Last Dam: Restoring steelhead rearing habitat through barrier removal on Upper Stuart Creek, Sonoma County.

The project will produce design documents to removal of last barrier to fish passage on Stuart Creek, a tributary to Sonoma Creek with important steelhead rearing potential. The barrier, an aging 45-foot cement dam, presents a velocity and height barrier to refuge pools for juvenile salmonids. The dam will be replaced by an engineered boulder shoot system designed to accommodate passage to cool pools and historical rearing habitat above the dam site.

Ryan Watanabe, CDFW Environmental Scientist, has informed us that the Department supports removing Bouverie Dam with the intention of improving climate resiliency and fish migration, particularly in areas subjected to drought-related habitat fragmentation. Inflow sediment improvements will benefit recent downstream restoration actions for spawning habitat.