Category Archives: 2026

The Year Ahead – Science Branch

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By: Eric Peterson, Science Coordinator – Trinity River Restoration Program

Trinity River in Douglas City. [Kiana Abel, Trinity River Restoration Program]

For the year ahead the Program will continue with both short and long-term monitoring projects. Long-term monitoring projects include, 

  • outmigrant monitoring (tracking the number and size of young fish heading out to sea)
  • adult escapement monitoring (tracking the number and size of adult fish returning from the sea).

Shorter duration studies to examine the flow changes include;

  • acoustic monitoring of rock movement,
  • and investigating the benthic macroinvertebrate (fish food) response to the flows.

Also, this year we will wrap up a review of our long-term monitoring and modeling efforts and bring recommendations forward on how to better measure our progress.

We will complete the adult Chinook Limiting Factors Analysis, which should give us insights regarding what factors are limiting the return of adult Chinook salmon along with gaming the associated scenarios to help us understand how to improve the use of our tools.

Lastly, we will continue to support the development of a new approach to long-term operations of the Trinity River Division, which should give us better protection of river temperatures in drought years and give us more flexibility with managing environmental flows.

Publications to look out for in 2026

  • Lindke, K. T., Video monitoring of fish passage at Willow Creek weir: feasibility of validating mark-recapture run size estimates.
  • Bridegum, J., D. Goodman, T. Daley, R. Smit, J. Boyce, O. Black, J. Alvarez, and K. De Juilio. The Effects of Restoration Actions on Juvenile Salmonid Rearing Habitat in the Trinity River Restoration Reach at an Index Streamflow, 2009 to 2017.
  • Martel, C. J. Alvare, Z. Reinstein, and K. T. Lindke, Fall Chinook Redd Environmental Conditions and Egg Survival to Emergence in the Trinity River.
  • Gaeuman, D., K. De Juilio, and C. Laskodi. Efficacy of two-dimensional modeling for assessing spatial variability in stream temperatures.
Return to the January Newsletter

Eric Peterson, PhD – Science Coordinator

Eric grew up in Weaverville, hiking in the Trinity Alps and exploring East Weaver Creek. A natural biologist from an early age, he completed a B.S. in biology and botany at Humboldt State University in 1995, and a Ph.D. at Oregon State University in 2000 in plant ecology with a focus on lichens and forestry. Eric worked as the vegetation ecologist for State of Nevada’s Natural Heritage Program for about 8 years, covering all corners of the state and developing techniques for mapping invasive annual grasses with satellite imagery. Eric joined TRRP in 2009 to manage Trinity River data and coordinate its use across the many offices of our partnership, brought a focus on river ecology by conducting a study of algae growth in the river and tributaries, and is currently the TRRP Science Coordinator.

Eric maintains his interest in lichens on the side as a Research Associate of the California Academy of Sciences, and he chaired the California Lichen Society’s conservation committee for over 20 years.  Meanwhile, Eric continues to hike the Trinity Alps and is an active member of Trinity County Search and Rescue. Eric is also on ResearchGate.

The Year Ahead – Implementation Branch

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By: James Lee, Implementation Branch Chief – Trinity River Restoration Program

The Trinity River Restoration Program will work toward the completion of three Trinity River channel rehabilitation projects along with five watershed grantee projects all slated to be implemented in the next year.

In 2026, the Trinity River Restoration Program will be closing out our long-term gravel processing site (Sawmill) in Lewiston in tandem with implementing floodplain restoration and side channel maintenance work at the site. The project aims to significantly improve habitat conditions for aquatic and riparian wildlife in this important area close to Lewiston Dam.

Additionally, the Implementation Branch will be diving into the design phase for most of the remaining 47 sites identified in the 2000 ROD. Closest to implementation are the channel rehabilitation projects in Junction City at Evans Bar and Sky Ranch, and the Rush Creek Confluence in Lewiston, likely to enter work phases beginning in 2027. At Evan’s Bar, TRRP intends to enhance habitat availability for juvenile fish, along with maintaining access to private parcels in the area while improving access at the public boat launch. The remaining site designs, which include Sky Ranch, McIntyre Gulch, and middle Steiner Flat, will start to paint the picture of what the 40-mile restoration reach will look like as the program of work identified within the 2000 ROD nears “completion”.

Watershed Grantee Projects

Through our Watershed Grantee Program, the Implementation Branch will continue to collaborate on five projects to improve conditions in Trinity River tributaries in 2026.

Deadwood Creek Sediment Reduction Project – Northwest California Resource Conservation & Development Council (5Cs)

This project intends to improve sediment delivery in Deadwood Creek, the first major Trinity River tributary below Lewiston Dam. The project will remove legacy mine tailings from Mill Gulch, decommission Thorne Gulch Road, install and enhance 12 rolling or critical dips, remove abandoned vehicles and debris from stream channels and floodplains and build stream enhancement features in Thorne Gulch.   

Salt Creek Floodplain Restoration – The Watershed Research and Training Center

This project aims to improve 2,000 feet of heavily degraded salmonid habitat along Salt Creek, a South Fork Trinity River tributary, by reconnecting the creek to its historic floodplain using engineered and process-based restoration techniques. The project will increase aquifer recharge and storage for slow release to temper a thermal barrier for salmonids, restore geomorphic functions that will improve salmonid spawning gravels, create pools for summer cool water refugia, increase habitat heterogeneity for winter flow high-velocity refugia, and improve native riparian flora, all of which will increase the resilience of aquatic species from the impacts of climate change. Implementation is scheduled for summer 2026.

 

Water Resiliency in the Greater River Trinity Watershed for Aquatic Ecosystem and Human Domestic Needs – The Watershed Research and Training Center

The organization is tasked to plan and implement storage tank arrays and establish long-term forbearance agreements to reduce annual water withdrawals from key tributaries to the Trinity River during the summer low-flow period. The project will increase the quality and quantity of natural habitats crucial to the survival of anadromous fishes and aquatic organisms in the Trinity River Watershed. Implementation for two landowners along Brown’s Creek is scheduled for spring 2026.

East Branch East Weaver Creek Migration Barrier Removal – Northwest California Resource Conservation & Development Council (5Cs)

This project will replace an aging culvert that has become a fish passage barrier on the East Branch of East Weaver Creek.  The new infrastructure placement will open nearly 2 miles of habitat for anadromous species of the Trinity Watershed.

Weaver Creek Habitat Restoration Implementation – The Yurok Tribe Fisheries Department

The Yurok Tribe Fisheries Department will complete the NEPA process and work towards rehabilitation along the upper section of Weaver Creek, a tributary to the Trinity River. The project will control the spread of invasive plant species, establish habitat connectivity during summertime baseflow conditions, and support populations of threatened Coho Salmon through enhanced floodplain an instream habitat conditions. The Yurok Tribe is collaborating with the Nor Rel Muk Wintu Nation, Federal land managers, the Weaverville Sanitary District, and adjacent landowners for this restoration project.

Return to the January Newsletter

James Lee, MS – Implementation Branch Chief

James Lee grew up near Redding, Ca, but his heart has always been in the Trinity’s, where he chased tadpoles, salmon, deer, and gold nuggets for much of his youth. This love of the outdoors turned into an interest in managing fish, wildlife, water, timber, and other natural resources. 

Featured Article – A Reflection on 2025

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By: Michael Dixon, Executive Director – Trinity River Restoration Program

Drone photo of the Oregon Gulch site in the summer of 2025. [Elliot Sarnacki, TRRP]

As we enter 2026, let us pause to reflect on this past year, which was the 25th year of the Trinity River Restoration Program. I’m sure that most will agree that 2025 felt decidedly tumultuous, but we managed to overcome a lot of hurdles and get important work done.

Although we said goodbye to an unprecedented number of TRRPers from across our partnership, the pace of our work did not slow down. While we cannot replace the friendships and personalities of our colleagues who no longer roam our meetings and hallways, those that remain have showed great resolve in their dedication to this program and its mission.

Last year, we completed the Watershed Restoration EA, an ambitious document that will dramatically streamline the environmental compliance process for not just the TRRP’s restoration work, but also for other partners in the watershed. The document was a collaboration with the Bureau of Land Management, the US Forest Service, and our office, and was a heavy lift by many dedicated individuals over several years.   We are already seeing the benefits of their hard work with the 2026 construction season approaching.

We abruptly lost our long-term outreach grant with the Trinity County RCD late last spring, but our relationship with them endures. We are actively working on ways to share capacity and continue the work that we do together. Popular events like Science on Tap and youth outreach camps such as the Weaverville Summer Day Camp will continue into 2026.  

The Upper Conner Creek restoration Project was completed in 2025. [Elliot Sarnacki, TRRP]

We completed the Upper Conner Creek restoration project. The project rehabilitated nearly 15 acres of floodplain habitat and filled a final puzzle piece of a patchwork of channel restoration projects both up and downstream of the area. The design was the third largest design we have ever implemented in terms of excavation volume.  This project saw a significant amount of input from partnerships and stakeholders, leading to a project that met the needs of many while keeping the goal of habitat enhancement for fish and other wildlife at the center. Watching flows from these last several December storms spread out on all that new floodplain has been very exciting – the site looks great and we look forward to watching it evolve. 

Speaking of flows, we are now in our second year of implementing the full winter flow project ruleset to better manage and study our environmental flows. For a second year in a row the atmosphere delivered a Christmas storm triggering a synchronized storm pulse. This flow gave the river a healthy scrub (especially up by Deadwood Creek) and set the stage for a vibrant food web to develop as salmon emerge from the gravel. 

In the broader Klamath-Trinity watershed, we saw an incredible, unhoped-for number of adult salmon pass the former Klamath dam sites and make it into the upper watershed. Partners in the program were instrumental in making that happen, and there is little doubt the dam removals will pay dividends for the Trinity as well – a rising tide lifts all boats.

Return to the January Newsletter

Michael Dixon, PhD – Executive Director

Mike Dixon is the Executive Director of the Trinity River Restoration Program and a northern California native. He fell in love with the Trinity River and Klamath Mountains while assigned to his first duty station at Coast Guard Air Station Humboldt Bay. He received a Ph.D. in Conservation Biology from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, where his dissertation focused on the landscape ecology and population genetics of bats. He lives on a small, perennial tributary of the Trinity River near Weaverville.