SIERRA STREAMS
Watershed Monitoring, Research, and Restoration
Deer Creek is the last tributary on the Yuba before upriver passage is blocked by Englebright Dam. Therefore, the mouth of Deer Creek at the confluence with the Yuba River provides spawning and rearing habitat for Central Valley Chinook salmon and steelhead. Salmon and steelhead were present at the mouth of Deer Creek in large numbers in the early part of the 20th century. Human activity, including dams, development, agriculture, and water diversions, have resulted in a decline in the amount of suitable spawning habitat. Sierra Streams is engaged in longterm efforts to restore critical habitat through a combination of approaches, including riparian native revegetation, targeted invasive species removal, regularly repeated gravel injections, spawning bed enhancement, and modifications to the management of the watershed. Our efforts are part of a regional effort to reverse decades of steep decline in anadromous fish populations.
The goals of this project were to improve forest health by reducing dense overstocked trees and invasive plants, help prevent catastrophic wildfire and impacts to water quality and wildlife habitat, and protect the community.
We reduced fuel loads through selective thinning of trees less than 6 inches in diameter, flammable understory vegetation, dead and downed material, and invasive species such as Scotch broom, in order to promote healthier forest conditions. Trees including black oak, madrone, and buckeye were protected to provide diversity and wildlife habitat for species such as Western pond turtles, Pacific chorus frogs, songbirds and waterfowl. This project was completed in December 2019, with the help of professional and volunteer trail crews.
Under grants received by the City of Nevada City, Sierra Streams Institute conducted a Brownfields Community-Wide Assessment of abandoned mine sites on properties owned by the City of Nevada City. SSI took soil samples from four sites: Pioneer Park, Stiles Mill, Hirschman’s Pond, and Providence Mine. All of these high-use sites had areas with suspected mine waste. SSI tested soil samples for heavy metals and evaluated the results using EPA human health risk assessment methods. As a result of these assessments SSI has cleaned up two abandoned mine sites and is proceeding with cleanups of two other mine waste sites in Nevada City.
Stiles Mill was cleaned up with an EPA Brownfields Cleanup grant in 2013. A new trail was constructed to the site from Clark Street which may one day lead to a foot bridge across Deer Creek.
Providence Mine was cleaned up in 2014 and 2015 with funding from two EPA Brownfields Cleanup grants and a Sierra Nevada Conservancy Assessment and Cleanup Grant. Visitors can now access the site by taking the Providence Mine Spur Trail from the Deer Creek Tribute Trail at the west end of Nevada City’s Environs Property.
The Pioneer Park cleanup, funded by a California Department of Water Resources Urban Streams Grant for the the Little Deer Creek Restoration and Flood Mitigation Project, began in 2017. Prior to the in-stream work, SSI caught and temporarily relocated 63 trout with no casualties. An ADA accessible “Roll and Stroll Trail” will be constructed around the perimeter of the park.
SSI is currently working on an EPA Brownfields cleanup of the Providence Quartz Mill located across Providence Mine Road from the Providence Mine site. Stay tuned for details as the cleanup proceeds.
