The San Mateo Resource Conservation District (RCD) has officially marked the start of the dredging process along lower Butano Creek, aimed to alleviate flooding on Pescadero Creek Road and mass fish kills.
The Butano Creek cleanup program, located in Pescadero, California, will remove the sediment that has filled the creek.
As of this week, the team has brought in biologists to relocate wildlife from the area, dredging equipment has continued arriving and a temporary dam is now in place to assist with managing water levels, reports Half Moon Bay Review.
Lower Butano Creek, where it runs through the marsh, has completely filled in with sediment. This blocks threatened steelhead trout and endangered coho salmon from the entire Butano watershed for spawning, rearing their young, and finding critical refuge during storms and droughts.
RCD has been working for years to find solutions to these problems, engaging engineers, scientists, community members, and representatives from a number of different agencies.
In 2017, the RCD was awarded funding to re-establish 8,000 feet of the historic creek channel, remove 45,000 cubic yards of sediment, and re-use the dredge material to fill historic human-made pits to restore 28 acres of degraded marsh.
The dredging operations will take place this summer with the goal to finish this fall.