Fort Goff Creek Off-Channel Hapibat Project Design

Objective: Develop a final project design (65% level of final design) including drawings, cost estimated for a large off channel pond and large wood structures in lower Fort Goff Creek.

Background: The Karuk Tribe is currently planning and implementing habitat restoration in collaboration with the Middle Klamath Watershed Council (MKWC), private lands owners, federal and state agencies. Horse Creek is one of the most utilized spawning tributaries for Coho Salmon in the Middle Klamath River. The Karuk Tribe and its partners began work to provide fish passage into Fort Goff Creek in the early 2000’s where a large culvert located where California state highway 96 crosses. In 2016, Cal-Trans built a full spanning bridge at the site and therefore restored fish passage to Fort Goff Creek. Other work included installation of a fish screen in on the only diversion which was completed in 2019. Now that fish passage is restored and a protective fish screen is in place the next restoration objective is to build off channel habitats.

The project is located on private lands. Privately owned lands are mostly located in low gradient streams and valleys along the Middle Klamath River including lower Fort Goff Creek have the highest potential for benefitting Coho Salmon due to their low gradient channels, shallow groundwater and large floodplains. A small spawning population of Coho salmon persists in Fort Goff Creek and spawning surveys have shown a sign of increasing numbers since the bridge was built and the protective fish screen was installed. The project will utilize groundwater monitoring well data, use existing LiDAR data and ground truth sites with specialists including; engineers, fish biologists, geologists and other restoration practitioners. Design alternatives and costs will be evaluated including an alternatives analysis that is based on cost effectiveness and feasibility.

Project Benefits: Mid Klamath River tributaries are important habitat for threatened Coho Salmon which are an important cultural species and subsistence food source for the Karuk Tribe. Studies show that juvenile Coho salmon need access to slow water habitat during the winter to find stable rearing habitat during floods. Conversely, Coho need access to cold water during the summer months when water temperatures are stressful therefore our goal is to increase connectivity to groundwater influenced habitats. The project will assess groundwater conditions and incorporate groundwater recharge in to the designs so that cold water habitat is enhanced to offset impacts from climate change. Groundwater influenced habitats are known to be more resilient to impacts related to climate change.