Nov. 2012 Coastal Off-channel and Tidal Habitat Restoration Symposium

November 15-16, 2012

Videos

PowerPoint Files Available for Download

A BioGeomorphic Approach to Creating Off-Channel Habitats in Tributaries of the Lower Klamath River, Northern California
Rocco Fiori, Engineering Geologist/Operating Engineer, Fiori GeoSciences, et. al.

Modern Tidegates & Muted Tidal Regulators (MTR’s)
Leo Kuntz, Tidegate Specialist Nehalem Marine Manufacturing

Regulatory Compliance in the Coastal Zone
Aldaron Laird, Environmental Planner, Trinity Associates

Restoring Salmon Creeks Tidal Processes to Create a Diversity of Estuarine Habitats
Michael Love P.E., Michael Love & Associates, Inc.

Addressing Geomorphic and Hydraulic Controls in Off-Channel Habitat Design
Conor Shea  - Hydrologist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Conservation Partnerships Program

Off-Channel and Side Channel Habitat Design Plan Criteria
California Department of Fish and Game

Response of Juvenile Salmonids to Habitat Restoration in Humboldt Bay, CA
Michael Wallace, California Department of Fish and Game

Agenda

Salmonid Restoration Federation, Five Counties Salmonid Program, and the California Department of Fish and Game are sponsoring a Coastal Off-Channel Habitat and Tidal Restoration Symposium on the North Coast on November 15-16, 2012. This symposium will include workshop presentations on fish passage design and engineering, tidal estuarine restoration, creation of offchannel habitat for salmonids, and experimental wood-loading designs. This workshop will feature innovative leaders in these restoration techniques including engineer Mike Love, fisheries biologist Mike Wallace, licensed geologist Rocco Fiori, project manager Mitch Farro, fluvial geomorphologist Conor Shea, and tidegate specialist Leo Kuntz.

Participants will tour of some of the completed project sites in the Humboldt Bay Wildlife Refuge including specially designed tide gates that mute the peak tides to avoid flooding adjacent infrastructure. Recently, construction was completed on over 3,500 feet of new channels and over two acres of off-channel habitat located in the freshwater to brackish water transitional zone of the estuary. Since completion, DFG has been monitoring fish use and water quality within these off-channel features, finding a positive response for salmonids and other sensitive estuarine fish. The project tour will include discussions of the geomorphic and engineering design process, lessons learned to date regarding sedimentation patterns and water quality, the biological monitoring techniques being employed, and fish utilization patterns being observed in these newly formed tidally influenced off-channel habitats.

McDaniel Slough is a tidal slough located on the north shore of the Humboldt Bay’s upper bay. The McDaniel Slough Wetland Enhancement Project will restore and enhance over 400 acres of coastal and riparian wetland habitats on the northern portion of Humboldt Bay. Projects improvements include construction of a setback levee, breaching of the bay-front levee, and construction of interior tidal channels and off-channel habitats.

The second day of the symposium will include a tour of Humboldt Bay tributaries and estuaries including Jacoby Creek and McDaniel Slough. Jacoby Creek is one of the larger tributaries to Humboldt Bay and supports coastal cutthroat trout, steelhead trout, coho salmon, and Chinook salmon. In 2011, the City of Arcata and USFWS restored 15 acres of tidal marsh and associated tidal channels by constructing a new set-back levee. The Jacoby Creek Estuary project is one component of a series of habitat improvement projects undertaken in the City’s 1300-acre Arcata Baylands Project that strives to restore historical connectivity of bay-side, seasonal freshwater wetlands and to increase the amount of rearing habitat for pre-emigrant salmonids.

There will also be a concurrent tour of process-based restoration near the Klamath River estuary to highlight innovative work undertaken by the Yurok tribe and Geologist Rocco Fiori. These projects are designed to mimic natural processes to restore ecological function. Monitoring of natural ponds revealed that thousands of juvenile coho salmon were utilizing these off-channel ponds. The Yurok Tribal Fisheries Program and Rocco Fiori have been designing and building restoration projects using whole trees and side-channel ponds to create natural conditions that draw salmonids to functioning habitat.