Salmonids

Published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), March 26, 2026 Back-to-back record spawning seasons suggest that reconnecting tributaries and restoring salmon habitat is supporting Central California Coast Coho population growth. NOAA has funded more than 100 restoration projects on the Mendocino Coast. Adult CCC coho spawning at Neefus Gulch. Trout Unlimited removed a fish passage barrier at this …

by Mandela Linder, The Mendocino Voice, January 24, 2026 [excerpt:] MENDOCINO CO., 1/24/26 — After decades of decline, endangered coho salmon have returned to the coast in numbers that more than double the targets set by habitat restoration projects. In 2008, just 5,000 coho were estimated across the entire state, one percent of their historic numbers; over the winter of …

by Eel River Recovery Project, Dec. 13, 2025 Chinook salmon were thought to have gone extinct in the Garcia River after the 1950s but they are showing up again as the river goes into its second decade of recovery. It has been protected by the Garcia River Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) constraints under the Clean Water Act that has …

by Sarah Stierch, The Mendocino Voice, December 11, 2025 [excerpt:] MENDOCINO CO., 12/11/25 – Juvenile coho salmon have been documented in a tributary of the Russian River in Mendocino County for the first time since 1991, state officials announced Thursday. A juvenile coho salmon found in Ackerman Creek near Ukiah, Calif. on Friday, June 20, 2025. Pinoleville Pomo Nation Water …

by Amie Windsor, The Press Democrat, December 8, 2025 [excerpt:] The excitement started with a flash of silver followed by a hefty dose of disbelief. A team of conservationists and biologists from The Wildlands Conservancy, the nonprofit that manages the 5,600-acre Jenner Headlands Preserve on the Sonoma Coast, couldn’t believe what they were seeing: the telltale color and shape of …

Research by King County, WA scientists on how to reduce the toxicity of stormwater runoff is showing promising results and could offer new solutions to the longstanding problem of coho salmon dying from exposure to pollution before they can spawn.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA Fisheries News March 5, 2025 [excerpt:] Last winter, Central California Coast coho salmon returned to Mendocino Coast rivers in the highest numbers since monitoring began. The overall numbers remain low compared to the species’ past abundance, but NOAA scientists are excited by the results. Juvenile CCC Coho salmon collected during monitoring. Credit: CDFW Last …

Press release by Earthjustice, August 15, 2023 [excerpt] The Institute for Fisheries Resources (IFR) and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA) today notified U.S. tire manufacturers of their intent to sue over the use of a chemical called 6PPD in rubber tires because of its devastating impacts on Endangered Species Act (ESA)-protected salmon and steelhead. When 6PPD reacts …

Adult Steelhead in the Gualala River lagoon, April, 2022. Photo by Rozanne Rapozo “There was a school of about 5-6 but my lens was too long to get them all in one photograph! No wind that day made for calm (and very clear) water.” – Rozanne Rapozo School of Steelhead in the Gualala River lagoon, April, 2022. Photo by Chris …

by Craig Bell Forest & River News July 16, 2021 Craig Bell is a Garcia River watershed planner, as well as past President of the Salmonid Restoration Federation, former logger, commercial fisherman, and river guide. [excerpt:] The strong recovery we are witnessing today in the Garcia River is thanks to a 30-year effort that began in 1991 when Mendocino County …

Historically, the Gualala River was home to abundant coho salmon and steelhead trout populations that numbered in the tens of thousands. Today, the endangered coho salmon are all but gone and threatened steelhead are struggling to survive in the home river they evolved and adapted to over millennia. The dwindling salmonid population is a critical indicator of the declining health …

Video: Friends of Gualala River (FoGR) celebrated Earth Day, Thursday, April 22, 2021, with a free webinar on salmonids presented by Dr. Jacob Katz, senior scientist with California Trout. California Trout is a non-profit dedicated to protecting and restoring the state’s 32 species of salmonid fish. Dr. Katz directs the organization’s Central California region where his work focuses on redesigning …

Thursday, April 22, 2021 at 7pm via Zoom* *See instructions below on how to participate via Zoom   Friends of Gualala River (FoGR) will celebrate Earth Day, Thursday, April 22, 2021, with a free webinar on salmonids presented by Dr. Jacob Katz, senior scientist with California Trout. California Trout is a non-profit dedicated to protecting and restoring the state’s 32 …

When we think of timber road runoff threats, we habitually think of fine sediment, indirectly affecting coho (and steelhead) by habitat degradation. But this is direct acute mortality by rubber tire chemicals. A new wrinkle on wheeled vehicles operating on rough, abrasive gravel haul roads. – FoGR by Erik Stokstad Science  04 Dec 2020: Vol. 370, Issue 6521, pp. 1145 …

An Address to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, by Brock Dolman, July 2020Director of the Water Institute at the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center Brock Dolman in a salmon suit testifying to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on behalf of Totem Salmon I am a ghost of coho salmons past, once born and raised in Dutch Bill Creek, …

  Fuller Creek, South Fork, is running almost clear on March 3, 2019, less than a week after the record-breaking 14” rainfall on February 26-27, 2019.   A large adult steelhead, about 18” long, was sighted at the west end of Buckeye Forest (formerly Preservation Ranch). It survived the intense floods that scoured the banks of the creek to levels …

Action Alert: The native, Endangered Species Act-listed salmon and steelhead of the drought-stricken Gualala River, in California, need your help. Thanks in large part to the pressure that [fishermen] put on the California Department of Fish & Wildlife (CDFW) a year ago, the CDFW is finally taking action to fix the critically flawed low-flow closure system on the North Central-Coast …

by Rob DiPerna Environmental Protection Information Center January, 2013 [excerpt:] Throughout the north and central California coast, Coho salmon are teetering on the brink of oblivion. According to the National Marine Fisheries Service, 85-90 percent of remaining Coho population in the Central California Coast ESU occurs in watersheds with privately managed forestlands. The 2011 Central California Coast Coho Recovery Plan …

Friends of the Gualala River protects the Gualala River watershed in Northern California and the species living within it.

A fish and wildlife biologist, retired from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has been conducting systematic studies of the population status of steelhead in the Gualala River since 2001. Annual spawning surveys focus on an 18 mile reach of the Wheatfield Fork selected as a population-indexing reach. Gualala River Steelhead Studies Over the years, he has compiled a wealth …