Endangered Species Recovery Measures

The native crayfish community includes the federally and state-listed endangered Shasta crayfish, Pacifastacus fortis (Faxon, 1914) and the Branchiobdellida or crayfish worm, Magmatodrilus obscurus (Goodnight, 1940). Magmatodrilus obscurus is shown on a rock to the right of center (© B. Moose Peterson, Wildlife Research Photography).

One of the founders of Spring Rivers , Maria Ellis, completed her doctoral research on the interspecific interactions between Shasta crayfish and introduced crayfish species. She wrote the draft Shasta crayfish Recovery Plan for the California Department of Fish and Game and worked with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to produce the final Recovery Plan for the Shasta Crayfish. Since publication of the Recovery Plan in 1998, Spring Rivers has sought and secured funding to implement high priority recovery measures.

• Spring Creek Road crossing (successfully completed)
• Sucker Springs Eradication (in progress)
• Bear Creek Meadow Restoration (successfully completed StreamWise project)
• Habitat Enhancement Project (in progress)
• Barrier Studies (in progress)

Aquatic habitat improvement efforts often involve some local disturbance to aquatic and riparian areas. All remedial actions taken by Spring Rivers include measures to restore habitat to a natural-functioning and self-maintaining condition.

• Riparian restoration at Spring Creek
• Habitat enhancement project-addition of underwater substrate (including all necessary permits, certifications, and agreements)

Projects that require larger scale restoration are done with our sister business, StreamWise, which specializes in stream channel and riparian habitat restoration.

Crayfish
Shasta crayfish, Pacifastacus fortis (© Tom Hesseldenz).	Shasta crayfish, Pacifastacus fortis (© B. Moose Peterson, Wildlife Research Photography).
Shasta crayfish, Pacifastacus fortis.	Shasta crayfish, Pacifastacus fortis, typical and blue color morphs. Crayfish at the top is a female and the crayfish at the bottom is a male.
Female Shasta crayfish, Pacifastacus fortis, with numerous 3rd instars (young-of-year) (© B. Moose Peterson, Wildlife Research Photography).	Shasta crayfish, Pacifastacus fortis, (bottom) and signal crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus, (top) young-of-year.
Signal crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus, a non-native invasive species (© Tom Hesseldenz).