Dos Rios Norte

Restored floodplains like the one at Dos Rios Norte boast multiple benefits, including rejuvenated riparian habitat and flood control for nearby communities. Restoration of Dos Rios Norte will involve planting hundreds of thousands of native trees and vegetation and reconnecting the vast historic floodplain. Once complete, the property will eventually open for public use, including hunting, fishing, birding, and wildlife viewing—providing a boost to public health.

This location is an essential area for all runs of Chinook salmon including Central Valley spring-run, fall- and late fall-run, and Sacramento River winter-run Chinook Salmon, and when flooded provides relatively productive floodplain habitat and an important migratory corridor for a range of avian species in the Lower Sutter Bypass.

The land holds cultural and spiritual significance for my Tribe. Two of our ancestral matriarchs and their families once lived here, fished here and gathered here. Having access to cultural landscapes we were once removed from gives us the opportunity to help heal the land, preserve our plant and animal ancestors and restore our salmon to these waterways.

Malissa Tayabatribal vice chair, traditional Ecological knowledge director, Shingle springs band of miwok indians

The goals of this large, ambitious, multi-year floodplain project include a comprehensive set of environmental and social outcomes, including:

• Increasing hydrologic connectivity between rivers and floodplain and reducing impediments to fish passage
• Increasing habitat diversity
• Enhancing and creating riparian, wetland, and floodplain habitat to benefit of native fish and wildlife species
• Securing water for the betterment of the environment and people in the region
• Providing future wildlife-oriented public recreational and nature access opportunities, as well as compatible agricultural practices

Project partners include the WCB and global tech giant Apple. The goals of the project and scale of funding needed dictate that funding is pursued from multiple State and Federal grant programs administered by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, WCB, Department of Water Resources, and other public and private sources. Countless other local, State, and Federal government agencies are anticipated to meaningfully contribute to project outcomes, including the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, California Central Valley Flood Protection Board, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sutter County, and local Reclamation Districts.