In the fall of 2017 cramer fish sciences CFS responded to a request for proposals by the USFWS to develop and potentially implement one or more projects designed to enhance or restore habitat for…

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) awarded a $441,737.12 Project Grant under the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) program (CFDA 15.648) to Cramer Fish Sciences, a small for-profit subchapter S corporation. The grant supports a multi-phase project to enhance and restore habitat for outmigrating juvenile salmon and steelhead on the Stanislaus River downstream of the Orange Blossom Bridge in California.

The project involves comprehensive efforts across four phases, including site identification and prioritization, landowner outreach, pre-project monitoring, environmental compliance, engineering design, project implementation, and post-project monitoring. The overarching goal is to address documented hotspots of juvenile salmonid mortality and improve outmigration environments within this critical migratory corridor. The award was made in July 2024 with an ultimate completion date of May 2028, demonstrating the long-term and multi-faceted nature of the habitat restoration work.

In the fall of 2017 cramer fish sciences CFS responded to a request for proposals by the USFWS to develop and potentially implement one or more projects designed to enhance or restore habitat for outmigrating juvenile salmon and steelhead on the stanislaus river downstream of orange blossom bridge. The river below orange blossom bridge termed herein as the migratory corridor is an important river reach for rearing and outmigration of juvenile salmonids that has been documented to contain several hotspots of juvenile salmonid mortality. Our original proposal submitted to the united states fish and wildlife service USFWS in 2017 detailed 4 phases of the project. Phase I consisted of site identification and prioritization landowner outreach and project site selection. Phase I yielded over 50 locations for potential salmon habitat restoration. One of these locations the buffington tract of the SAN joaquin national wildlife refuge sjnwr was selected by our team and USFWS to progress to phase II. Phase II will consist of preproject monitoring baseline studies environmental compliance engineering design and other technical studies. Phase III will consist of project implementation and phase IV will consist of post project monitoring and reporting. Some components such as landowner outreach and permitting will likely extend into multiple phases as the project progresses.