Over the past 10 years or so, the removal of fish barriers has become a topic of interest throughout the west. Here in Napa County, we are no exception.

Many folks are familiar with our annual fish monitoring efforts along the mainstem of the Napa River. Our fish work goes much further, though! In 2011 Napa RCD put together a Fish Barrier Plan for the County, which focused on 21 barriers in high priority salmonid streams. Over the past 20 years, work has been done to remove or alter some of these barriers. Since then, many changes have come into play and now, in 2022, we're at another crossroads.

Fish barriers are human-made structures in waterways that impact local fish populations by limiting access to spawning and rearing habitat upstream. Here in Napa, fish barriers consist of things like bridges, culverts, and dams, and exist on both public and private lands.

Three of our local fish species, steelhead, Chinook salmon, and Pacific lamprey, are anadromous, meaning they are born in local freshwater streams here in Napa County before spending most of their lives in the saltwater of the Pacific Ocean. Before the end of their lives, these fish return to their home streams to spawn. Fish barriers often present one of two problems. Either they create steep drops in the stream channel that make it difficult and/or impossible for fish to jump up, or they concentrate the natural flow of water into a small area with an increased force of flow that a fish cannot jump or swim against. Even if fish are able to overcome these barriers, they may be so exhausted they can't make it to suitable spawning areas further upstream. By removing barriers, we can increase the chances our local fish have of making it to suitable spawning habitat upstream.

In 2020, St Helena removed the York Creek Dam, a $3 million project that was featured in a WILD Napa lecture during 2021. And now, Napa RCD is working with Water Audit and other partners in identifying next steps for barrier removal. There are 32 partial barriers and 19 complete barriers still in the Napa River watershed. Remediation of these barriers would open up a large amount (up to approximately 255 miles) of additional habitat for steelhead and Chinook salmon.

An initial set of 6 barriers have been chosen as a sample of barriers in the county. Napa RCD recently coordinated a field tour (which was featured in the Napa Valley Register) to visit these sites and explore ways to standardize assessment and remediation techniques, streamline regulatory review, and efficiently obtain funding for the removal of these barriers. The plan is to work through these 6 barriers and develop a streamlined process to evaluate the other barriers. We want to have a better understanding of the engineering that will be involved in addressing a specific barrier, the value of the habitat to fish, and if there are other restoration opportunities in the vicinity.

For more information on fish barrier removal, please contact Martin Perales at MartinP@NapaRCD.org

When it comes to Community Cleanups, September is "the big show" here in Napa County!

This year, we have 20 sites in Napa County, the most we've ever had! We will be joining sites all over the state for the 38th Annual California Coastal Cleanup Day.

Please bring reusable gloves, a 5-gallon (or other size) bucket to put trash in, and a trash grabber. Don't have one or more of those things? Don't worry, we will have some to share!

We have some sites that will be a little more adventurous- Berryessa sites and Kennedy Park, for example- and one site- Oxbow Preserve- that will be focusing 100% on fishing line.

For the complete list of sites here in Napa, click the green button below! Have questions? Contact Ashley@NapaRCD.org.

A few weeks ago, staff and board from Napa RCD joined our friends at Mission Farm to do some weeding, harvesting, and produce prep before sending the produce from the farm to the food bank.

We had a great time hearing about all of the work done by the folks at Mission Farm, and the staggering amounts of food donated every year including things like corn, squash, peppers, onions, plums, peaches, and more!

Have a little spare time? Mission Farm is always looking for volunteers! Workers are at the farm every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday from 8:30am-12pm. They recommend bringing along a sun hat and work gloves, and of course your reusable water bottle!

Napa County high school students are invited to deliver a 3 – 5 minute speech to a panel of environmental professionals and community members. The 1st place winner will receive $200 and move on to speak at the Regional Speak-Off in October for a chance to compete at the statewide Speak-Off in November.

You can learn more about the speak-off here.

Eric@NapaRCD.org

Follow along and join the conversation!