2005 Targeted Watersheds Grants:
Trinity / Lower Klamath Rivers
California and Oregon
WHY IS THIS WATERSHED SPECIAL?
The Trinity River salmon fishery has been critically important to Tribal People for thousands of years
for subsistence, cultural, religious and commercial purposes. The Trinity River watershed
encompasses 2,950 square miles, and the river flows 172 miles through the mountains and the Yurok
Reservation to the Pacific Ocean. With the construction of the Trinity River Division for the purpose
of diverting water to the Central Valley Project beginning in the 1950s, the natural flow of the river has
been dramatically reduced, threatening the survival of the Chinook and coho salmon and steelhead
trout populations.
ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES
The Trinity River watershed is under constant threat from riparian development and reduced flows.
The Targeted Watersheds Grant funds will focus specifically on the following priority environmental
problems that are negatively impacting salmonid populations:
• Degraded streambeds and riparian habitat and excess sedimentation as a result of commercial
forestry and water diversion operations.
• Increased thermal loads resulting from the loss and degradation of riparian areas and habitat.
Stream restoration on the South Fork of the
Trinity River.
RESTORATION ACTIVITIES
The Yurok Tribe will use the Targeted Watersheds Grant
funds to improve in-stream conditions and riparian habitat.
Specifically, they will:
• Reduce sediment loading to salmonid habitat by
decommissioning roads, rehabilitating upslope sites and
stabilizing erodable stream banks.
• Restore habitat diversity by planting native hardwoods in
riparian areas.
• Promote the full release of Trinity River flows through
stream restoration, creation of low flow zones for
salmonid rearing habitat and removal of excess sediment
in streams.
• Monitor water quality in areas of restoration activities.
Installing willow baffles to recapture floodplain and promote
riparian recovery.
EPA840-F-07-001K
www.epa.gov/twg
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A STRONG PARTNERSHIP FOR CHANGE
Recognizing the importance of working with a broad
range of stakeholders, the Yurok Tribe Environmental
Program has formed a partnership with:
• Trinity County Planning Department Natural
Resources Division
• Trinity County Resource Conservation District
• Green Diamond Resource Company
• California Coastal Conservancy
• Trinity River Restoration Program
• Trinity Management Council
• Trinity Adaptive Management Working Group
EPA's Targeted Watersheds
Grants
EPA's Targeted Watersheds Grants program is
a competitive grant program designed to
encourage collaborative, community-driven
approaches to meet clean water goals.
For More Information
Contact:
Kevin McKernan
Director
Yurok Tribe Environmental
Program
kevin@yuroktribe.nsn.us
(707)482-1350
www.yuroktribe.org/depart
ments/ytep/ytep. htm
Funding: $835,000
Using logs from decommissioned roads for floodplain bank recovery.
2005 Targeted Watersheds Grants - Trinity/Lower Klamath Rivers
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