Work starts on Lower Clear Creek restoration project
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Redding, Calif. – Visitors to the Bureau of Land Management China Garden recreation site along Lower Clear Creek south of Redding can expect to see heavy equipment working along the creek banks and channel this summer, as the Lower Clear Creek Floodway Restoration Project continues through September.
Crews will be working six days a week on the project that will return the creek to its natural alignment, improving conditions for spawning salmon. The project will culminate more than 20 years of work on Lower Clear Creek that has resulted in dramatic increases in fall salmon runs, improved upland habitat for birds and mammals, and vastly improved recreation access for the public.
“We are excited that this final phase of the project is underway, building on the success of over two decades of restoration work,” said Jennifer Mata, manager of the BLM Redding Field Office. “We apologize for disruption of activities at China Garden. We encourage visitors to use our other recreation sites further west along Clear Creek Road.”
In work over the coming summer, crews will complete earth moving work that will allow the stream to flow out of a human-created ditch and return to its natural alignment with pools and gravel bottoms suitable for salmon spawning.
Since the late 1990s, the BLM has joined more than 20 partners and organizations including the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (conducting the stream channel work), the Western Shasta Resource Conservation District, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Shasta County, the Forest Service, California Resources Agency and many others on Lower Clear Creek Improvements. The work was needed to reverse impacts from historic gold mining and gravel extraction.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.