A century-old concrete barrier in the San Francisquito Creek has been removed, a triumph for the steelhead trout, conservationists said this week.
Called a “weir,” the 45-foot-wide barrier at the creek bottom — near Palo Alto’s border with Menlo Park — had made it difficult for fish to travel along the creek. It altered and sometimes impeded the water current, according to the San Mateo County Resource Conservation District.
The district was responsible for the $309,400 Bonde Weir Fish Passage Improvement Project, which is now complete.
For more information about the project, read the Weekly’s Aug. 9 article “Creek project will help endangered fish run free.”
small victory I guess, but what about Searsville Dam? I’d like to see the Weekly carry this story further to maybe spur that process along. Stanford has been diverting and using water from this creek for over a century to water its precious golf course and other facilities… how does that still happen when the native steelhead and coho in the creek are in serious trouble? (I believe the coho are listed as endangered)
Come on Weekly, I demand you do better!
“Perhaps it’s just me, but the cost of over a quarter of a million dollars to get rid of a bit of decrepit concrete in a creek seems rather mind-boggling.”
Coulda hired some laborers and rented a jack hammer and got the job done for about $2k! Who’s running this show?!
Why was the dam installed back in the day?
With all the hype, I was expecting the Colorado River. So disappointing.
At least this is a step in the right direction, though more costly than necessary. Suspect someone generously padded the bill
Like it or not, removal of a 50’year old dam probably has some hazardous/environmental considerations given the site. Not saying the cost was too high, but the job certainly wasn’t a simple jackhammer and wheel burrow job.
> but the job certainly wasn’t a simple jackhammer and wheel burrow job.
Interesting. The canals in Britain were built with shovels and wheelbarrows before jackhammers were invented. Guess that Brits were lucky not to have had access to the blogs like this one, back in the day.
And to think that the pyramids were built without power tools, also!
My point was that given the environmental purpose of the project, I’m guessing that the demolition required several measure to minimize or eliminate any contamination due to the demo process.
And this cost almost a third of a million dollars??? No wonder cities, town, and the USA are broke.
> I’m guessing that the demolition required several measure to
. minimize or eliminate any contamination due to the demo process.
Operative word–guessing.
you are the ugliest people in the world. prejudiced and mean.
Why pick apart what Crescent Park Dad said? His posts express what I was actually told by creek volunteers in the know about the weir’s demo. All this knit-picking by cost from people in a wealthy city is eye-rollingly ridiculous. You sound like Athertonians!
ONCE THOSE MAKE IT DOWN STREAM I WILL CATCH EM….”FISH DYNASTY” ..I BELIEVE THAT MONEY COULD HAVE HELPED WITH THE RE-FORTIFYING THE LEVY..I GUESS FISH ARE WAY MORE IMPORTANT THAN PEOPLE FLOODED OUT THIER HOMES…
A project of this nature involves the following costs:
Engineering design – The weir was a grade control structure and removing it without engineering a replacement grade control system that also lets fish pass would cause the channel drop previously present at the structure to “rip” upstream, potentially causing major damage at other infrastructure. The replacement grade control is largely underground, but it is there, and a design such as this requires input from a licensed engineer, hydrologists, etc.
Permitting – Permits must be obtained from the National Marine Fisheries Service, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Regional Water Quality Control Board, US Army Corps of Engineers, and perhaps others. Preparing these applications and seeing them through to approval is a bit of work.
Construction – Construction must be coordinated in time per the permits. The stream must be diverted. Heavy equipment must be brought in to place the enormous rocks now controlling the stream grade (they are underground, you can’t see them). Downstream water quality must be controlled. Construction access and the project site must be restored and re-vegetated to pre-project conditions. In most cases post-constrcution monitoring is required to make sure the stream channel and re-vegetation continue to recover consistent with permit requirements.
Although this is not a comprehensive list, this is a bit of what is involved. From someone who knows what this type of project costs, the price tag on this one was actually very low due to the dedication and volunteerism on the part of many involved. They deserve congratulation and praise and I am sorry to see all the criticism.