DOWNIEVILLE — On Saturday, FISHBIO and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), partners in the Yuba Salmon Study, gave a presentation in Downieville on a spring-run Chinook salmon reintroduction pilot study they had performed over the last year. The study installed Rotary Screw Traps (RSTs) in the North Yuba River to determine whether they could be operated through the winter. The traps aim to catch young salmon spawned in the river and transport them below the Englebright Dam on their way to the ocean.

First, Matt Peterson, the scientific director of FISHBIO, explained what was learned from installing RSTs in the river last year. FISHBIO was responsible for installing and managing two traps, one at Rocky Rest Campground and the other along Old Toll Bridge Road near Goodyears Bar.

According to Peterson, the traps performed mostly as expected. Several kinks were worked out during the trial period, including issues with trap sinking due to debris, guide wire placement, and the team’s ability to move the traps in challenging river conditions.

The installed RSTs were not actively trapping fish in the last year; the screen at the back of the trap that catches the fish was removed. Instead, the FISHBIO team determined the limits of the trap by only placing them in the river during high river-flow events. They discovered that traps could fish at the Old Toll Bridge Road location up to 6,000 cubic feet per second of river flow, while the Rocky Rest location would have a lower limit.

Next, a CDFW supervisor outlined the plan for future pilots. In summary, a 15-year trial period was laid out, during which salmon would be planted in the North Yuba River before they would “independently” return to the river to spawn.

Depending on available funding, salmon could be planted as soon as this year. In the first trials, salmon eggs will be planted in locations that CDFW believes are suitable for spawning. The eggs will be sourced from the Feather River Hatchery, and the juveniles will be captured immediately after hatching and transported downstream so biologists can determine an accurate survival rate.

Once survival rates are sufficient, CDFW will attempt to catch juvenile Chinook with RSTs, of which they plan to place several more. The fish caught would be transported below the Englebright Dam, and uncaught salmon would live their adult lives at New Bullards Bar Reservoir.

Once salmon have reached the ocean, they return to spawn in as little as two to three years. The fish would travel up to Englebright Dam, where they would be trapped and transported above New Bullards Bar Dam. Their biology then guides them to their spawning grounds up the North Yuba River, completing the lifecycle.

CDFW believes that finding a circumstance that would cause the reintroduction to halt is exceedingly unlikely, but finding funding is problematic. The 15 years of trials need yearly infusions, and a budget would need to be established for trapping and hauling fish every year should the project go into full effect. CDFW doesn’t yet know if they have the funding to complete trials planned for this year.

It is difficult to expect such a project to survive 15 years of administrative turnover and changing California government priorities just to complete the trials alone. Still, progress has at least been made.