Yurok Tribe Plants 8.5 tons of Native Seed in Klamath Reservoirs

The Klamath Rive is experiencing an amazing transformation.

Over six weeks this winter, the Yurok Fisheries Department Revegetation crew, under contract with RES, hand planted more than 16,000 pounds of native seeds and 28,000 acorns in between the bygone Iron Gate Dam and J.C Boyle Reservoir. The Yurok crew also manually planted 76,000 native conifer and hardwood saplings, shrubs and grass clusters. This May, the revegetation crew planted 1,200 narrowleaf milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis) plugs because it was the best time to sow the species.

Today, countless chick lupine (Lupinus microcarpus), Menzies’ fiddleneck (Eschscholzia californica), yarrow (Achillea millefolium L) and California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) are blooming in the reservoirs. Dozens of other locally adapted plants are knee-high above what was bare soil only four months ago. Birds, bees, butterflies and other insects are already taking advantage of the new vegetation.

During the winter planting, the Klamath River Renewal Corporation drained the reservoirs to begin removing Iron Gate, Copco 1 and J.C Boyle Dams by the fall weather permitting. The project is on schedule. This year’s salmon run will have access to 400 miles of historic habitat for the first time in a century.

In the summer, the annual wildflowers will produce seeds for next year before the plants’ green foliage dries out. Still, the plants’ roots will continue to stabilize sediment and add organic material to the soil. Perennials, like yarrow, are on track to survive the summer.

The Yurok Revegetation crew incorporated 50 different mutually favorable plant species into the first phase of the monumental project. The initial planting was a success, but it is only the beginning of a long process to restore the dams’ former footprints. This fall and every fall and spring for the next few years, the revegetation crew will plant a larger volume of flora, including 50 more species, such as 3 types of willow, white fir (Abies concolor) and Klamath plum (Prunus subcordata).

The crew is currently managing for invasive intruders, such as star thistle, medusahead and cheatgrass.

The Klamath River’ reservoir reach is 38 miles long and covers 2,200 acres. Revegetation and habitat restoration projects aim to turn this area into an optimal environment for fish and wildlife. This important stretch of the represents one of the last large river valleys that is not occupied by parks, agriculture or housing developments. It is key to the recovery of the Klamath’s once abundant fish runs.

The revegetation project’s goals include:
• Establish biologically diverse ecosystems that support robust salmon, steelhead and Pacific lamprey runs.
• Create year-round habitat for native fish, mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and insects.
• Stabilize sediment trapped behind the dams.

The Klamath River is the third largest salmon river in the lower 48 states. Due largely to the dams, the Klamath’s salmon stocks are less than five percent of historic numbers. Prior to the dams, the river supported approximately 1 million salmon.

Two decades ago, the Yurok Tribe identified the decommissioning project as the single most effective action to begin restoring struggling fish runs. The Yurok Fisheries Department and Yurok Tribe Construction Corporation have successfully restored some of the most degraded parts of the Klamath and Sacramento Rivers, two of the three largest rivers on the West Coast.

With more than 80 employees, the Yurok Tribal Fisheries Department is comprised of the following six major programs: Harvest Management Program (engages in all aspects of fishery harvest management and monitors the Yurok fishery); Lower Klamath Program (conducts research, monitoring, and restoration of fisheries resources in the Lower Klamath River Sub-basin); Trinity River Program (conducts research, monitoring, and restoration of Trinity River fishery resources); Klamath River Program (conducts research and monitoring throughout the watershed with a focus on informing water management policy); Technical Services Program (provides data collection and analyses, designs and implements large scale restoration projects throughout the region); Water Policy Program (provides analyses and information to Tribal leadership regarding all aspects of Klamath Basin water policy and water management issues).

The Yurok Tribe Construction Corporation specializes in the restoration of environmentally sensitive areas and habitats, resetting the landscape to a state that begins the healing process.