Marin coho, steelhead counted as they head for open sea
By Mark Prado
Marin Independent Journal
June 16, 2006

ONE FISH, TWO FISH: The Salmon Protection and Watershed Network is studying the health and abundance of coho and steelhead heading out to the ocean. From left, biologist Paola Bouley, SPAWN director Todd Steiner and intern Christina David net small fish in the Lagunitas Creek watershed for further study.

Local environmentalists are conducting exit interviews of sorts with fish to get a sense of the health of threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead. For years, the Salmon Protection and Watershed Network has been counting threatened steelhead trout and endangered coho sa lmon in the Lagunitas Creek watershed, which hosts some of the best breeding grounds for the species in the state.

For the first time, SPAWN, along with the Marin Resource Conservation District, is counting the number of fish leaving Marin's creeks for the sea, part of the species' natural life cycle.

"By counting the smolts that are leaving the streams and going out to sea, you can see how well the population has done through

One of the larger smolts is held after being caught during a study of salmon leaving the Lagunitas Creek watershed for the open ocean. SPAWN and the Marin Resource Conservation District are checking these populations for the first time. (IJ photo/Frankie Frost)

its entire life in the stream system," said Paola Bouley, a watershed biologist for SPAWN, as she stood on a shaded bank along San Geronimo Creek in Lagunitas.

"We want to see how well they survived in, in particular, the winter flows," she said. "It's become more clear that winter refuge areas are critical in maintaining and improving the population. We get these big flows and there is not enough structure to protect them from being washed out."

Last week, volunteers used nets, buckets and traps in San Geronimo Creek to count the fish leaving for Tomales Bay and open sea. They sifted through traps, counting the coho and steelhead. The coho and steelhead look remarkably similar, with the difference in the fin colors. A spotted dorsal fin means it's a steelhead.

"We want to understand the population of fish here," said Todd Steiner, SPAWN's director. "We are trying to figure out where in their life cycle they are getting crunched, so as we do our conservation and restoration work, we can focus our energies on the most important parts. We know how many come up to spawn, but not how many are going back out to the ocean."

SPAWN counted 493 coho salmon and 86 steelhead smolts between April 21 and June 9 at a spot along San Geronimo Creek near Lagunitas.

"This is the first year we have done it, so we have nothing to compare it," Steiner said. "We do know that many survived the New Year's

Eve storm, so that is good news. How many didn't survive? We don't know."

The Marin Resource Conservation District also looked at fish heading back to sea at two spots in Lagunitas Creek.

"We want to know what happens to the fish during winter," said Nancy Scolari, executive director of the district, which works with ranchers on protecting and restoring creek areas on private lands. "We want to know where to spend money to improve habitat."

The adult coho and steelhead spawn in the Lagunitas watershed each winter after the fish leave the ocean and travel miles up local streams to lay their eggs.

Young fry will repeat the same journey, if they are lucky enough to survive predation, heavy rains, dry summers and other risks.

The fry emerge in the creek and stay about 18 months, then head out to the ocean as smolt and spend another 18 months before they come back to the creeks, spawn and die - a three-year life cycle.

In the 1940s, Lagunitas Creek helped contribute to a statewide high of 500,000 coho. At Lagunitas Creek, the largest coho in state history - 22 pounds and 36 inches long - was caught in January 1959.

But today's salmon population is 1 percent of that - a decline caused primarily by a loss of free-flowing creeks and rivers that have been affected by development, culverts, dams and other obstacles.

"Coho are really on the brink of extinction on the southern part of their range - which is here," Bouley said. "The general public loves their salmon. People are overjoyed to see them in the creeks. There is sense of pride.

"They are also an indictor of water quality of these creeks, which are arteries that run throughout neighborhoods."

Copyright 2006 Marin Independent Journal

[See also: TU Projects>Lagunitas Creek]

Old dam no longer obstacle during spawn
By Maia Werner
Marin Independent-Journal
October 24, 1997

A series of man-made pools in San Geronimo Creek now gives spawning coho salmon a leaping chance to negotiate a section of the waterway that was once blocked by a dam.

The transformation of Roy's Dam along the San Geronimo Creek on the San Geronimo Golf Course into Roy's Pools is part of a three year effort to save the endangered fish, which had been stranded on a broken apron on the dam.

The project is complete, except for landscaping, which will be done today from 9:30a.m. to 2p.m., said Todd Steiner, the director of The Salmon Protection and Watershed Network and the project manager for the effort.

Steiner initiated the project three winters ago when he saw the salmon getting stuck at the dam during their migration. It started with volunteers and biologists with the National Marine Fishery Service lifting the fish over the dam.

Finding a permanent solution took longer. Steiner said an idea to remove the dam proved unfeasible because so much sediment had built up behind the dam. Removing the structure would have caused extensive damage to the creek.

In the first year of the project, the dam was lowered about 18inches. The second year, an old fish ladder was repaired, temporary jump pools were built out of rocks and an eroded bank of the creek was repaired. This year, the series of jump pools - created out of a kind of interlocking steel called sheet pile - were installed.

The new pools not only will provide the coho with an easier route, they should also provide a better view of the fish migrating. "People will be able to see fish clearing the water and jumping over the series of waterfalls to get to the upstream spawning beds," said Mark Watner, co-owner of Performance Excavators, which has coordinated all the construction. "The hope is that because of the easier passage, we'll get a greater number of fish into the upstream beds."

Steiner said plans for the area include creating a public viewing and educational area. "It's going to be a tremendous opportunity to come and watch the coho salmon as they migrate up the stream," Steiner said. "We see it as a chance to educate the public about these endangered species and how we can work together to restore their habitat and their population numbers."

Copyright 1997 Marin Independent Journal

[See also: TU Projects>Lagunitas Creek

Saving Fish In West Marin
by Paul Peterzell
Marin Independent-Journal
March 21, 1997

A lone 28-inch steelhead trout gracefully muscling its way upstream through a riffle in Lagunitas Creek is a poignant reminder of how wild and rich Marin's waters were 100 years ago.

The steelhead, spotted during a visit to the creek near Jewell, just downstream from Samuel P. Taylor State Park, was among the few hundred fish remaining that return from the sea to spawn where they were born and raised.

Thousands of fish used to make their way upstream every year, but that was before forests were logged from the slopes above the creek and dams built to feed the county's growing thirst for water.

Now, prodded by the state, which ordered increased water releases from Peters Dam at Kent Lake, the Marin Municipal Water District has drafted a plan to repair at least some of the damage caused during the past century. Work would begin this summer or fall.

Lagunitas Creek is the county's largest watershed encompassing 103 square miles. It originates on Mount Tamalpais and flows eight miles through three small reservoirs and discharges into Kent Lake. From Kent, it flows 14 miles to Tomales Bay.

The state Water Resources Control Board ordered the district in October 1995 to come up with a plan to improve the creek itself for fish and to control erosion from hillsides that pour silt into the creek. Silt makes it hard for fish and their eggs to get oxygen, and fills in pools where young fish are rearing.

The plan, which extends to tributaries as well, calls for spending $1.3 million on creek and hillside improvements during the next decade, plus $200,000 a year for maintenance, operation and monitoring.

Volunteers to help
Gregory Andrew, the new fishery biologist the district hired to help put the plan into effect, said some of the costs may be saved by citizens helping with the work. "We anticipate a healthy volunteer effort," he said.

The plan is aimed at enhancing the fishery for both coho salmon and steelhead. Coho typically enter the creek in November and December and wait for rains to increase the flow so they can swim upstream to lay and fertilize eggs. A second wave, of steelhead, usually enters the creek in January and spawns in February, though runs can overlap.

Steelhead soon return to the sea, but coho die upstream after protecting their eggs from predators - bigger fish, otters and raccoons.

Pam Nicolai, the district's general manager, said releases the state ordered were a compromise between the district's desire to save water for its customers and the state Fish and Game Department's push for more water for the fish. "It brought to a close 16 years of discussion since Peters Dam was raised," she said.

Shrimp benefit, too
Andrew, 39, the district's fishery biologist, said the improvements also will benefit the California freshwater shrimp in the creek - one of only 17 anywhere that are home to the shrimp.

Most of the shrimp are in slowmoving pools downstream, between Jewell and Nicasio Creek. The shrimp attach themselves to roots, stems and leaves extending into the pools, and ingest decaying organic material, both from their host plants and from passing material.

"We will take a close look at our work to see that it does not have any detrimental effect on shrimp," Andrew said.

Details of how to discourage foot traffic along the creek, except at specified points, haven't been worked out, he said. Wooden post fences may be an option. "It'd be more to discourage than ban," he said. "People want access. We are not saying deny access, but limit it to designated areas and allow vegetation to do its natural thing."

The plan was prepared at a cost of $119,200 by Prunuske Chatham Inc., a consulting firm in Occidental.

More time possible
Nicolai, responding to some critics who said the April 1 deadline to comment on the plan is unreasonable, said the date was suggested by the state but can be changed. If people ask for more time, "we would be more than happy to adjust it," she said.

"We are trying to balance a reasonable time to comment with going ahead and doing it," Nicolai said.

Andrew, noting criticism that the plan should cover more of the watershed, said its focus on the creek between Peters Dam and Tocaloma reflected the emphasis of the state order.

"We certainly will take those comments and give them a lot of serious consideration," he said.

The final details of the restoration project will be up to the state board, Andrew noted.

The state board's under requires the district to release enough water from Peters Dam from June to November to ensure a flow of at least 8 cubic feet per second in years of normal rainfall. The requirement drops to' 6 cubic feet per second in dry years. Flows are measured at Samuel P. Taylor State Park.

Copyright 1997 Marin Independent Journal

[See also: TU Projects>Lagunitas Creek]