This project aims to develop a partnership between local ranchers and the yurok tribe for an watershed-wide restoration planning and design project to improve fish passage, habitat, aquatic…

Federal Grant Award Summary

American Rivers Inc. received a $552,500 Project Grant award from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) under the National Fish Passage Program (CFDA 15.685), effective July 15, 2025, with a completion date of July 15, 2027. The award funds a watershed-wide restoration planning and design project for the Little Shasta River, a 27.5-mile tributary to the Shasta River in Central Siskiyou County, California. In partnership with the Yurok Tribe, California Trout, and Hart Ranch, American Rivers Inc. will develop a shovel-ready, preferred restoration concept through an iterative community co-design process. The project aims to restore and re-water an 11-mile low valley reach of the Little Shasta River to improve fish passage, enhance aquatic habitat connectivity, restore water quality, and reconnect historical floodplain areas while supporting local community needs.

The deliverables include a comprehensive restoration plan that incorporates engineering with nature ecological design principles, traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), and local knowledge. Project tasks involve defining restoration goals and objectives through stakeholder outreach, removing barriers to fish passage, dedicating adequate stream flows, and addressing water quality and aquatic connectivity issues. The Little Shasta River currently supports fall-run Chinook Salmon, Steelhead, and Southern Oregon Northern California Coast Coho, but seasonal stream habitat disconnection from May through November and channel incision have degraded ecological conditions. The project will produce a final preferred concept plan developed through direct partnership engagement with local ranchers and the Yurok Tribe to address these restoration challenges.

This project aims to develop a partnership between local ranchers and the yurok tribe for an watershed-wide restoration planning and design project to improve fish passage, habitat, aquatic connectivity, and water quality while supporting local community needs. The projectgoals would include restoring and RE-watering a portion of the 11-mile-long low valley(bottomlands) reach of the little shasta river to enhance flows, restore natural river processesto improve water quality and ecological health, and connect high quality habitat in the littleshasta river with the lower shasta river. The little shasta river is a 27.5 mile tributary to the shasta river located in central siskiyoucounty. Fall-run chinook salmon, steelhead, and southern oregon northern california coastcoho have been documented in the little shasta river. However, the little shasta rivers stream habitat is regularly disconnected downstream from may tonovember. Channel incision has lowered the groundwater table anddisconnected the river from its historical floodplain. There is local interest in and willingness to address stream flow and river restoration issues, offering restoration opportunity in the little shasta river watershed. The anticipated outcome ofthe project would be a shovel-READY1, preferred concept developed through an iterativecommunity CO-design process. We expect the preferred concept would incorporate engineeringwith nature ecological design principles, TEK, and local knowledge. The project will beimplemented in partnership with the yurok tribe, california trout, and hart ranch. Estimated project duration and timeline of project milestones task 1 - define goals and objectives (GS OS) through an outreach program. This would bringpartners together around a project to remove barriers and dedicate flow to address fish passage, water quality, habitat, and aquatic connectivity. Outreach and design activities (tasks 1-3) wouldinclude direct partnership between the hart ranch and the yurok tribe to CO-develop design andrestoration plans. Approximately 18-24 month process, inclusive of tasks 2 - 4 below. Task 2 - develop conceptual designs that integrate the GS OS from task 1 above and aredelivered into task 3. Designs would include sufficient data collection and engineering toanalyze conditions, identify opportunities and constraints, and enable the completion of all tasks.designs are anticipated to include the retrofit of at least two, but up to three, fish passagebarriers, allowing for irrigation diversions without use of fish barriers. Task 3 - solicit feedback on the concepts via the outreach program (see task 1, above) and selecta preferred concept to advance to the 65% design level. A natural continuum from the initial 1 by shovel-ready we mean a project with 65% design completed to prepare for ceqa and permitcompliance, making IT a candidate for additional implementation grant funding. Phases of the outreach program, this task provides illustrations of viable concepts that meet thegs OS so that the collaborative community partners can further weigh in and guide the projectto a preferred concept. The preferred concept will be advanced to 65% design level to supportfuture grant applications for and work on project permitting and implementation. Task 4 - develop 1707 petition strategy and documents by soliciting community input onopportunities for dedication of in-stream flow through the historically dewatered river reach. This process would build on existing instream flow research (yarnell ET AL. 2022) to identify flowtargets to support fish passage during critical life stages through the little shasta river to theunimpaired foothill and headwater reaches, which provide cold water refugia. Includes workingwith a water rights attorney to begin development of instream flow petition documentation forfiling with the state water resources control board. Partners and contributions