[env-trinity] Redding.com- Gravel break could aid Trinity River; More fish may approach anglers' lines

[Tom Stokely]

http://www.redding.com/news/2012/feb/13/gravel-break-could-aid-trinity-river/ 

Gravel break could aid Trinity River; More fish may approach anglers' lines
By Damon Arthur

Monday, February 13, 2012

To Travis Michel, gravel, or lack of it, means a lot to Trinity County.

The Lewiston fishing guide was "ecstatic" when he heard that the Trinity Management Council decided to stop adding gravel to the Trinity River for the remainder of the year.

He maintains officials with the Trinity River Restoration Project have been putting too much gravel in the river the past few years, which is hurting business for fishing guides — and Trinity County's economy.

The gravel was put in the river to improve the channel for salmon and steelhead by creating more spawning areas. But Michel and other river guides say there is too much gravel, and it has filled in deep holes where adult fish live. The gravel also makes the river shallow and wide and crowds adult fish, as well as the anglers that go after them, into fewer and fewer fishing holes, Michel said.

Since 2003, officials have added 72,000 cubic-yards of gravel to the river, said Robin Schrock, executive director of the project.

That is enough gravel to fill about 4,500 16-cubic-yard gravel trucks.

Schrock said gravel is an important part of the work to improve conditions for fish in the river.

However, there is more than enough gravel in the river, she said.

"Recent rehabilitation projects have included the addition of enough gravel that the total quantity added over the past several years was slightly greater than the recommended average target for annual additions ... " Schrock said.

Since 2003 the restoration project has been adding gravel, clearing brush from stream banks, doing erosion control and other work on the river. Schrock has said about $36 million has been spent on the river.

Michel isn't the only fishing guide complaining the river is stuffed too full of gravel.

"They put in so much gravel last year and the year before that it was all over and it filled in all the holes the fish were living in and fish were all congregating up by the dam," said fishing guide Ed Duggan of Willow Creek.

Michel said he wants to see a "happy medium" that balances the needs of spawning and younger fish and the need for deep holes for adults.

Michel said the amount of gravel in the river affects not only his livelihood, but others in the community. Most of the anglers he takes out on the river come from out of town, buy gas in Trinity County, eat at local restaurants and stay in area hotels, he said.

Steelhead fishing is important to the Trinity County economy because it brings anglers to the area during the winter, when the normal tourist season is over, Michel said.

And there were a lot of fish in the river this past season. From October through December, 22,314 fall-run Chinook salmon and 4,002 steelhead were counted in the Trinity River near Lewiston, according to the state Department of Fish and Game.

During the same period a year earlier 11,908 salmon and 2,037 steelhead were counted.


  © 2012 Scripps Newspaper Group — Online
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