Migratory salmon soon will have one less hazard to face thanks to the Wallace Weir Fish Rescue Facility project, which will help prevent adult Sacramento River salmon from swimming into a drainage ditch where spawning is hopeless.

By building a permanent barrier across the Knights Landing Ridge Cut, their will be better control of farm drainage releases to avoid attracting salmon.

A new fish collection facility adjacent to the weir will allow the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to more effectively capture stray salmon and return them to the river to spawn.

Name of Project: Wallace Weir Fish Rescue Facility

Project Location: The project area is near the downstream end of the Knights Landing Ridge Cut (KLRC) where it enters the Yolo Bypass, near the town of Woodland in Yolo County, California. The KLRC segment in the project area is approximately 675 feet wide between the tops of banks and drains in a southeasterly direction. The right (west) bank of the KLRC at the Wallace Weir is a Sacramento River Flood Control Project (SRFCP) levee, and the left bank approximately 750 feet upstream of the existing weir is also a SRFCP levee. The Yolo Bypass is immediately adjacent to the east.

Purpose: Construction of the permanent barrier will provide a near-term, permanent fix to block federally and state-listed anadromous fish entry into the Colusa Basin Drain through the KLRC. The proposed project would also facilitate fish relocation while maintaining outflows and improve the efficiency and safety of fish rescue operations under broader flow conditions.

Project Description: To construct a permanent weir with a positive fish barrier and fish collection facility downstream of the existing Wallace Weir structure in the KLRC. The fish collection facility will be adjacent to the fish barrier and work in tandem with the barrier. The project involves removal of the existing Wallace Weir, which is a seasonally constructed, earthen berm that crosses the KLRC. The project will be constructed in compliance with the Biological Opinion and Conference Opinion on the Long-term Operations of the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service in 2009, and as part of the California EcoRestore initiative. Migrating adult salmon are currently able to enter the KLRC through the Wallace Weir when they are attracted by certain flow regimes. No known hazardous waste sites exist in the project area. The Wallace Weir Fish Rescue Facility Project Construction started on August 18, 2016.

Related Articles:

• Davis Enterprise- Fish-friendly Weir will keep salmon in the river not farm fields
• Daily Democrat- Project underway to prevent straying of adult Sacramento River salmon
• News Deeply- Wallace Weir: A New Beginning in California’s River Management

Footage: RD 108 in association with Hayden Cornwell Production created a film using drone footage to detail the pre-project condition of the Wallace Weir Fish Rescue Project.

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