… The Eel River Pikeminnow Fishing Derby is back for its third year, offering $5,000 in total cash and prizes to anyone willing to help thin out one of the watershed’s most destructive invaders. … The target is the Sacramento pikeminnow, a fish that doesn’t belong in the Eel River. The species was introduced through Pillsbury Reservoir in the late 1970s and has since spread into every fork of the river. Prolific and wide-ranging, pikeminnow prey on native salmonids and lamprey while competing with them for resources, adding another obstacle to recovery in a watershed already battered by historic overfishing, damaging logging practices, and habitat loss.

Other invasive and endangered species news:

• Orange County Register (Irvine, Calif.): Suspended plan to uproot vegetation in San Juan and Trabuco creeks draws scrutiny from residents, state regulators
• Active NorCal (Redding, Calif.): What the Endangered Species Act rollback means for Northern California’s salmon, owls and shrimp