In California, a long-abused river has been reborn. For decades, humans disrupted its course and restricted its flows to the detriment of its ecosystem, only to lately reverse direction and restore it to a facsimile of its natural state. And salmon, the bellwethers of aquatic health, have responded, returning much faster and in greater abundance than anyone anticipated. This description applies not to the Klamath River — or not only to the Klamath, recently liberated from its four lower dams — but rather to the far less-celebrated Putah Creek. … Along its 85-mile course, it is imprisoned behind dams, siphoned off by ditches, squeezed between artificially straightened and hardened banks. Although it lacked salmon for decades, in 2025 more than 2,000 chinook returned to spawn — an improbable triumph that reflects both human-led restoration and the resilience of the fish themselves.  

Other salmon news:

• Undercurrent News: California chinook harvest limps along
• Western Outdoor News (San Clemente, Calif.): California Department of Fish and Wildlife releases 2026 kokanee and inland king salmon plants