Niles Canyon

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) removed two obsolete dams from the Niles canyon reach of Alameda Creek in 2006. Niles Dam was removed by August 2006 and the last rubble from Sunol Dam was removed during a ceremony on September 21, 2006. Sunol Dam is the largest dam ever removed in the Bay Area for fish restoration.

These dam removals, in concert with other fish passage projects in the lower creek already funded or in the planning stages, will allow steelhead trout and salmon to migrate up Alameda Creek to Sunol Wilderness.

Photos courtesy of ACA members Gerry Mooney and Diana Brumbaugh

Alameda Creek flows free at the former Sunol Dam site at the top of Niles Canyon for the first time in 105 years! Sunol Dam circa 2001 for comparison

Removing the last of Sunol Dam - Approval of rubble removal

Niles Dam being removed and Niles Dam removed - this stretch flows free for the first time in 165 years

SFPUC General Manager Susan Leal and ACA Director Jeff Miller spoke at Sept. 21 ceremony - Posing with before and after photos of Niles Dam

Sunol Dam being prepared for removal - Rescuing fish during Sunol Dam de-watering

Draft Conceptual Engineering Report - Removal of Niles and Sunol Dams

Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Sunol and Niles Dam Removal Project.

View the SFPUC information about the dam removal project

USGS Gauging Station Cement Apron

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and Northern California Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers have investigated potential fish passage improvements at the US Geological Survey (USGS) stream gauge station weir in lower Niles Canyon, owned by the SFPUC. A 2006 report by a fish passage expert (Michael Love and Associates) concluded that the structure is a migration barrier to adult steelhead at most flows and needs a passage facility.

The cement apron began cracking and failing in 2007 and the SFPUC assessed the condition of the structure in a 2009 report. The apron section is in a state of "incipient failure" but the headwall seems to be intact. Since the stream gauge has provided over 100 continuous years of record of Alameda Creek stream flow, there is a strong interest in ensuring any removal, repair or retrofit project for fish passage must not decrease the quality of the USGS data from the stream gauge. The SFPUC has installed an alternate gauge above the weir to preserve consistent stream flow records if the structure should fail or need to be removed. The 2009 report estimated the cost of removal would be $650,000.