SMUD Releases Thousands Of Trout Into El Dorado County Lakes

Two years ago, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District agreed to stock the Loon Lake, Union Valley, and Ice House reservoirs with rainbow trout.

Chris Capra is with SMUD and says the reservoirs are part of the Upper American River Project that provides hydroelectric power.

"It's a very valuable asset for us. It provides up to almost 700 megawatts of clean, renewable, non- carbon-emitting power per year and fulfills about 15 percent of our customers' power needs. It's also very valuable on hot summer days because we can go ahead and spill that water, spin up a lot of power pretty quickly."

The program is part of a 50-year hydroelectric operating agreement with the Federal Energy Commission.

"These will be in the Crystal Basin area in three reservoirs there -Loon Lake, Union Valley, and Ice House," says Capra. "We do this with (California) Department of Fish and Wildlife. It's a 50-50 effort. So, they match whatever we put in and vice-a-versa." 

Union Valley is the largest of the reservoirs and will likely receive the most fish.

With a Fish and Wildlife match, 50,000 trout could be released every year. The utility also stocks Lake Rancho Seco.