As Clear Lake, which sits in Lake County, north of Napa, faces mercury contamination, toxic algal blooms and predatory invasive fish, the Clear Lake hitch — known by local tribes as the chi — are in serious trouble. Another fish unique to the watershed, the Clear Lake splittail, is already extinct. After years of advocacy and on-the-ground work to save the fish, the seven tribes around the lake signed an agreement with state agencies and local governments Friday to formally co-manage the troubled body of water. Nearly two centuries after Europeans took over these lands, it’s a literal watershed: the first agreement governing a watershed since the state launched an initiative to bring 7% of California’s lands and waters under the care of tribes. The tribes hope it will turn their ad hoc emergency work — which has coincided with an increase of chi in the lake — into a lasting strategy to protect the fish.

Other watershed and habitat restoration news:

• The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.): ‘Today is monumental’: Lake County tribes sign agreement to help restore Clear Lake watershed
• River Partners: Blog: Beneath the floodplain: how restored riverways are recharging Valley aquifers
• The Colorado Sun (Denver): Farmers and researchers are learning how to keep fertilizer out of pristine Colorado rivers​
• Active NorCal (Fresno, Calif.): The Yurok tribe planted 17 billion seeds where four Klamath dams used to stand