Trinity River: Current Conditions

Concerning news of spring chinook infected with an undiagnosed gill infection have been reported at higher rates than years prior and has the attention of agencies, anglers and those on the river. Although the average rates and the location of these reports have been concerning, some daily rates of reported infections have been alarming and have definitely garnered the attention of regulatory agencies. The evidence of disease is somewhat surprising because upper river temperatures are not exceptionally high. A key differentiating factor hypothesized by fish biologists, may be that the heavy sediment and ash loads from thunderstorms in June may have damaged the gills of the spring chinook that were making their way upriver at that time, stressing them and thus making them vulnerable to disease.

It is helpful to know that there are several advisory groups that meet regularly to discuss Trinity & Klamath River conditions. The KFHAT (Klamath Fish Health Assessment Team) evaluates current conditions and meets weekly and/or as needed throughout the summer and fall period.  The Klamath Flow Augmentations Releases (FARs) group meets bi-weekly (or as needed) and are meant to protect migrating salmon in the summer and fall months, when conditions can become poor in the lower Klamath River. The flows, water temperature, fish observations, and disease rates are all monitored using data collected by several partnering agencies such as the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), Hoopa Valley Tribe and Yurok Tribe to determine if a FAR recommendation is needed.

Fish can catch disease if they are stressed and there are several factors that play into this (water quality: including turbidity and temperature, lamprey predation, being handled or caught, etc.). Experts are in agreement that water temperatures at Lewiston are good, around 53 F, which is about 3-4 F cooler than last year. Overall, water temperatures and flows in the upper Trinity River appear suitable for adults and would not be expected to cause gill lesions alone.

To monitor temperatures, there are currently four locations that upload to the USGS website located at Lewiston Dam, Douglas City*, North Fork Trinity River, and in Hoopa. You can view all of these temperature readings by clicking the corresponding links below. The links will also show last year’s (2022) temperature readings for contrast. We see river temps rise this time of year and should start to see them fall slowly down as day lengths shorten – typically starting in August. 

• Trinity R a Lewiston CA – USGS Water Data for the Nation
• Trinity R a Douglas City CA – USGS Water Data for the Nation
• Trinity R AB NF Trinity R NR Helena CA – USGS Water Data for the Nation
• Trinity R a Hoopa CA – USGS Water Data for the Nation

Those involved will continue to discuss any appropriate recommendations for responses to this issue, should a response be warranted. They will continue to monitor the situation and meet to discuss new information in the coming days.

*The Douglas City temperature gauge is now functioning. A replacement from USGS was administered and real time temperature readings came back on-line the morning of July 18. While the gauge that uploads to the internet in real time was damaged, data was still being collected at this site.

Sediment and Summer Thunderstorms

Thunderstorms and sudden cloudbursts are common in the mountains during the summer. Following a wildfire, they can have dramatic results, especially after a dry year without significant rainfall. A single downpour can set a mountain stream roaring, sending a puff of suspended sediment downstream to wash into the river below. Usually this passes quickly, leaving little trace. Significant rainfall and subsequent runoff normally occur in fall or winter. However, an unexpectedly intense storm directly following a wildfire in 2022 lead to a natural disaster on the Klamath River. In August, heavy rain flooded an area burned by the McKinney fire, California’s largest wildfire that started in July that same summer, resulting in an enormous plume of sludge and debris that killed thousands of fish.¹

Sediment is usually mobilized by the large storm systems that come in fall and winter during the rainy season, but a burned landscape is much more vulnerable. Wildfires cause loss of canopy vegetation as well as changes to soil properties. Storms can result in more water flowing over the land, leading to flooding and erosion, while delivering sediment, ash, pollutants, and debris to surface water.² All that mobilized debris can choke small creeks and block local drainages, turning rivers into muddy, churning maelstroms.  And even after the water clears, the excess fine sediment can fill in pore spaces between cobbles where fish lay their eggs (redds), suffocating eggs and aquatic larvae on the bottom; it can also clog and abrade the gills of mature fish.³ 

While erosion is a natural process, its effects on rivers and streams are highly variable, and the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires is changing that dynamic.  Ongoing research by agencies like the U.S. Geological Survey is shedding new light on wildfire’s impact on soil and water.

Soil properties can change dramatically due to fire. For example, metals can be volatilized and rained down or deposited by ash, and the structures that burn can introduce all sorts of other materials into the mix. Each watershed reacts uniquely to wildfire. Topography, including slope, affects how much erosion occurs. The type of vegetation (or structures) burned and what was in the soil itself affect what ends up in the surface water. And the mechanics of the fire, like how hot the fire burned and how much of the watershed burned, affect what is in the runoff.⁴

When rains hit, the tremendous amounts of ash and sediment that wash into rivers and reservoirs cause physical disruptions. In addition to the large-scale runoff (landslides and debris flows), smaller-scale runoff increases the amount of fine sediment suspended in water. Sedimentation also decreases the water quality itself by changing the amount and type of dissolved organic matter (DOM). Fire releases nitrogen stored in plants and trees. Geochemists have also found that different trees release different metals, in different concentrations, when burned. For example, when a ponderosa pine burns it releases whatever metals it has absorbed from the soil and air, like iron and manganese. An aspen or spruce might emit more vanadium, lead, magnesium, or copper.⁵

Salmon redds are most vulnerable during and after spawning season, which starts in October. The first big storm in the Trinity Alps came in October of 2022. Deadwood Creek and Dutch Creek, tributaries to the Trinity River, dumped a ton of sediment into the mainstem that had failed to mobilize in the previous drought years. Deadwood Creek sits high up in the managed river system where some of the heaviest spawning takes place.  At the time of the storm, the Trinity River itself was still at baseflow (300 cubic feet per second), so it did not have the momentum to carry the sediment very far and it settled closer to the mouth of the creek, smothering a number of redds.

The solution? Once the eggs have hatched out in the spring, most fish can usually swim away from pulse-disturbances and pollution as long as their movements are not restricted by barriers like road crossings, dams and culverts.  TRRP is helping fund watershed projects that limit the sources of excess sediment and remove barriers to migration to give fish more ability to escape difficult conditions. These include the Supply Creek Berm removal project and the Carr Fire Recovery & Sediment Reduction Project, as well as the planned Oregon Gulch Culvert Replacement and East Branch East Weaver Creek Migration Barrier Removal.⁶ A proposal to synchronize winter storm events with flows out of the dam would help keep tributary sediment from piling up at creek mouths during storm events. The TRRP is also looking to support more projects that emphasize fire resiliency. Restoring the river and its watershed is the ongoing mission of the TRRP.

• 1 Thousands of Fish Found Dead in the Klamath River | Field & Stream (fieldandstream.com)
• 2 Water Quality After Wildfire | U.S. Geological Survey (usgs.gov)
• 3 Wildfire and Its Effects on Streams and Rivers – Surviving Wildfire (extension.org)
• 4,5 Biggest Risk to Surface Water After a Wildfire? It’s Complicated – Eos
• 6 Trinity River Restoration Program 2022 Annual Report (arcgis.com)

California hazel (Corylus cornuta subsp. californica)

California hazel is a native shrub that grows in the moist shade of forest understory and riparian areas. The leaves are soft and fuzzy, and fall off during the winter (deciduous). During the winter months, the plants produce male flowers, called catkins, along with quaint red female flowers on the same plant. Once pollinated, the female flowers will very slowly develop into a pair of seeds. The seed husks are extremely bristly (like fiberglass) and have long beaks to them, giving this plant one of its common names, “beaked hazelnut”.

Hazelnuts don’t ripen until the later summer/early fall, and often, just one (or none) of each pair will make it all the way to maturity. Hazelnuts are tantalizing food stuffs for an assortment of critters, from insects, to small rodents, to birds, to large mammals. Humans are no exception – native hazelnuts roasted on the woodstove make a delicious winter treat. To harvest, however, we humans have to use our wit to outcompete the hungry critters, who will devotedly devour every hazel in sight if given the opportunity.

The historical relationship between humans and hazels is much more multi-faceted than mere consumption. Native Americans who share a range with this plant, including the Hupa, Yurok, Wintu and Chimiariko tribes have long utilized hazels in basketry and fiber-making. In the Hupa language, there is a different word for each of these applications. K’ila:jonde’ translates to ‘hazel’ or ‘hazelnut’, while tł’ohsch’il’e:n means ‘hazel brush switches’ or ‘hazel bush’. If separated from the plant, a hazel stick itself is referred to as miq’ik’itł’oy’, and the verb for twisting a hazel withe to make it flexible is k’iq’e:n.

California hazels are just one of the important characters that constitute our local flora; healthy ecosystems are comprised of a great diversity of native plant species. Stay tuned to learn more about local native plants and their ecological roles!

Photo top left: A hazelnut growing on the shrub. An unfertilized/undeveloped hazelnut is seen on the left.

Photo top middle: This old, twisted hazel branch would not be suitable for basket making.

Photo top right: An unripe hazelnut has been knocked onto the ground, but amazingly has not been consumed yet.

Photo bottom left: An immature hazelnut that has been foraged by local wildlife.

Photo bottom right: Ripe hazelnuts.

On June 16, The Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service announced 11 projects totaling $6 million to be awarded as part of three Klamath Basin Salmon Restoration grant programs and 4 of the 11 aforementioned projects will be administered in the Trinity River watershed. The 4 projects selected will improve aquatic habitat by reducing fine sediment delivery, improving fish passage, and pursuing increases to tributary flows in the dry season in tributaries of the Trinity River. We congratulate the grantees and are excited to see the outcome of each project. Please read below to learn about each grantee, proposal and award amounts. To find the full Klamath 2023 Grant Slate from the NFWF website, please click here.