HRC or member-contributedThe Battle Creek Hydroelectric Project was originally developed to support the power demand of mineral extraction in Shasta County including Iron Mountain Mine near Redding. The drainage was seen as an ideal drainage for hydropower generation due, in part, to its spring-fed water supply. The project included 8 low-head dams within anadromous reaches, an additional 4 dams outside of the anadromous habitat, and a complex network of 20 diversion canals and pipelines.
Battle Creek is an important watershed because of the year-round influence of coldwater springs. Historically, this habitat allows a diversity of Chinook salmon and steelhead to develop, but these species are now extirpated from the watershed and in danger of extinction because of fish passage barriers from development. CalTrout’s project will be opening access to more than 8 miles of spring-fed spawning and rearing habitat for Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon by removing a fish passage barrier located upstream of the Eagle Canyon Dam in the North Fork of the Battle Creek watershed.
Battle Creek and the Battle Creek Dams are located on the ancestral lands of the Yana Tribe and the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians.
Learn more at CalTrout.org.
