Lake County outlines multiple creek and shoreline restoration projects and reservoir feasibility work tied to hitch habitat

Lake County Watershed Protection District staff described a program of creek and shoreline projects intended to reduce sediment, improve fish passage and restore habitat for the Clear Lake hitch.

Angela de Palma Dowell summarized historic hydro‑modification in the basin — long straightened, deepened channels designed to convey water quickly — and explained how straightening and sediment accumulation reduce wetted habitat, groundwater recharge and the areas where hitch can spawn and juveniles can rear. “We don’t make enough money to do that, so that is not a realistic goal for all of the creeks,” she said, referring to continuous channel excavation and maintenance.

District projects and funding described at the meeting included: a Caltrans mitigation grant (about $250,000) to improve habitat at the Clover Creek diversion; a Wildlife Conservation Board task (about $1.2 million) to study flows and barriers in Scotts Creek and Tule Lake and design replacement or removal of a squashed culvert; a Middle Creek restoration acquisition and restoration program funded by Army Corps dollars (district staff cited roughly $20 million in acquisition funding); a Department of Pesticide Regulation shoreline grant (about $350,000) to remove invasive shoreline plants and replant native tules (including work at Clear Lake State Park and private properties); and a $600,000 Wildlife Conservation Board planning/design contract to replace the Bell Hill Road culvert on Adobe Creek with a bottomless or bridged structure to restore passage while protecting nearby property. The district also described an approximately $1 million feasibility planning fund to evaluate raising and changing operations at Highland Springs and Adobe Creek reservoirs so reservoirs can be managed to better support spawning flows and groundwater recharge.

Angela said the district is forming a Coal Creek advisory collaborative with state and federal agencies, tribes and property owners focused on about 1.5 miles of heavily sedimented channel between Mount Konocti and Soda Bay Road. The district is also sequencing blackberry removal projects (which trap sediment) and mechanical removal of roots and sediment where partners can remove both vegetation and the accumulated material that reduces channel capacity.

Ending: County staff said engineering design and hydrologic study are prerequisites for many projects, that grants and multi‑agency partnerships are funding current work, and that the district will continue outreach to property owners and partners; Chris Childers described a county community‑science hitch survey to collect repeatable presence/absence and count data at bridge crossings.