The following year a new
site was selected on Chamberlain Creek, a tributary to Big River, and the
Department of Fish and Game shipped over 100.000 juvenile coho salmon to
the pond for rearing. Since this was the site of a State Correctional facility,
Chamberlain Creek Conservation Camp, the feeding could be conducted by
camp inmates. While this pond was smaller than the Avery Pond, it had a
stream which emptied into it which providing a source of fresh water which
was lacking at the other ponds. As summer progressed, air temperatures
increased, water temperatures rose, stream flows and dissolved oxygen levels
dropped, and the fish began to die. Word of the problem was slow to reach
proper authorities and few fish were saved. Water temperatures in this
pond reached over 70 Fahrenheit which is stressful for coho salmon and
the stream flow was insufficient to supply enough dissolved oxygen for
these fish to survive. It was clear that if large numbers of juvenile coho
salmon were going to be reared, larger ponds and greater water supplies
would be needed.
Round three began in 1974.
Two new ponds were constructed along the mainstems of two of Mendocino
Counties larger coastal streams; Big River and the Ten Mile River. Unlike
prior ponds which already existed, these two had to be constructed. Drag
lines were used to excavate the ponds and retaining structures were built
at the upper and lower ends where screened inlets and outlets were installed.
The Big River pond was 345 feet long and 35 to 60 feet wide and was located
about 20 miles east of Fort Bragg. The Ten Mile River pond was located
about 3 three miles above its mouth and was 578 feet long and 60 to 120
feet wide. Georgia Pacific Corp., the property owner, provided the site
and constructed pond's screens. Baxman Gravel Company, which had a gravel
extraction operation along the Ten Mile river, constructed the Ten Mile
Pond.
There were
100,000 coho salmon planted in the Big River Pond and 200,000 planted in
the Ten Mile pond that year. Water temperatures in Big River reached as
high as 78 F and remained 70 F or more for much of July and August but
flows remained high enough to supply sufficient oxygen to keep the fish
alive. In November, as flows diminished, a die began and a panicked caretaker
tried to shut off the water coming into the pond thinking that the warm
river water entering the pond was causing the temperature problem. This
exacerbated the problem by shutting off the source of dissolved oxygen.
When others arrived on scene they redirected the flow back into the pond
and pulled out the screens so the fish could swim upstream and leave the
pond. The exodus alleviated the problem and prevented further losses. Many
of the fish either remained in the pond or returned to it later. Feeding
occurred at both ponds until December 7 when rains raised rivers flows
high enough to wash out the ponds and flush the fish into the natural stream
system. The temperatures in the Ten Mile Pond never exceed 68 and no stress
was observed anytime during the rearing operation.
The discovery that water
temperatures in Big River were so warm as to inhibit the rearing of a native
species of salmon was quite a surprise to those involved in the salmon
restoration project. It was also slow to sink in - both ponds were again
used the next year although smaller numbers were planted; 167,000 in Ten
Mile and 90,000 in Big River. Continued problems associated with the Big
River pond lead the group to abandon that pond the following year and restoration
efforts were focused on the Ten Mile River pond. That year, 1977, the group
raised 187,000 coho in the Ten Mile pond. The following year another 44,000
coho salmon were reared and released into the Ten Mile River.
