Agriculture and Natural Resources
From our work along the Sacramento River on salmonid habitat restoration to conducting feasibility studies and offering opportunities for student learning, the Collective supports the future of Ag and preserves our natural resources for future generations to come.
Habitat Restoration Projects
The Shea Island Side Channel project enhanced three perennially flowing side channels along the Sacramento River to provide rearing habitat for juvenile Chinook salmon. The project is located in Shasta County near Redding. Construction was completed in January 2024.
The Kapusta Island Side Channel project established a 0.24-mile-long perennially flowing side channel along the Sacramento River to provide rearing habitat for juvenile Chinook salmon. The project is located in Shasta County between Anderson and Redding. The channel was completed in November 2023.
Access a map of the Kapusta Island Side Channels or view aerial footage of the island along the Sacramento River.
The Kapusta 1B Side Channel project established a 0.45-mile-long perennially flowing side channel along the Sacramento River to provide rearing habitat for juvenile Chinook salmon. The project is located in Shasta County between Anderson and Redding. The channel was completed on January 6, 2023.
The East Sand Slough Side Channel project established a 1.8-mile perennially flowing side channel along the Sacramento River to provide rearing habitat for juvenile Chinook salmon. A secondary 0.6-mile channel was also constructed to convey periodic higher river flows to the main channel. The project is within the City of Red Bluff in Tehama County and was completed in March 2022.
The Anderson River Park Side Channel project established 1.95 miles of perennially flowing side channels along the Sacramento River to provide rearing habitat for juvenile Chinook salmon. The project is within the City of Anderson in Shasta County and was completed between 2019 and 2021.
View a map of Anderson River or watch a video of Juvenile Salmon using the Anderson River channel
The Nur Pon Open Space Side Channel project established a 0.73-mile perennially flowing side channel along the Sacramento River to provide rearing habitat for juvenile Chinook salmon. About 2,200 CY of spawning gravel was placed in the river. The project is within the City of Redding's Nur Pon Open Space in Shasta County and was completed in May 2021.
View a map of Nur pon Open Space, watch a flyover of the Nur Pon Channel,or watch a video of Chinook Salmon and Trout juveniles
The Rio Vista Side Channel project was completed in early November 2019. The project opened a 0.3-mile-long side channel along the Sacramento River in Red Bluff, California. The channel is designed to provide suitable flows for juvenile Chinook salmon throughout the year. Woody debris and native plants were installed along the channel to provide habitat for salmon and other wildlife.
View a map of the Rio Vista Side Channel or watch a video of Juvenile Salmon using the Rio Vista channel
In 2019, the Market Street South Gravel Placement project added 11,900 tons of spawning gravel was added to the river at the Market Street Bridge in Redding, California in August 2019 to provide spawning habitat for Chinook salmon.
Preserving and Restoring Nature’s Flow
The Collective has been administering restoration and conservation projects to help forge environmental resiliency across the region. Our current projects include the Salmon Habitat Restoration Program, the Forest Health program and vegetation mapping.
Sacramento River Salmon Habitat Restoration Program
The Sacramento River Salmon Habitat Restoration Program serves to increase and improve Chinook Salmon and steelhead spawning and rearing habitat by restoring and establishing additional side-channel habitat and spawning habitat along the Sacramento River in Tehama and Shasta Counties. The declines of naturally spawned salmonid stocks is due in part to the loss of spawning and rearing habitat through reduced gravel recruitment and altered flow patterns which historically created and maintained side channel habitats. Floodplain and side channel habitats serve as important refuge and rearing areas for juvenile salmon and these habitats likely contribute substantially to the productive capacity and life history diversity of Chinook Salmon. This effort is funded in part by the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA).
Forest Health
The Collective is dedicated to supporting the region's Forest Health, and is actively engaged with the Butte County Fire Safe Council's CAL FIRE Forest Health program, “Forest Health and Upper Watershed Resilience, Butte County.” With a focus on biodiverse and wildfire-resilient reforestation, we have partnered with Berry Creek Rancheria to develop a reforestation strategy for 180 acres surrounding Lake Madrone. Additionally, our vegetation mapping team will complete vegetation map of current conditions within the North Complex Fire footprint.
Leveraging Data for Strategic Decisions
The California Agricultural Resiliency Index (CARI)
The GIS team at the Collective has been hard at work alongside the Center for Regenerative Agriculture at Chico State to develop the California Agricultural Resiliency Index (CARI). The project is an effort to help farmers, agricultural landowners, and policymakers identify areas at higher risk of impact from potential weather and economic stressors, and then explore strategies to mitigate these risks.
How Our Community Can Utilize CARI
- Provides decision-makers with benchmarked data and analytics to support decisions on long-term food and water security and economic resilience.
- Create resiliency index scores and include numerous parameters from the fields of agriculture, soil science, hydrology, and ecology.
- Identify California’s most cost-effective regions for carbon sequestration, advancing the state's climate goals and fostering a resilient economy
- Provide farmers and ranchers with information to secure funding for conservation and agricultural practices, enhancing farm or ranch health and economic resilience
The projects completed through this partnership are impressive and actively contributing to significant improvements in the Sacramento River.
