Derby Dam

Updates from the Field

DERBY DAM FARMERS SCREEN

Restoring watershed connectivity.

Construction of the Derby Dam Farmers Screen will restore watershed connectivity and support fish movement along the Truckee River, promoting both the recovery of the federally threatened Lahontan Cutthroat Trout (LCT) as well as fishing and recreation opportunities in Nevada.

LOCATION:

Sparks, NV

PARTNERS:

Bureau of Reclamation, Farmers Conservation Alliance

ENGINEERING:

McMillen Jacobs Associates

CONSTRUCTION:

Granite Construction

INSTALLATION DATE:

Fall 2020

DERBY DAM FARMERS SCREEN

Almost 50 years after the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout was listed under the Endangered Species Act, a fish-friendly infrastructure project at Derby Dam will help decades-long efforts to bring back the legendary fish.

Fish passage at Derby Dam has been a priority conservation project for LCT recovery for more than two decades. In 2001, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Reclamation designed and completed a fish bypass around Derby Dam. Since then, the two agencies have been working to implement the protection portion of the Derby passage improvements. Reclamation selected the horizontal fish screen technology and entered into a cooperative agreement with Farmers Conservation Alliance for the design, construction, and commissioning of the screen. Construction of the Derby Dam Farmers Screen (DDFS) Project began in October 2019 and will be complete in Fall 2020.

How the Farmers Screen™ works.

The Farmers Screen™, provided exclusively by Farmers Conservation Alliance (FCA), is a horizontal flat-plate screen upon which National Marine Fisheries Services established its horizontal fish screen criteria for the protection of anadromous salmonids.

The horizontally oriented fish screen is unique in this it will work with the diverted flow of water rather than against it, providing consistent fish protection by allowing fish and debris to move above and over the surface of the screen material.

How the Farmers Screen™ Works
Debris Flow Across Screen

“The fish screen that we are groundbreaking for today is innovative. It will protect the wild spawn trout in the truckee allowing them to move from derby dam to spawning habitat and back to pyramid lake each season. Naturally sustaining the lake population for the first time in 100 years.”

– LISTEN to Jody Holzworth

Deputy Regional Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, from the groundbreaking ceremony

Technology that’s making a difference.

The completion of the Derby Dam Fish Screen will result in noticeable benefits not only for the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout but also for the Bureau of Reclamation:

  • DECREASED O&M COST
  • FISH SAFETY ASSURED
    (NMFS APPROVED)
  • WIDE RANGE OF FLOW RATE (40-600 CFS)
  • 37 MILES FISH HABITAT REOPENED
media

In the News

All the way to Tahoe, a legendary fish may return to its historic spawning run

KOLO 8 News

The $31 million dollar project is being funded by the Bureau of Reclamation and built by Oregon based Farmers Conservation Alliance, which has built a number of these screens elsewhere. This one will be the largest anywhere and considering its mission perhaps the most significant, helping to restore a lost fishery while making the dam more reliable for the Truckee Irrigation District and its farmers as well.

Award-winning collaboration.

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See the awards