Field Tour Coordinator: Greyson Doolittle, North State Planning Collective, California State University, Chico

 

Since 2017, around 15 side channels have been restored to create juvenile salmonid rearing habitat on the Sacramento River between Red Bluff and Redding. We would like to invite interested SRF members on a tour by motorboat from Bonnyview boat ramp to Anderson River Park to view three different restored side channel complexes. The first stop features the recently restored Shea Island Complex, where construction allowed the perennial inundation of 3 channels previously only accessible to migrating fish during high flows. The second stop features 3 restored side channels varying in age, and also gives an additional look at two natural side channels for comparison. The third stop features Anderson River Park Complex, where fish strandings were combatted with 3 side channels that were restored in 2019 and 2020, bringing life to this large channel complex for both fish and recreationists alike. Features that will be highlighted on this tour are centered around juvenile habitat and include large woody and cobble placements, engineered shallow-water benches, snags, and riparian plantings, as well as placed gravel pads for spawning, and additional challenges that engineers had to overcome at each sight. The tour will likely take 5-6 hours on the water, including a stop to eat sack lunches. Thus, allowing for about an hour at each boat launch to get everyone loaded up. The amount of participants will ultimately depend on boat availability, but the max group size will likely be between 20-40 people. Alternatively, if a boat tour is not logistically feasible, the sites could be effectively toured via carpool convoy, but the tours would not be nearly as extensive, and would not include either of the natural side channels.