Stonybrook Creek
The Stonybrook Creek tributary which feeds into Niles
Canyon has year-round cold water flows and a healthy resident rainbow
trout population. Nearly a mile of suitable habitat in this creek can
be made accessible for spawning and rearing of steelhead trout if road
crossing barriers are fixed.
Stonybrook Hwy 84 Culvert
The California Department of Transportation owns a road crossing box-culvert
under Niles Canyon Road at the bottom of Stonybrook Creek that is undersized
and a potential barrier to steelhead migration. The ACA pressured Caltrans
to remove the culvert and replace it with a free-span bridge to allow for
a natural stream channel and migratory fish passage. The project was delayed
because Caltrans included the bridge replacement as part of a controversial
highway widening project in Niles Canyon; but Caltrans is revising the road
project and the Alameda Creek Alliance will ensure that this fish passage
barrier is fixed. Caltrans has now proposed replacing the culvert as mitigation
for tree cutting impacts from the abandoned Niles I highway widening project.
Palomares Road Culverts
Numerous other culverts under Palomares Road crossings have been identified
as either complete or partial barriers to upstream migrating steelhead in
Stonybrook Creek; three private crossings and five culverts owned by Alameda
County. Alameda County is developing a barrier remediation strategy and
has identified priority crossings for fish passage improvement. The Alameda
County Resource Conservation District is working on fish passage at the
two lower County-owned culverts; in 2015 it modified one culvert with baffles
that will improve fish passage; the other culvert will be removed and replaced
with a bridge in 2016. More info about the Stonybrook
Creek Fish Passage Improvement Project.
Small Scale Restoration Projects
The Alameda Creek Alliance will be working with landowners and various agencies
to conduct small-scale restoration projects on private lands along Stonybrook
Creek, including removing invasive plants, restoring native vegetation,
erosion control and off-stream water storage.