Salmon habitat and flood protection rarely show up on the same project list, but the latest round of restoration work planned for the Tuolumne River promises both. Three more projects are in the works to benefit Tuolumne salmon, including one that eases flood risk in west Modesto. The river’s major water diverters are getting help on them from River Partners, a nonprofit that has restored floodplains around California. Those diverters are the Modesto Irrigation District, the Turlock Irrigation District and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which together committed $80 million of their own money to habitat work on the lower Tuolumne. River Partners leads the team of biologists and ecologists behind it, and the goal by 2030 is 77 acres of floodplain rearing habitat and roughly 100,000 tons of added gravel.

Other salmon news:

• Maven’s Notebook: Blog: Healthy Rivers and Landscapes on the rocks?​
• Active NorCal (Redding, Calif.): Tribes say a state water plan could undercut the Klamath’s salmon comeback
• California Department of Fish and Wildlife: News release: Upper Trinity River nears adult fall-run chinook quota; fishery to close this week