March 2026 | North Yuba Guide

I’ll be upfront: I think the Daguerre Point fishway is the right move for the lower Yuba. But I also think the people raising concerns about it deserve a real answer — not a press release.

Here’s the situation.

Yuba Water Agency just hired Teichert Construction to lead the design and pre-construction phase of a $100 million-plus “nature-like fishway” around Daguerre Point Dam. The idea is to carve a bypass channel around the dam so that salmon, steelhead, sturgeon, lamprey, and rainbow trout can move freely through the lower river — something the dam has blocked for decades.

From a long-view standpoint, this is exactly the kind of investment the Yuba watershed needs. Fragmented river habitat kills fish populations slowly, and reversing that damage takes generations. Fish passage restoration is one of the few things we can do now that will still be paying off 50 years from now. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife agrees — they’re putting $30 million into it.

The striped bass problem is real. Don’t dismiss it.

Here’s where I have to pump the brakes on the cheerleading.

That same bypass channel that lets salmon move upstream is going to open a door for striped bass into the 10-mile stretch between Englebright and Daguerre Point dams. That stretch is one of the best trout fisheries in Northern California — partly because the dam has been keeping predators out.

Local fly fishers, including the Gold Country Fly Fishers, have been raising this concern for years. Striped bass are already spreading in the lower Yuba. Shad too. Giving them direct access to the upper stretch is not a small thing.

Wildlife officials say the fishway will benefit all fish species. That may well be true. But “may well be true” isn’t good enough when you’re talking about a fishery this valuable to this community. The anglers pushing back on this aren’t anti-conservation — they know this river. You should listen to them.

The powerhouse rupture changes the context

This decision is landing in a tough spot. The mid-February pipeline rupture at New Colgate Powerhouse was a serious hit. The facility can generate close to $200 million in revenue in a good year — and it could be down for years. There are also reports that more than a thousand juvenile salmon may have died in the lower river when flows dropped during the emergency.

Yuba Water has said outside grants and funding will slow down while they focus on recovery. At the same time, they’re moving forward with the fishway because it’s too far along and too well-funded to stop now.

That’s a reasonable call. But it means the community needs to stay in the conversation.

Taking the long view

The Yuba River isn’t going to fix itself. The habitat damage upstream of Daguerre Point Dam has been building for over a century. If we want wild salmon and steelhead in this drainage for the next generation — and the one after that — we have to make hard investments now.

The fishway is one of those investments.

But taking the long view also means protecting what’s already working. The trout fishery on the upper lower Yuba is something people have built and cared for over decades. That doesn’t get thrown away lightly.

The ask is simple: put the strongest possible fish screens and selective passage measures at the upstream entrance of that bypass channel. Monitor it closely after it opens. And commit to intervening fast if the predator population shifts in a bad direction.

Get both things right — the salmon passage and the trout protection — and this project is a legacy investment for the Lost Sierra. Get it half right, and we’ll be dealing with the consequences for a long time.

The Sacramento Bee reported on the Yuba Water Agency’s fishway decision in a March 19, 2026 article by Jake Goodrick.

What’s your take? Drop it in the comments. This is your river too.