Clover Creek

Clover Creek is located approximately 12 miles east of Redding in Shasta County, on the eastern side of the Sacramento River. Clover Creek is a tributary to Cow Creek, which enters the Sacramento River just east of the city of Anderson.

 

The Millville Ditch is the largest diversion on Clover Creek and consists of a concrete dam, originally built in the 1920s, and a siphon structure (to pass the diverted water under the creek about 300 yards downstream of the dam).

 

The Millville Diversion Fisheries Restoration Project consisted of the construction of 2 reinforced concrete pool-and-chute type fish ladders, a screened diversion intake, and new inverted siphon to provide water to the Millville Ditch Company’s irrigation ditch without entraining fish. Providing fish passage at the dam and siphon opened up approximately 10 miles of historically-accessible habitat for Sacramento River fall-run Chinook salmon and Central Valley steelhead. The project was completed in 2016.

 

In support of this effort, we conducted a preliminary investigation of the site, including a Clover Creek Habitat Assessment, topographic survey, and geologic investigation. We also completed a Preliminary Engineering Technical Report and drawings for the preferred alternative.

Basics

Is this an Active Project or Completed Project? Completed

Watershed: Clover Creek

Why is the project needed? What are the project goals?

In 1995, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Anadromous Fish Restoration Program Core Group reported that salmon and steelhead spawning habitat in Cow Creek and its tributaries was in "relatively good condition". Salmon and steelhead may not have been able to access spawning habitat in upstream areas of Clover Creek because the diversion dam and siphon structure are partial barriers to upstream fish passage.

 

The purpose of the project was to improve water supply reliability for the Millville Ditch Company and to improve passage for salmonids.

Timeline

Long Term Maintenance

Budget

With funding from the CDFW’s Ecosystem Restoration Program and USFWS Anadromous Fish Screen Program, the Western Shasta RCD successfully implemented the project. Immediately following the completion of the project, a salmon was documented successfully swimming through the upper fish ladder.

Collaboration

We worked with DWR’s Northern Region office and a technical advisory committee composed of representatives from Western Shasta Resource Conservation District, California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), USFWS, National Marine Fisheries Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Cow Creek Watershed Management Group, and the Millville Ditch Company to develop a preferred alternative for fish passage at this site.