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![]() Local Film Festival Sponsors
Colin StokesVic and Kay Simenc Kathy Garlick & Joe KingPhillip and Judith LaRoccaDorothy Whitlock |
Saving our Foothills-Saving Salmon-Saving our Hometown - Join us to Stop the Sprawl
Salmoncam is Back!Thanks to a generous donation from a flyfishing friend, the Salmoncam is back up and running 24/7. We are still working on developing the graphics, framing and a donate button but wanted to share the link with our friends now. This is a great reason to make a donation to one of our many causes or just for general purposes. We hope to expand the Salmoncam program to have a couple wildlife cameras and possibly an underwater camera.
Wild and Scenic Film Festival on Tour - Another Big Success
Our Appraisal fund for the Butte Creek Water Right we are acquiring is still in need of $$ to offset the out of pocket $25,000 we paid for the appraisal. The big DONATE button to the left will help fund our general support. Below is the Endowment Fund set up to pay the watermaster fees for the water right in perpetuity. The Michael Smith Salmon Water Endowment Fund
And to ensure his legacy is never forgotten, we have established the MIchael Smith Salmon Water Endowment Fund with the North Valley Community Foundation. This fund will provide the annual costs of maintaining a dedicated instream water right for salmon that Friends of Butte Creek is purchasing. It will also support future stream flow enhancements that we are currently working on. Contributions can be made online, via credit card, through ACH or by check. Should you want to mail a check, the address is: 1811 Concord Avenue, Suite 220, Chico CA 95928. Please make the check out to: Michael Smith Salmon Water Endowment. Visit North Valley Community Foundation 2021 Final Report on Adult Monitoring - Bad News!California Department of Fish and Wildlife releases the bad news about the 2021 Phoenix Butte Creek Salmon. Although an estimated 21,580 salmon returned from brood year 2018 (Camp Fire), 19,773 died before spawning due to elevated water temperature and poor water management. We are running out if time, running out of options and the only safe place for Butte Creek Spring Run Salmon is higher in the watershed! It is time to get it done before we start losing entire year classes of these remarkable fish. View the report.... Also read the FBC blog post response from the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance here. Here they come again!!! Spring Run Salmon also Fly!Fish Flow Forever Fund Friends of Butte Creek is getting an appraisal of the value of a water right of 5 cubic feet per second (cfs) that is dedicated to Butte Creek from April 15 through October 15 and an additional 1.5 cfs dedicated to the stream the rest of the year. The combined volume of water for fish is over 2000 acre-feet. The appraisal must be completed prior to the transfer of the water right. FBC is responsible for the cost associated with the initial appraisal. all other costs are covered by the grant funds from the California Wildlife Conservation Board. With this in mind we are asking for your help to cover these initial cost. We have established a GoFundMe site for you to donate to help us reach our goal. Read more on the donation page. The 2021 Return!
Watch the video: Helltown Pool #1 Butte Creek Water Legacy
We have exciting news on our Wildlife Conservation Board grant for the purchase of a water right dedicated to the creek and its' creatures. The water that was formerly dedicated to agricultural use was no longer needed by the right holder and was transferred to instream flow dedication. We have finished all the apprasial process and will be going into escrow in 2023 to formalize the purchase and transfer to FBC. We have established an Endowment for Butte Creek through the North Valley Community Foundation(see above). We need to raise another $10,000 to guarantee the funds necessary to maintain that right in perpetuity. In addition we are pursuing other opportunities to build upon this success. Spawning 2020
Friends of Butte Creek assisted the Butte Creek Canyon Volunteer Fire Company to 2019 Salmon Count The last we heard in September 2019 was that there were probably just over 6000 wild spring run salmon in Butte Creek based on the annual snorkel survey and fish counter data from the spring. California Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists do a follow up survey counting spawned out carcasses in late September and through October. The final count: a whopping 15,000 salmon. This represents over 90% of the total Central Valley Spring Run population. Once again, the resiliency of these fish amazes everyone.
FROM FIRE TO FLOOD. Days after the Camp fire was officailly contained, flash flooding pounded the foothils and lower canyon. Check Facebook for photos. Butte Creek Canyon Landowners: The Butte County Resource Conservation District is compiling a database for mapping of restoration work. Landowners can send their property information and give permission for crews to perform erosion protection work free of charge. Visit their website at www.bcrcd.org Send in your information as soon as possible. You can follow the restoration efforts on Facebook at Save Butte Creek Salmon: Stop the Runoff SAVING THE SALMON CAMP FIRE DEVASTATES PARADISE, CONCOW AND BUTTE CREEK more info, pictures and videos as we have time and accurate information. Watch this video from Thursday when the fire first started. Completely inappropriate creek bank work begins in Butte Creek. See the photos.
As salmon prepare for spawning on Butte Creek, Governor Brown is in a position to sign AB 2528 that will help protect Butte Creek and other salmon strongholds. Click here to go to the CalTrout Action Alert and click here to watch the Wild Salmon Center video on Salmon Strongholds. Butte Creek Spring Run Salmon are back home. View the recent video. More to come! The Butte Creek Canyon Overlay was passed by the Butte County Board of Supervisors
2018 Salmon are not yet spawning but you can watch the action from 2017 here! Day 1 and 2.
Breaking NewsCalifornia Department of Fish and Wildlife proposes a minimum instream flow of 120 cfs below Durham Mutual Dam for safe passage for salmon and steelhead. Currently there is no minimum flow and almost every years dozens, and in some cases hundreds of spring run salmon have died before spawning below this dam on their migration to upper Butte Creek. The unusually hard and resistent Lahar rock formation has limited channels with sufficient width and depth for safe passage for the salmon, especially at low water. Water diverters may have to limit their diversions until all fish have moved upstream. The list of priority streams, the Butte Creek flow study and plan, and the Public Resources Code are available at these links. Priority Streams; Butte Creek Flow Study; Public Resources Code Above: Durham Mutual Dam and the downstream rock formation Breaking News: PG&E wants to cut and run on the DeSabla-Centerville hydroelectric project, read the article. PG&E has decided to withdraw their application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the continued operation of the DeSabla-Centerville Hydroelectric Project. Essentially they are nullyfying 12 years of work by agencies, NGO's and their own staff, not to mention millions of dollars, and they have put the project on the market. Read the press release. If a buyer is not found PG&E could be forced to decommission the whole project. Meanwhile the deadbeat Centerville Head Dam will continue to block fish passage for no reason. Spring Run Chinook Salmon Symposium Salmonid Restoration Federation and Friends of Butte Creek brought back this Symposium focused on Spring Run Chinook Salmon. The first day was updates and research presentations followed by two days of tours of Butte, Mill, Deer, Clear Creeks. Click here for more information. Bears in Butte Creek
Bears appear to have taken a serious toll on the few salmon that made it up to spawn in 2015. Low water and lots of hungry bears made it easy pickings for the bears. Check out the great shots from Suji Roland of a spawning salmon snatched from her redd by the mama bear. Her two cubs were waiting on shore for lunch. We will be creating a wildlife page to share all the great pictures that Friends have been taking. Enjoy this visit on the creek.
Please contact us to find out how you can help keep the beauty of Butte Creek live on the internet and share with your friends this beautiful place we live! Thanks to Michael Smith for this incredible photo taken May 7. Butte Creek Spring Run Salmon Run CountsSpawn 2022 -No info yet. Snorkel Count 2500 Spawn 2021 carcass survey 21,500, pre-sapwn mortality 19,773 or 92% of the run Spawn 2020 - Snorkel 1500 Spawn 2019 - Snorkel 6200, Carcass 14,900 Spawn 2018- Snorkel 2118 Spawn 2017 - Snorkel 980, Carcass 500 Spawn 2016 - Snorkel 4,450, Carcass 5,317 Spawn 2015 - Vaki camera est. 1,939, Snorkel 1,081, Carcass 413 Spawn 2014 - 4,894 Spawn 2013 - 15,866 Spawn 2012 - 17,000 Spawn 2011 - 4,500 Spawn 2010 - 1,979 The 2014 Spring Run Salmon are back. Low water may have triggered an early return. And then came the rain! The creek is in remarkably good condition with good flows for the juveniles heading to the ocean and adults returning home to entertain the creatures of the Canyon. Otters are happy and enjoying wild salmon sashimi regularly. View the Salmoncam and check out the action. Sponsors needed! 2012 Fish Spawned in Record Numbers! We had a spectacular run with a final estimate at just under 17,000 salmon. This is in the top 4 years of recent records. Spawning began earlier than usual. Contact us for a 2013 Spring Run Salmon Tour. More videos including underwater action are located on the video page. |
Friends of Butte Creek PO Box 3305 Chico, CA 95927 Email: friends@buttecreek.org
Copyright © Friends of Butte Creek. |