EPA's Vessel General Permit and Small Vessel General

ating of conservation value for the species.
Final Protective Regulations
On June 28, 2005, as part of the final listing determinations for 16 ESUs of West Coast salmon,
NMFS amended and streamlined the 4(d) protective regulations for threatened salmon and
steelhead (70 FR 37160) as described in the Protective Regulations for Threatened Salmonid
Species section of this document. Under this change, the section 4(d) protections apply to
natural and hatchery fish with an intact adipose fin, but not to listed hatchery fish that have had
their adipose fin removed prior to release into the wild. The amended June 2005 4(d) rule
applies to the Central California Coast steelhead DPS.
California Central Valley Steelhead
Distribution and Description of the Listed Species
California Central Valley steelhead salmon occupy the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers and
their tributaries, although they were once widespread throughout the Central Valley (Busby et al.
1996, Zimmerman et al. 2009). Steelhead were found from the upper Sacramento and Pit River
systems (now inaccessible due to Shasta and Keswick Dams), south to the Kings and possibly
the Kern River systems (now inaccessible due to extensive alteration from water diversion
projects), and in both east- and west-side Sacramento River tributaries (Yoshiyama et al. 1996).
The present distribution has been greatly reduced (McEwan and Jackson 1996). The CACSS
(1988) reported a reduction of steelhead habitat from 6,000 miles historically to 300 miles today.
Historically, steelhead probably ascended Clear Creek past the French Gulch area, but access to
the upper basin was blocked by Whiskeytown Dam in 1964 (Yoshiyama et al. 1996). Steelhead
also occurred in the upper drainages of the Feather, American, Yuba and Stanislaus Rivers which
are now inaccessible (McEwan and Jackson 1996, Yoshiyama et al. 1996).
Existing wild steelhead populations in the Central Valley are mostly confined to the upper
Sacramento River and its tributaries, including Antelope, Deer, and Mill Creeks and the Yuba
River. Populations may exist in Big Chico and Butte Creeks and a few wild steelhead are
produced in the American and Feather Rivers (McEwan and Jackson 1996). Recent snorkel
surveys (1999 to 2002) indicate that steelhead are present in Clear Creek (Good et al. 2005).
Because of the large resident O. mykiss population in Clear Creek, steelhead spawner abundance
has not been estimated. Until recently, steelhead were thought to be extirpated from the San
Joaquin River system. Recent monitoring has detected small self-sustaining populations of
steelhead in the Stanislaus, Mokelumne, Calaveras, and other streams previously thought to be
void of steelhead (McEwan 2001). On the Stanislaus River, steelhead smolts have been captured
in rotary screw traps at Caswell State Park and Oakdale each year since 1995 (Demko and
Cramer 2000). It is possible that naturally spawning populations exist in many other streams but
are undetected due to lack of monitoring programs.
The Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers offer the only migration route to the drainages of the
Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade mountain ranges for anadromous fish. The CDFG
considers all steelhead in the Central Valley as winter steelhead, although “three distinct runs,”
including summer steelhead, may have occurred there as recently as 1947 (McEwan and Jackson
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