Skunked (and Beaver'd) at Putah 5 Yesterday

DJ Cal · Member

Skunked (and Beaver'd) at Putah 5 Yesterday

bono · Master Fly Fishing Guide

There are actually quite a few beaver throughout the entire length of the creek, I have some great pics of a beaver that I took years ago at access #5 I think it was sick or injured because it just sat there and let me approach it to take the pictures. From what I have read in the past beavers are not native to this state and were brought here by the mountain men from the rocky mountains where they are native. The reasoning was to try to establish a harvest-able population here in California, but soon after the demand for the pelts due to a fashion shift ended but the beavers stayed and have obviously done well. Unfortunately the ecosystem in this state is much different than that of the rocky mountain states and for many reasons the beaver is causing some pretty severe damage as a result. Greg

DJ Cal · Member

Greg,

Thanks for the beaver history. I only recall seeing beaver in the northeastern part of CA, though as you say, I am sure they have done well throught the state.

How cool would it have been to be a Mountain Man? No doubt it was a physically demanding life, but to see virgin lands with trout as big as your arm... What I wouldn't give to hop in a time machine with 5 wt. in hand and travel back to a time when rivers hadn't been overfished. Of course, i still want my polar fleece, 4-wheel drive, blackberry...

Cheers,
DJ

brian clemens · Senior Member

There is a huge beaver dam on the back side of 4/5 if you know where to look, its got to be at least 5 or 6 ft high if I remember correctly.

hamish · Newbie

Beavers are very much native to California with three subspecies, one in the north, one in the Central Valley, and one along the Colorado river adjacent to Arizona. In fact those in Putah Creek are a subspecies endemic to California called "golden beavers."

Most of the beavers were wiped out from most of the watersheds in the state, but they're coming back, sometimes with help from humans. There is a lot of interesting history here, including details of the reintroductions of beavers to the upper Putah Creek - Ragg Creek area.

http://tinyurl.com/7ydyhkf

Beavers have pretty much disappaered from lower Putah Creek, between Winters and Davis, so any sightings anywhere between the Delta and Monticello Dam would be really interesting.

Thanks,

Hamish

SK60 · Senior Member

PC beavers are found all the way out to close to the toe drain where the Creek empties into the Sac River. Every Dec 1 several volunteers go out and float the length of the creek to remove obstacles and knock down parts of the beaver dams to allow the small run of Chinook salmon to migrate up to their spawning area below the diversion dam. If present they can traverse the 20 miles in 24 hrs.

hamish · Newbie

Thanks SK60, I didn't realize there was such an active program to 'manage' beaver dams along the creek.

I guess my sense would be that beavers have many and profound impacts on any drainage where they are found, so I wonder how this decision has been made on behalf of salmon ... do you know? Presumably nearly all species of salmon and steelhead not only coexisted with beavers for tens of thousands of years, but actually coevolved with beavers over millions. In Oregon, NOAA is actually using beavers to improve salmon habitat, and apparently showing that beaver ponds are quite important for young salmon survival and development. Check out this video here: http://www.opb.org/programs/ofg/segments/view/1758 - it's a different system for sure, but some similarities (including badly incised channels).

Is there any actual evidence that chinook or other salmon are unable to work their way through beaver dams and other minor obstructions on the scale that they occur in Putah Creek?

Thanks!

SK60 · Senior Member

I'm not the expert here, but lower lower PC is much smaller and shallower than the IDR. Where the dams block, the flow is typically through, not over the dam. The Salmon can't get through what is equivalent to a chain link fence. They also have no room to take a run at any overtopping flows. Hence the human help. The dams are not removed entirely; just a hole cut to allow the salmon to swim through. There is a big salmon conference at UC Davis on the 5-7 April, if interested. PC will be discussed. Go to the Putah Creek Council website for info.

hamish · Newbie

Interesting, thanks. I take it IDR is the intra-dam reach or some other term for the creek between the man-made dams?

And I'm sure you're right about the flow through vs over the beaver dams, through the late summer. However, once we get rains in the fall, surely the flows top those small barriers. I'm not clear on when these chinook are meant to arrive exactly, but I would imagine that historically, these creeks were flowing close to the floodplain in the past (pre-Monticello and its incising aftermath), and were heavily obstructed by one beaver dam to the next. Heavy fall and early winter rains would presumably blow out many of these and flow over others as the water level increased, allowing salmon to make their way well up the drainage, no?

In any case, I'm pleased to hear that just a hole is cut in the dams, that sounds like a very reasonable approach.

I would love to go to the salmon conference, but I'm afraid I'll be out of town at that time. If you hear anything especially relevant to this conversation, it'd be great to learn more about their findings/recommendations, etc.

Thanks!