California river restoration project attracts salmon within days of completion

California restoration crews rebuilt a damaged stretch of the Lower Tuolumne River with more than 24,000 cubic yards of gravel, 49 trees, and 80 large boulders, creating 4.78 acres of new habitat for salmon and other native species. The results arrived remarkably quickly: FISHBIO reported that scientists documented Chinook salmon spawning on the newly built riffles within days of the project’s completion.The work, known as the 2026 Powerhouse Riffle Restoration Project, was carried out below Don Pedro Reservoir near the historic La Grange Diversion Dam. It was led by the Turlock Irrigation District, Modesto Irrigation District, and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, with support from partners including FISHBIO, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, River Partners, Applied River Sciences, Ford Construction, and Stantec, as per the report.Why the Tuolumne needed repairThe Lower Tuolumne River has lost important spawning habitat because of high-flow events in 1997, 2011, and 2017. The Modesto Irrigation District said those floods altered the river channel and damaged the gravel beds and riffles that salmon depend on for reproduction, prompting the partners to launch the restorat...