This project represents a decade of work to understand this complex area through extensive monitoring and on-the-ground experience. We’ve worked closely with an incredible team of engineers, landowners, permitting agencies, and funders, to bring this vision to life. On October 25, 2024, we gathered for a small celebration and to mark this milestone, including a symbolic ribbon cutting and a toast to Gaia with a shot of orange juice. As we removed the turbidity curtain, we proudly opened this newly created habitat to Sugar Creek, where juvenile coho salmon are expected to thrive.
We want to extend a huge thank you to the landowners who have allowed this project to take place on their private property. We’re also grateful to our funders, the North Coast Resource Partnership, Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the State Coastal Conservancy. In addition, we’d like to acknowledge other key project partners: Stillwater Sciences, Cascade Stream Solutions, Quartz Valley Indian Reservation, North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The large wood used in this project, along with three other in-stream projects we constructed this year, was sourced from a stand of dead and dying trees on The Wildlands Conservancy. Contributing to forest health on the Beaver Valley Headwaters Preserve while using the wood in our project was a true win-win.
Finally, a huge thank you to North Rivers Construction, our exceptional implementation contractor and truly the best in the business!
Here is a great photo point series that will help show the before and after: Sugar Creek Coho Salmon Refugia Project – Phase I and II – Implementation Photo points – May – October 2024
The ultimate question: What do the fish think about this newly constructed project?
Well, they spoke up loud and clear! Throughout the spawning season, we documented 24 coho salmon redds, 27 live fish, and 12 carcasses within the 0.3-mile channel. This newly created habitat had the highest density of redds recorded in the Scott River Watershed during our surveys for the 2024/2025 season. To read more about how the coho salmon responded this first season, please visit our Sugar Creek Refugia Field Note: Spawning Ground Surveys for 2024/2025
On March 25, 2025, SRWC staff were at the project site and documented some young-of-the-year (YOY) fry “baby fish”, which is early in comparison for what we general see. Subsequently, when SRWC staff had a fish sampling event on April 17, 2025, several YOY were caught in minnow traps. The temperature is the driving factor on when emergence happens and this project has some extremely interested things happening.
To read more about this fascinating observation, please visit SRWC’s field note: Sugar Creek and Sugar Creek Refugia Project: Water Temperature and Timing of Coho Salmon Embryonic Development
