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Once again, the Bureau of Reclamation, in conjunction with DWR, NMFS, USFWS, CDFW, will be adding gravel from the quarry at the Olive Access to the stretch of river between the Nimbus Hatchery Weir and the end of Sailor Bar.

This is basically an enhanced repeat of what was the first of 6 installments in 2008 of the Lower American River Anadromous Fish Habitat Restoration Project .

In order of completion, the remaining 5 are:

Lower Sailor Bar/Upper Sunrise = the 1/4-mile stretch above Upper Sunrise Island

The crossing below the Jim Jones Walk Bridge (Lower Sunrise) and south 'side channel' at Lower Sunrise Island (directly across from mile marker 19 on the north side)

The Nimbus Basin and subsequently-created side channel

The area immediately downstream of the Arden/Goethe Bridge

The Sacramento Bar above El Manto on the north side of the river

I know this not because I read about it somewhere but because I've fished the Lower American River 200-300+ days per year for at least... the last 17 years. I have personally witnessed the effects of these so-called restoration projects and sadly, they have failed miserably to accomplish their desired goal of enhancing salmon and steelhead spawning habitat.

What really concerns me about this waste of taxpayers' dollars is

A) It creates a foil for said agencies to hide behind and thus avoid an actual solution to the problem.

B) It perpetuates the fallacy that the American River has ANY potential to sustain a 'wild' population of salmon and or steelhead without reestablishing access to their native headwaters. Besides, without adhering to increased, mandatory flow regimes and creating more nursery habitat, all the gravel in the world will not equate to more fish.

C) It does so at the expense of providing more fish and fishing opportunities for anglers. And sadly, the effects of these projects actually punishes legitimate anglers and rewards poachers and anglers lacking ethics (and no, this is definitely not a fly-guy versus gear-guy issue...). The long. shallow, unprotected runs of gravel created for supposed habitat enhancements actually makes spawning fish more vulnerable to; sight-fishing, flossing, snagging, and being pulled from their beds whether targeted or hooked incidentally.

D) The addition of gravel without thoughtful placement thereof has not only failed to create new habitat but has filled in existing, deeper sections of river which once had active and viable spawning beds thus, leading to a net loss of salmonid habitat. If you doubt this, you do not spend much time on the river.

I always place the needs of the fish before and above the needs of anglers but sadly, both are being compromised by this political, PR stunt so called the, "Lower American River Anadromous Fish
Habitat Restoration Project"