Scott V
07-06-2010, 02:30 PM
MANTON, Calif. -- State workers have begun an $80 million project to remove dams in a Northern California creek in hopes of reviving struggling salmon and steelhead populations.
The California Department of Fish and Game expects the fish -- which start life in fresh water before swimming to the sea -- to return after the five dams are removed from Battle Creek in Tehama County.
Officials said the project should draw roughly 2,500 threatened spring-run chinook salmon, 2,000 endangered winter-run chinook salmon and 5,000 steelhead to the creek.
Wildcat Dam is the first dam slated for destruction. Three other dams will remain on the upper creek, but ladders and screens will help to reroute the seabound swimmers around the dams.
The work, which began this month, is scheduled for completion by the end of 2014.
The California Department of Fish and Game expects the fish -- which start life in fresh water before swimming to the sea -- to return after the five dams are removed from Battle Creek in Tehama County.
Officials said the project should draw roughly 2,500 threatened spring-run chinook salmon, 2,000 endangered winter-run chinook salmon and 5,000 steelhead to the creek.
Wildcat Dam is the first dam slated for destruction. Three other dams will remain on the upper creek, but ladders and screens will help to reroute the seabound swimmers around the dams.
The work, which began this month, is scheduled for completion by the end of 2014.