Roseville Restores ‘Micro Habitats’ Along Dry Creek

Urban waterways can stress fish, with water that’s cloudy, or too warm, or too polluted with runoff, or with banks that have been eroded from winter storms. One such stream—Dry Creek in central Roseville—is being restored to improve both water quality and fish habitat.

Before the miners and the farmers arrived, Dry Creek was just one of the riparian highways that young salmonids—an order of fish including the local steelhead trout and Chinook salmon—took on their journey to the ocean. At the end of their lives, they’d return for a last swim, to spawn and finish their lives in the mountain lakes. 

An article in Comstock’s magazine reports on the restoration work being done on Dry Creek, a popular recreation area in Roseville. This creek flows into Steelhead Creek, until its waters pour into the Sacramento River. Construction crews are creating temporary dams to divert the creek as they shape its banks with bulldozers. Crews are planting a variety of native trees and shrubs to create bends and swales to help filter the water. Workers add fallen timber into the mix so that the dead roots left in the water can provide shelter and cooler temperatures for endangered fish.

This ambitious project was funded with $1.8 million from California Urban Rivers Grant Program. Matt Ocko, of Roseville’s Stormwater and Waste Services Division, says “by restoring the forest canopy, we’re going to shade down the creek, so it’s going to have a little micro habitat for everything that likes to call our local creeks home.”

Read The City of Roseville Restores Its ‘Crown Jewel,’ by Jennifer Junghans, on ComstocksMag.com.