There hasn’t been a salmon or steelhead spotted in the upper Auburn Ravine since 1853 but that may soon change. This scenic little stream located just east of Sacramento, drains the western flanks of the Sierra Foothills and eventually makes its way, via irrigation canals, to the Sacramento River.
While the Ravine was probably never a prolific producer of anadramous fish, it certainly had its moments but now the fish are all gone. Of course, the decline can be blamed on all the usual suspects — habitat loss, human encroachment, water diversions and dams.
The latter is a subject that Jack Sanchez of Save Auburn Ravine Salmon & Steelhead (SARSAS) feels strongly about and is working hard to fix.
Sanchez and all of the volunteers at SARSAS have been pushing for fish passage or removal of all the dams along the Auburn Ravine and hope to get salmon spawning in downtown Auburn once again.
So far, Sanchez has been successful in getting many diversion dams along the course of the stream to provide fish passage for salmon and steelhead October through January. The Hemphill Diversion Dam and the Lincoln Guaging Station will be retrofitted for fish passage by the end of summer 2009 and then Placer Legacy and Nevada Irrigation District will begin to retrofit the biggest blockage on the Ravine: Gold Hill Diversion Dam, which was been blocking fish migration since the mid 1800′s:
Gold Hill Diversion Dam at low winter flow
Normally, the Gold Hill Dam is an 8-foot waterfall
Work will begin this summer on retrofitting Gold Hill Dam to allow fish to get up and over it. Once that is complete, Sanchez will turn his efforts to the restoration of stream bed and banks, fish habitat, riparian improvement and water augmentation for the ravine.
There's still some viable spawning habitat in the Ravine.
SARSAS is a legit 501C3 non-profit organization that could use your help. Click the link above to get in touch with Sanchez to see what you can do.
Hopefully, this will be true in the near fiture!
