Lake County staff present 2026 Clear Lake hitch community-science spawner program results
Summary
Lake County Watershed Protection District staff summarized the 2026 community-science spawner observation program for the Clear Lake hitch, reporting 1,152 adult hitch observed at eight sites and outlining training, QA/QC and public outreach plans. Board and public commenters urged linking monitoring to restoration maps and complementary methods like eDNA.
Lake County Watershed Protection District staff on the board's agenda presented results from the 2026 Clear Lake hitch community-science spawner observation program and described how the volunteer-run survey is designed to track relative trends in hitch spawning activity.
Pawan Padya, Lake County water resources director, opened by noting the hitch was declared threatened under the California Endangered Species Act in 2014 and that the board declared a local emergency in February 2023 citing drought and habitat loss. "This is the second year for our community science program," Padya said, and staff framed the effort as a long-term monitoring and public-engagement tool to inform conservation strategies.
Chris Childers, Lake County water resources program coordinator, said the program requires one annual training (classroom plus in-field component), uses pre-selected, repeatable sites and relies on volunteers to monitor once weekly for 10 weeks beginning March 9. "Community science is is very simply public public participation in scientific research," Childers said, explaining volunteer roles, confidence ratings and QA/QC procedures that include random district field checks.
Taylor Woodruff, Hitch program technician, reviewed spatial coverage and results: "From March 9th to May 17th, 2026, a total of 1,152 adult hitch were documented at eight sites on six tributaries," he said, adding that most detections were at Adobe Creek, including two peak counts of 500 at site 2 on March 9 and March 16.
Staff emphasized that community-science results are a relative abundance index rather than an absolute population estimate because survey timing, visibility, flows and site coverage affect detectability. The district also conducts its own earlier surveys; staff said district surveys began Feb. 27 and captured portions of the run community volunteers missed.
The presentation concluded with a timeline for publishing reports on the county website, contact information for volunteer signups and an invitation to community members to participate in 2027 trainings.
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