Tree project aids salmon in Yuba River

Hundreds of new trees being planted along the Yuba River east of Marysville will benefit birds, insects, river lovers of the two-legged variety and a host of other species.

But the one animal that will see the most benefit will never spend any time in tree branches or even next to their trunks. Yet salmon is the reason for a project that'll transform 5 acres on the river's south side in the Yuba Goldfields.

"It's creating habitat," said Denise Della Santina, project manager for what's called the Hammon Bar Riparian Enhancement Pilot Project. "It's a loss of habitat that's one of the biggest factors affecting salmon populations."

Because of largely man-made changes to both the river's flow and terrain, much of the shores on the lower Yuba River lack the kind of woody groves that were once common. As those stands of trees dropped branches and leaves into the water, they created backwaters and other features scientists consider vital for salmon and steelhead to thrive.

"The strongest impact, actually, is when the trees fall down," said Gary Reedy, river science director for the South Yuba Citizens League, which is spearheading the replanting project. But even before then, the trees will also provide riverbank shade and habitat for insects, and thus food, for young and adult salmon.

Under the SYRCL project, which began in July, volunteers made hundreds of cuttings from willow and cottonwood trees further from the river's shore, then put them in a soaking pond to absorb moisture before rainy season.

Beginning earlier this month, contractor MM Reforestation began the actual planting of cuttings, in "pods" of 12 trees, each 7 to 12 feet long, from a variety of species.

On Monday, an excavator scooped out 8-foot-deep holes in the river's floodplain, followed by MM Reforestation workers hopping into the pit to make sure the willows are planted at the right height.

After taking measurements, the crews then knocked a foot or so of sediment into the pit for a higher planting threshold for the cottonwoods, which are more likely to rot if their bottom is in water, Della Santina said.

As she oversaw the plantings, Alyssa Lindman, a Linda resident, made notations on a sheet in her role as a field supervisor.

"I love restoration," said Lindman, who said her background is in landscape architecture, normally for vernal pools. "I volunteered to help them out with this project. This is new to me."

Within the next week, MM Reforestation of Browns Valley should finish 140 pods with 1,680 cuttings, but that's only the start. Next year, crews will put in 6,720 cuttings over a 5-acre area, though where those cuttings will come from still has to be determined.

Reedy said planning and carrying out the project has a $350,000 budget, most of which comes from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant. Through 2015, SYRCL scientists will monitor the cuttings to see how well they do and under what circumstances they thrive to guide future such projects, Della Santina said.

Already, they know the number of cuttings growing into trees won't equal 100 percent, Reedy said, but 90 percent is possible.

"But even if it's only 20 percent, we'll have changed this bar in an extremely successful way," he said.

CONTACT reporter Ben van der Meer at 749-4786.