Juvenile coho salmon found in Mendocino County creek after 30-year absence

by Sarah Stierch, The Mendocino Voice, December 11, 2025

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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 Resource Specialist and Yurok tribal member Dakota Perez Gonzalez located multiple juveniles in an isolated pool that was drying in the creek. The tribe worked with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to rescue the fish. The discovery marked the first time coho salmon had been documented in the upper Russian River basin in more than 30 years. (Dakota Perez Gonzalez/Pinoleville Pomo Nation via Bay City News)

According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Pinoleville Pomo Nation Water Resource Specialist and Yurok tribal member Dakota Perez Gonzalez discovered several young coho salmon in Ackerman Creek north of Ukiah in June.

After the juvenile salmon were discovered in an isolated pool that was drying, the tribe and CDFW partnered on a rescue effort, Perez Gonzalez said. The fish were transported to Warm Springs Fish Hatchery in Geyserville, where they are being raised in CDFW’s broodstock program.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife Senior Environmental Scientist Derek Acomb and Pinoleville Pomo Nation Water Resource Specialist and Yurok tribal member Dakota Perez Gonzalez use nets to trap juvenile coho salmon in Ackerman Creek near Ukiah, Calif., on Friday, June 20, 2025. Perez Gonzalez had located multiple juveniles in an isolated pool that was drying. The discovery marked the first time coho salmon had been documented in the upper Russian River basin in more than 30 years. The rescued fish were transported to the Warm Springs Fish Hatchery in Geyserville, where they will be raised and eventually re-released into the Russian River watershed. (Dakota Perez Gonzalez/Pinoleville Pomo Nation via Bay City News)

“Once the salmon reach adulthood, their eggs will be artificially spawned at the hatchery to mimic the natural spawning process,” Perez Gonzalez said. “The eggs will hatch and grow to become smolts, and at that stage the hatchery will release them into the Russian River watershed. This is of key importance because it will increase the biodiversity of coho salmon genetics in the Russian River watershed.”

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Juvenile coho salmon found in Mendocino County creek after 30-year absence