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Newsflash - Conner Creek Project Earns Recognition
The Conner Creek fish migration barrier removal projects will be recognized with an Honorable Mention as a "Distinguished Project in Fisheries Engineering and Ecohydrology" by the American Fisheries Society during the 2013 International Conference on Engineering & Ecohydrology for Fish Passage in Corvallis, Oregon on Wednesday June 26, 2013. The AFS recognition will be presented to the Forest Service for their support of the project.
The Conner Creek Project was previously recognized by the National Fish Habitat Partnership as one of the top ten 2012 "Waters to Watch".
The Forest Service recently published a video on fisheries restoration featuring images of the Conner Creek project. You can view the video at:
Thanks to Project Partners-
5C Program Director Mark Lancaster would like to thank some of the professionals who made the Conner Creek project such a success:
- Christine Jordan, 5C - initial project and grant development. She also advocated for not building partial-solution projects (the original approach) and worked to design and fund the right projects for the sites. Lastly she worked behind the scenes to keep me in line and keep the projects moving forward
- Loren Everest, USFS - An early USFS driver to get these projects done
- Michael Bowen - Although he never made it to the sites, Michael and California Coastal Conservancy played a major role in keeping the 5C in business and able to do designs and modifications each time a road block was thrown in front of us
- Rick Tippett, Trinity DOT - Rick’s willingness to work with us and commit his staff, and the flexibility he displayed exhibited uncommon leadership
- Wes Scribner, Trinity DOT - Without Wes, the Conner Creek #1 project would not have been completed in 2011. His work on design, construction and support for my insistance on minimal impact construction were critical
- Randy Cessna, Trinity DOT - Randy cranked out hydraulics reports, guided Wes and set the ground work for the Red Hill project
- NOAA Arcata Office staff (Katie McGourdy, Ann Garrett, Bob Pagliuco, Leah Mahan) - Their dedication to making sure that the needed consultations were done in a timely manner cannot be understated
- Dan Gale, USFWS - Ditto to Dan for his timely consultations
- Samantha Chilcote, USFS TRMU - Sam focused on the fish benefits and helped lead the Forest Service in getting the NEPA needed. No small feat.
- Fred Levitan, Mark Goldsmith, Mark Arnold, Lusetta Nelson USFS - These specialists expedited the review of Specialists Reports needed for the unplanned supplemental NEPA analysis
- Eric Wiseman, USFS - Great SCI and biological data collection
- Bill Brock, USFS - For assisting in the NEPA and ESA concerns at the SO and Ranger District level
- David Colbeck, 5C - He jumped into site construction and supervision, maintaining fish nets, working pumps and building natural bottom stream channels with no prior experience. If it needed 12 hours a day to do it, he was there
- Conner Creek landowners for their patience and jokes during construction and thanks for not complaining about all the noise and dust on your cars
I know there were some behind the scenes efforts by people that I do not even know about, so to all of them I say thank you and know that these projects are doing what they are supposed to be doing because of your help.
And most importantly thanks has to go to:
- DJ Fulterton, Trinity DOT - Those who know, know what an incredible leader and cool head DJ is; and
- The Trinity County ROAD DEPARTMENT HAYFORK CREW with help from members of the Weaverville Crew- These guys and gals did an incredible job of constructing the projects including working in the smallest space ever to install a bridge (Conner Creek Road) without removing a single tree from the stream zone. Incredible work
Last but not least, the project would not have happened without the following funding support:
Please contact us for more info.
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