Tortuga Restoration Spawning Surveys on the Stanislaus River, Stanislaus County, CA, 2023-2024

The East Stanislaus Conservation District and Cramer Fish Sciences, funded by a Bureau of Reclamation Central Valley Project Improvement Act program grant, are designing, constructing, and monitoring the Tortuga Salmonid Habitat Restoration project, aimed at improving juvenile rearing and adult spawning habitat on the lower Stanislaus River for Central Valley fall-run Chinook Salmon ( Oncorhynchus tshawytscha
) and steelhead ( O. mykiss
). The project is located approximately 68 km upstream from the confluence with the San Joaquin River. The project has the potential to create approximately 3.18 acres of seasonally inundated rearing habitat, 0.44 acres of perennial in-channel rearing habitat, and 0.44 acres of spawning habitat. The project is expected to be constructed in 2025 or 2026, with two years of post-project monitoring following construction. This work supports effectiveness monitoring of the project including spawning and rearing (snorkel) surveys and is ongoing.