Antelope Creek Fish Passage Improvement
The Antelope Creek Fish Passage Improvement Project addressed a site on Antelope Creek near the Edwards Diversion Dam (EDD) that hindered fish passage. Antelope Creek provides critical habitat for Central Valley spring-run Chinook salmon (SRCS) and steelhead. In this location, key stressors to salmonids included agricultural dams blocking adult immigration, water diversions entraining juveniles, and low flows affecting immigrating adults. This project objective was to address these stressors present in Antelope Creek by:
- Improving downstream passage between the EDD and the Sacramento River
- Reducing the risk of entrainment of fish in the ditches
- Improving the accuracy, precision, and timing of irrigation diversions to Los Molinos Mutual Water Company and the Edwards Ranch
This project provided a new state-of-the-art fish screen with fish bypass to return fish diverted to an irrigation channel back to Antelope Creek. Through these improvements, connectivity between instream habitat above and below the Edwards Diversion Dam was also improved. Such improvement to watershed connectivity will also increase the utilization of anadromous fish habitat throughout the entire Antelope Creek system.