Hoopa Valley Tribe and CDFW Announce Historic Fishery Restoration Partnership
CDFW Director Meghan Hertel, fourth from left, joins Hoopa Valley Tribal Chairman Joe Davis along with federal and Tribal officials in formally dedicating the new, jointly operated fish weir on the Lower Trinity River Sept. 8. CNRA photo
HOOPA, Calif. — The Hoopa Valley Tribe (Tribe) and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) are thrilled to announce a historic project that advances tribal Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and sustainable fishing with CDFW scientific monitoring — improving the health of salmon populations, supporting tribal practices and advancing the science that drives fishery management. The Tribe and CDFW have incorporated a selective harvest program into the Trinity River Restoration Program that along with other benefits, will foster Tribal harvest opportunities that are vital to the Tribe’s culture, community and economy.
The centerpiece of the program is a weir in the Lower Trinity River on the Hoopa Valley Reservation that temporarily contains fish for both scientific examination and selective tribal harvest. The weir replaces two other weirs that the Tribe and CDFW had been operating independently at different sites on the river.
Since 1978, the CDFW Willow Creek Weir has provided critical information used to evaluate long-term salmon and steelhead population trends including annual run size estimation, species composition, age structure, hatchery composition and migration timing.
Since 2016, the Tribe’s Selective Fish Harvest Weir downstream of the Willow Creek Weir near Hoopa has supported those monitoring efforts while also providing opportunities for selective harvest and the distribution of salmonids for Tribal ceremonial, subsistence and community use.
The Tribe’s weir is based upon traditional fish harvest methods that the Hupa people have practiced since time immemorial. The Tribe’s modern weir design reflects centuries-old conservation principles that protect important genetic attributes of “natural reproducing fish populations” by use of selective harvest techniques. Through operations coordinated with CDFW, the Tribe will continue to harvest fish in accordance with established fishery management objectives while allowing the remaining fish to continue unimpaired upstream to spawning grounds.
Beginning this season, both monitoring and selective tribal harvest will be consolidated at the Tribe’s on-reservation weir. Combined tribal and state personnel, equipment and field operations will improve coordination between agencies, and make more effective use of available funding and staffing resources. Significantly, replacing two separate weir operations with a single facility will improve passage and in-river survival by reducing the number of times fish encounter in-river infrastructure and handling operations, while still providing needed information for effective fisheries monitoring and management.
“This partnership demonstrates how Tribal and state agencies can work together to achieve multiple resource management goals,” said CDFW Director Meghan Hertel. “I’m incredibly proud of the hard work by our Tribal partners and CDFW staff that led us to this historic accomplishment.”
The collaborative program also strengthens the longstanding government-to-government relationship between the Hoopa Valley Tribe and the state of California. Through shared staffing, standardized monitoring protocols, joint training and coordinated decision-making, both agencies are building a model for cooperative fisheries management that balances conservation, scientific monitoring and Tribal resource stewardship.
“By combining our monitoring programs and selective harvest into a single operation, we are improving efficiency, reducing impacts to migrating fish, strengthening the scientific foundation of fisheries management and continuing to support the cultural, subsistence, and economic needs of the Hupa people,” said Hoopa Valley Tribal Chairman Joe Davis.
The consolidated weir has been installed near the Tish Tang Campground on the Hoopa Valley Reservation in anticipation of the upcoming fall fish migration season.
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About the Trinity River Restoration Program
After Congress authorized the Trinity River Division of the Central Valley Project in 1955, its construction and operation devastated anadromous fish populations and blocked 109 miles of spawning habitat above the federal Bureau of Reclamation dams near Weaverville. To address those impacts, Congress authorized and directed the Secretary of the Interior to restore fish populations to levels approximating those immediately prior to construction of the Trinity River Division. Congress also established fishery restoration as a purpose of the Central Valley Project and required reimbursement of restoration costs by Central Valley Project water and power contractors. In 2000 the Secretary of the Interior and the Chairman of the Hoopa Valley Tribe agreed on the terms for Trinity River fishery restoration in a ceremony on sacred ground at Hoopa. The consolidated weir is a component of the restoration program.
About the Hoopa Valley Tribe Fisheries Department
The Hoopa Valley Tribal Fisheries Department is dedicated to protecting, restoring and sustainably managing fisheries resources within the Hoopa Valley Reservation and throughout the Trinity River watershed. Through research, monitoring, habitat restoration and collaborative management, the Fisheries Department works to conserve salmon, steelhead, lamprey and other culturally significant aquatic resources while supporting the Tribe’s cultural, subsistence and economic interests.
About the California Department of Fish and Wildlife
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife manages California’s fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats using science-based management, responsible stewardship and collaborative partnerships for the benefit of the public. Working alongside Tribal governments, federal agencies and local communities, CDFW is committed to conserving California’s natural resources for current and future generations
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Media Contacts:
Adrian Villegas, Hoopa Valley Tribe, (530) 625-4211, Ext. 395
Peter Tira, CDFW Communications, (916) 215-3858
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