< PreviousWhites Gulch: Two dams and a culvert on Whites Gulch, a tributary to the North Fork Salmon River, currently limit access to high quality spawning and rearing habitat for Spring chinook, coho, and steelhead. The SRRC, Siskiyou County, CA Dept. of Fish & Game, USFS, NOAA, and local private land owners have been collaborating on a project designed to ameliorate this problem. The objective is to restore access to approximately 1 mile of stream spawning and rearing habitat. These fish barriers have been identified by the 5 County Fish Passage Assessment in 2000 and the USFS during past habitat surveys, and ranked as the number 1 priority barrier in Siskiyou County, making this project a high priority for fisheries restoration. The Whites Gulch project will also improve and relocate an existing stream diversion that provides hydropower electricity to a local landowner.Hotelling Gulch: Two culverts and a sediment trap near the terminus of Hotelling Gulch, a tributary to the South Fork of the Salmon, are affecting spawning and rearing of anadromous salmonids in the watershed. During the 1964 flood, the lower reach of Hotelling Gulch avulsed (diverted) to a new channel, which empties into the Salmon River approximately 100 feet upstream from its original location. This channel avulsion washed out the South Fork Road, causing a massive input of sediments to the Salmon River. As a fix, the Forest Service put in a sediment trap and 2 undersized culverts that are still there. These culverts act as effective migration barriers to the several species of anadromous salmonids that historically utilized the high quality habitat in Hotelling Gulch. These barriers have also been identified by the 5 County Fish Passage Assessment and the USFS, and ranked as the number 4 priority barrier in Siskiyou County.The SRRC is collaborating with the Forest Service and Swanson Hydrology & Geomorphology to complete required environmental compliance and engineering surveys in order to prepare for subsequent projects that will re-align the stream to its original channel and replace the current culverts with a bridge or arch culvert. The long-term objective is to restore anadromous fish access to approximately 1.4 miles of critical habitat in this tributary. The other fish barrier location on our county road is Kelly Gulch. The County Roads Department has a grant to replace the culvert at Kelly Gulch with a bridge. This work is being completed this August.Restoring salmonid habitat in the Salmon River watershed: Whites Gulch and Hotelling Gulch Barrier Removal Projects Updatethe ShadeFinding the Shade on the Salmon RiverIn June, 2005 the Salmon River Total Maximum Daily Load study (TMDL) was released. The TMDL deter-mined that the Salmon River is temperature impaired for fish, and that the best way to address the problem is to increase riparian shade. In response to that, the Restoration Council developed a project, funded by the Bella Vista Foundation, to assess the river’s riparian zone. The assessment will locate areas that are deficient in vegetation (including tailing piles), and decide whether there is potential for more vegetation at the site. Resto-ration of a site will depend on accessibility, flood risk, aspect, soil type, cost and other factors. Many sites will be able to be planted by hand; some will require large scale site preparation. Field work began this summer. Local crews have been surveying the river and priori-tizing sites most beneficial for Spring chinook and other species. The team will also be collecting and propagating local riparian trees and bushes to be used for the revegetation of selected areas. In the fall, several acres of prioritized private property will be planted, as the first stage of implementation. This will be an ongoing project with many op-portunities for community involvement. We hope to receive funding for further imple-mentation next year. If you would like to get more involved in the Riparian Assessment project, please contact Lyra Cressey or Jim Villeponteaux at the SRRC.1011TypeLocationTextureFlavorOverallCommentsWildAlaska9.09.59.7beautiful color; melts in your mouth; mellowFarm-raisedWashington5.05.54.83greasy; fishy but tender; wateryAverage PCB Levels found in SalmonThe excreta from an average farm are estimated to equal the sewage from a city of 7,500 people. The waste flows straight into the surrounding waters, fouling nearby habitat, causing disastrous plankton blooms, and destroying shellfish beds.Farmed Salmon: What’s the Deal?Did you know … ?Salmon farms are basically floating feedlots made of gigantic synthetic nets that contain large numbers of mass-produced and overcrowded fish. In fact, most salmon farms are able to raise more than 500,000 fish in an area the size of 4 football fields. So, what’s the deal with farmed salmon? How do overcrowded, farm-raised salmon differ from their wild counterparts? This article is a brief summary of a couple important human health and environmental concerns surrounding salmon aquaculture. Antibiotics!Farmed salmon need antibiotics to combat diseases that arise under overcrowded conditions in their net cages. These antibiotics, including oxytetracyline and various sulfa drugs, are administered via medicated food pellets. About 30% of the medicated fish pellets given to the fish go uneaten and fall into the open ocean -- entering the wild food chain. These antibiotics have been found to kill natural marine algae and bacteria as well as cause deformities in halibut larvae. They also contribute to an increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The BC Salmon Farmers Association tries to limit human exposure to antibiotics by imposing a mandatory waiting period after treatment to ensure that the antibiotics are cleared from the salmon’s system prior to consumption. However, it is unclear how this is actually monitored. PCBs!PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) are those pesky, persistent, cancer-causing chemicals that were banned in the United States in 1977. Farmed salmon absorb PCBs from their food. In fact, the Environmental Working Group showed that farmed salmon purchased in the U.S. contain more PCBs then other food sources. EWG reported that farmed salmon have 16 times the PCBs found in wild salmon, 4 times the levels found in beef, and 3.4 times the levels found in other seafood. Both EWG and the Environmental Protection Agency recommend that consumers choose wild instead of farmed salmon, and that they should not exceed one 8 ounce serving of farmed salmon per month.There are a few ways to decrease your exposure to PCBs from farmed salmon. Trim the skin and visible fat and prepare the fish in a way that reduces fat such as grilling or broiling. Also, try some canned salmon. Almost all canned salmon is wild. Go Wild!Whenever possible, we suggest eating wild Alaskan salmon instead of farm-raised fish. You’ll be doing yourself a favor by reducing your exposure to antibiotics, harmful toxins like PCB’s, and unnatural dyes. Your stomach will thank you as well, because wild salmon just taste better!A Wall Street Journal taste test scored farmed salmon at 4.83 out of 10. Wild salmon rated 9.7.Article by Stacey Clark. Illustrations by Shannon Wheeler. Learn more at www.SalmonNation.com/fish/.Address Service RequestedSalmon River Restoration CouncilP.O. Box 1089Sawyers Bar, CA 96027(530) 462-4665 fax- 4664email- info@srrc.org www.srrc.orgNONPROFIT ORGPOSTAGE PAIDFORKS OF SALMON, CAPERMIT #1Salmon River Springers Population Survey Results 1980-2005YearActual numberNext >