The RCD was recently awarded a grant of $575,000 from the Department of Fish and Game to help fund restoration work on the Trinity River. While the majority of this funding will be passed on to the Trinity River Restoration Program (TRRP) to assist them in completing river restoration work in the Lewiston area, the RCD will be responsible for completing the state required environmental documents.

The Record of Decision that was signed in 2000 by the Secretary of the Interior calls for river restoration that focuses attention on the need to physically manipulate the bank and floodplain features of the Trinity River between River Mile 112.0 (Lewiston Dam) and River Mile 72.4 (North Fork Trinity River near Helena). The channel reconstruction is intended to restore the Trinity River’s historic channel features and habitat complexity to improve fishery resources that have been altered due to lack of high flows in the river since Trinity Dam was built in 1963. The Lewiston-Dark Gulch Rehabilitation Project will occur between Trinity River Mile 105.0 to 111.5 and will be the fourth channel rehabilitation project constructed by TRRP that will enhance river processes and increase fisheries habitat downstream of Lewiston Dam. The project purpose and need is to provide increased juvenile salmonid rearing habitat on the mainstem Trinity River and to reduce impacts to homes and other human improvements located adjacent to the river, from the high flows that will be released from Trinity Dam in the future during extremely wet years.

Some of the following work may be conducted in one or more activity areas as part of this project:

• Removal of vegetation that is encroaching on, and narrowing, the width of the river.
   
• Earthwork in the Trinity River Floodplain and within the active river channel.
   
• Excavation and relocation of gravels and cobble to improve spawning areas.
   
• Revegetation of disturbed areas with native plants, shrubs and trees.

The RCD will serve as the state California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Lead Agency and will prepare an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) with assistance from North State Resources, a private environmental consulting firm in Redding. The EIR will be developed jointly with the Environmental Assessment (EA) that is the federal version of the state EIR.

During the EIR process, the RCD will be requesting input from the public concerning the scope and content of the environmental information at a public meeting This initial meeting is an opportunity for the design team to present information on the proposed project and for the team to receive comments from the public. The meeting will be announced in Weaverville’s local newspaper, the Trinity Journal, and by letter to local landowners near the project site and other interested parties.

Example of river section narrowed by encroachment of riparian vegetation before rehabilitation.

Example of river section showing less vegetation and increased spawning gravels after rehabilitation.