The Iron Mountain Mine (IMM) consent decree allows the trustees to consider projects that include, but are not limited to, enhancing habitat or improving water quality and quantity in the Sacramento River and its tributaries between Keswick Reservoir and Red Bluff Diversion Dam. The trustees have chosen some of the actions in the CALFED Ecosystem Restoration Program (ERP) and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Interlakes Special Recreation Area Plan (ISMRA) for the restoration of ecological injuries and the loss of recreational use.

Ecological restoration actions found in the CALFED ERP include:

• Improving fish passage by replacing or altering culverts, fishways, ladders, and fish screens.
• Improving instream flows and habitat for salmonids by acquiring water rights from willing sellers.
• Improving spawning habitat by periodically placing spawning gravel.
• Implementing large-scale restoration projects on selected streams and rivers.
• Constructing livestock exclusion fencing to restore degraded riparian habitats and to improve spawning and rearing conditions for salmon and steelhead trout.
• Planting riparian vegetation to provide streambank stability, shade, and future sources of wood.
• Protecting riparian habitat through easements or the purchase of property.
• Creating conservation easements to preserve and improve existing stream meander.
• Reducing the area of invasive non-native riparian vegetation.

Compensation for lost recreational uses includes:

• Acquiring land on the east and southeast side of IMM as set within the consent decree.
• Using funds for projects identified in ISMRA to benefit recreational opportunities such as hiking; improving access to trails; and enhancing equestrian opportunities at or around Iron Mountain.

The trustee council developed a restoration plan to provide the public with information about the restoration planning process and the restoration projects under consideration for restoring injured resources or lost human use services.

Current and Upcoming Restoration Activities

In spring 2003, the trustees approved allocating $2.2 million to fund the Battle Creek Protection and Stewardship Project, submitted by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) through the CALFED process. The TNC project is located on Battle Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River in Tehema and Shasta Counties. This cold, spring-fed stream has exceptionally high flows during the dry season, making it an important habitat for anadromous fish. Battle Creek may be the only remaining stream other than the main stem of the Sacramento River that can successfully sustain breeding populations of steelhead and all four chinook salmon evolutionarily significant units (ESUs) (i.e., Central Valley spring-run chinook ESU, Central Valley fall chinook ESU, Central Valley late fall-run chinook ESU, and Sacramento River winter-run chinook ESU). These populations comprise the primary injured resource from IMM releases.

The main objective of the project is to acquire conservation easements from willing sellers to help protect habitat lands. Where appropriate, the project will also use riparian fencing to preclude livestock access to streamside areas, conduct invasive weed control, restore natural plant communities, and monitor all actions. The trustees are currently developing a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Fish and Widlife Service (FWS) and TNC, and plan to implement the project in fall 2004. The trustees are continuing to review other proposals that were submitted to CALFED and will be choosing additional projects to fund by September 2004.

In addition, in April 2004, the trustees allocated $542,800 of the settlement to fund a proposal from BLM for lost human use restoration near Iron Mountain Mine. The final Iron Mountain Mine restoration plan identifies the loss of 2,024 acres of public lands for recreational use. The projects identified in the BLM proposal will compensate for this loss. Specific activities funded in the proposal include completing the Sacramento River Rail-Trail and the Keswick Trail Extension.