flow of the river had been mitigated by a drop structure which featured a concrete shelf on the downstream side that prevented the migrating Salmon from being able to generate enough speed to propel themselves over.
Now with a fish ladder they will be able to make it to the shady and gravelly upper reaches of the watershed, just the kind of neighborhood a young salmon family is looking for.