Yuba River’s Native Fish Are at Historic Lows. A New Appeal Wants to Hold the Federal Government Accountable.

Two dams on the lower Yuba River have long blocked salmon, steelhead, and green sturgeon from reaching critical habitat, and a conservation group says a recent federal court ruling lets the agency responsible off the hook. Friends of the River filed an appeal this week challenging that decision.

At the center of the case is whether the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which owns Englebright Dam and Daguerre Point Dam, must comply with the Endangered Species Act in how it manages those structures. A March 31 ruling from a federal judge in the Eastern District of California said the Corps has no obligation to mitigate the dams’ effects on fish, a conclusion Friends of the River calls legally flawed.

The group argues the Corps has already made modifications at the dams, including fish ladders, proving it does have discretion over how the structures are managed. With that discretion, they say, comes legal responsibility under federal law.

Three imperiled species depend on the Yuba: Central Valley spring-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, and Southern green sturgeon. Advocates say their populations are at historic lows, and that blocking fish passage while failing to enforce environmental protections is pushing them closer to extinction.

One part of the ruling did favor the conservation group. The court agreed that the Corps must undergo a more thorough environmental review of a water diversion tied to Daguerre Point Dam, known as the Brophy Diversion.

Friends of the River says it will continue pursuing the appeal until federal agencies are held to their obligations under the Endangered Species Act.