21,000 tons of gravel- 15,000 Cubic Yards- that’s a lot of gravel. It’ll be put to use on a project that’s very ambitious in scope, and that’s to help save the Chinook Salmon from extinction. The Sacramento River is the only river anywhere that has four runs of Chinook- all four seasons- and the stretch below Keswick Dam is vital. The right kind of gravel, the kind that makes for Salmon spawning grounds, has not been able to replenish itself naturally due to the damning of the river, so the once fertile grounds have not lent themselves as well to the reproduction of the once-plentiful and now-endangered fish. A project began in January to place a massive amount of gravel in the river locally. The work started under the Market Street Bridge. Now it’s continuing upriver to about a mile south of Keswick Dam near Salt Creek along the Sacramento River Trail. Starting on Monday and continuing until the middle of the month large gravel trucks will be crossing the trail at Middle Creek Road.