Every summer for the past 20 years, biologists with Sonoma Water don their waders and boots, not to catch fish but to count them. Seven days a week, at five different put-ins, Sonoma Water biologists Miguel O’Huerta and Sanoe Deaver wade into the cold Russian River to scoop small fish from traps laid in late spring. One-by-one they tally each salmonid — fish in the salmon family. … First they record the species, counting only steelhead, chinook and coho. Then they record the lifestage. … [Russian Riverkeeper Don] McEnhill said he appreciates Sonoma Water and the Army Corps’ improvements, mandated by the National Marine Fisheries Service, to protect the endangered salmon. But he also said those agencies can’t fix all the habitat problems.  

Other salmonid restoration news:

• KRCR (Redding, Calif.): Adult winter-run Chinook salmon seen in McCloud River for first time in almost 100 years
• Turlock Journal (Calif.): Spring-run salmon find new home on the lower Tuolumne River​