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Topic: Salmon

Overview April 24, 2014

Salmon

California’s two primary salmon species, Coho and Chinook, have experienced significant declines from historical populations.

Of particular importance is the Chinook salmon because the species supports commercial fishing and related jobs and economic activities at fish hatcheries.

The decline in salmon numbers is attributed to a variety of manmade and natural factors including drought, habitat destruction, water diversions, migratory obstacles created by local, state and federal water projects, over-fishing, unfavorable ocean conditions, pollution and introduced predator species. Wetlands have also been drained and diked; dams have blocked salmon from reaching historic spawning grounds.

Years of declining populations represent a significant economic loss and have led to federally mandated salmon restoration plans that complicate water diversions and conveyance for agriculture and other uses.

 

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Aquafornia news May 23, 2025 Stocktonia (Calif.)

‘Ecosystem in crisis:’ Groups say Delta water policies endanger salmon

The Delta is an “ecosystem in crisis,” with state and federal water policies doing great harm to chinook salmon and steelhead populations, seven environmental groups and a Native American tribe allege in a letter to the State Water Resources Control Board. Two of the state’s top water delivery systems, the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project, are “exacerbating conditions for endangered species at high risk of extinction in the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary” that violate maximum fish take rates under the Endangered Species Act, the May 16 letter states. The groups and tribe allege that the State Water Project exceeded the annual loss limit for hatchery winter-run chinook salmon. And they blame the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for water releases that are killing more salmon and steelhead than their permits allow.

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Aquafornia news May 23, 2025 Humboldt Waterkeeper & California Coastkeeper Alliance:

News release: Toxic tire chemical found at dangerous levels in Eureka parking lot runoff

A recent stormwater sampling effort in Eureka revealed a troubling trend in area parking lots: Even in periods of relatively light rain, high concentrations of salmon-killing toxic compounds are being flushed directly into local creeks and Humboldt Bay.The results come from a pilot project recently conducted by Humboldt Waterkeeper. The organization collected water samples from two Cal Poly Humboldt parking lots in Arcata and from the Eureka Target and Costco parking lots. The water samples were testing for a compound that has recently been discovered to be particularly toxic to coho salmon, which are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act. The pollutant in question, known as 6PPD, is used in tires to help maintain their integrity. As tires break down from normal wear and tear, 6PPD is released and reacts to ozone in the air and transforms into a compound known as 6PPD-q. 

Related article: 

  • The Times-Standard (Eureka, Calif.): Stormwater tested from local big-box parking lots find high toxin levels
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Aquafornia news May 23, 2025 Merced County Times

Opinion: It’s time to settle Merced River – fairly, sustainably

… For over a decade, a narrow faction within the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) has pursued a misguided attempt to take as much as half of Lake McClure’s water and send it to the Pacific Ocean. This effort, buried in the Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Plan, is based on the hope of improving salmon populations by a few hundred fish — with no credible guarantee of success, and at a staggering cost – up to $672 million in lost local economic activity and $167 million in local labor income. … In contrast, MID has voluntarily restored spawning and rearing habitat along the Merced, and we’ve offered to provide new, real water – even in dry years – as part of a durable solution. That solution is the Healthy Rivers and Landscapes Voluntary Agreement (HRL). This comprehensive approach, championed by the Newsom Administration, offers a better path. It brings together local, state, and federal partners to invest in habitat, flows, and long-term ecological health – not just regulatory mandates.
–Written by Stephanie Dietz, director on the Merced Irrigation District Board.

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Aquafornia news May 22, 2025 Lost Coast Outpost (Humboldt, Calif.)

New study shows coho-killing toxin pools in Humboldt County parking lots before draining into the Bay

A few years ago, scientists started identifying a potentially major culprit in the dramatic decline of the coho salmon fishery — a chemical known as “6PPD-quinone,” a byproduct of a chemical used in automotive tires. Throughout the course of their life, tires deposit the precursor of this chemical everywhere they travel. This precursor degrades into 6PPD-q and enters the water system, killing coho in particular — a protected species under the Endangered Species Act — with great efficiency. Now, a new study from Humboldt Waterkeeper, conducted in Eureka and Arcata throughout the last few months, shows that you don’t need a huge, dense car population to generate potentially lethal concentrations of 6PPD-q — regular old parking lots seem to do it just fine. … The study comes at a time when the California Assembly is considering legislation — Assembly Bill 1313 — that would require owners of large parking lots to acquire stormwater discharge permits and mitigate their runoff. 

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Aquafornia news May 21, 2025 Record Searchlight (Redding, Calif.)

Whiskeytown warns guests to avoid Lower Clear Creek on holiday weekend

Memorial Day weekend guests at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area should be on alert for fast moving, deep and very cold water, the park’s rangers cautioned. The Bureau of Reclamationis releasing more water through Whiskeytown Dam and into the park through June 24, boosting water levels. Expect highest flows this week, peaking Thursday, according to an announcement issued by the park. … Increasing the amount of water flowing into Clear Creek and the Trinity River will benefit fish species, including salmon, by mimicking natural springtime runoff. These fish need a lot of water, “particularly cold water if you are (a) Chinook salmon,” the park said. Sacramento River spring-run Chinook live in Clear Creek, and are under federal protection.

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Aquafornia news May 21, 2025 The Sacramento Bee

Chinook salmon fishing returns to Central Valley rivers

Limited Chinook salmon fishing on sections of the Mokelumne, Feather and American rivers is being reopened for the first time in two years, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Tuesday. … The Department of Fish and Wildlife says salmon stocks throughout the state have been harmed by multiyear droughts, causing inadequate spawning and migration conditions, ocean forage shifts and thiamine deficiencies. Thiamine, also called Vitamin B1, is an essential nutrient for salmon and their reproduction. Scientists have theorized that anchovies, which are often prey for salmon, produce the thiaminase enzyme that breaks down thiamine. It’s believed warmer climates have caused anchovy populations to shift to ocean areas where river salmon go to grow and find food before returning to their rivers to spawn.

Other salmon news:

  • California Department of Fish and Wildlife: News release: Limited Chinook sport fishing to reopen in 3 Central Valley Rivers
  • Action News Now (Chico, Calif.): Limited Chinook salmon fishing returns to three Central Valley rivers in 2025
  • Active NorCal (Redding, Calif.): Chinook salmon fishing returns to three Northern California rivers after two-year ban
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news May 19, 2025 The Fresno Bee

Restricted salmon season offers brief hope in California

… While the minimal season has been met with joy from many recreational anglers who will finally have the opportunity to fish for salmon, others believe the season should not have opened. … The Sacramento River is the only viable source for salmon since the San Joaquin was dewatered close to 70 years ago, and there are four distinct runs on the Sacramento: winter-run, fall-run, late fall-run, and spring-run. The winter run was listed as threatened in 1989 and upgraded to endangered in 1994 while the spring-run was listed as threatened in 1999 and is currently under consideration for upgrade to endangered. … Opening the ocean season provides some relief for the long-suffering businesses and coastal communities dependent upon salmon, but until major changes are made in water management to allow salmon to migrate safely from the spawning grounds and the hatcheries, closed or curtailed seasons designed to save face may be the new normal.

Other salmon news:

  • Red Bluff News (Calif.): Project in Red Bluff aims at boosting salmon returning to spawning sites
  • Maven’s Notebook: News release: Northern California fishermen and farmers collaborate to boost number of salmon spawning in the Sacramento River
  • Read more
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Aquafornia news May 16, 2025 E&E News by Politico

NOAA finalizes California salmon fishery closure for third year

NOAA Fisheries will close or constrain fishing for salmon off the southern Oregon and California coasts for the 2025-26 fishing season, citing “anticipated extremely low returns of California Chinook stocks,” the agency announced this week. Fishing will be allowed in between central Oregon and northern Washington. The new provisions — which also establishes quotas, landing limits and other management measures for salmon — were recommended by the Pacific Fishery Management Council in April and underwent public review and comment, according to NOAA. Recreational fishing will also be limited under the new rule. “This will reduce impacts to stocks of concern until they rebound to levels that can support further fishing opportunities,” the agency said in a notice. 

Other fishery news:

  • NOAA Fisheries: News release: Final rule: 2025 ocean salmon specifications and management measures​
  • Seafood Source: California limits sardine fishing due to domoic acid
  • Northwest Sportsman: US Marine Mammal Comm, $500m Green River fish passage project targeted for elimination
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Aquafornia news May 13, 2025 KRCR (Redding, Calif.)

Less than a month away from fish habitat closure of Mad River Fish Hatchery

After decades of efforts to boost Humboldt County’s threatened steelhead trout population, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is ending operations at the Mad River hatchery. The property will remain open for public access to the river, facilities will be repurposed for office space, and trout stocking in inland waters will continue. Officials state it’s a combination of aging infrastructure, significantly costly repairs and maintenance, modernization needs and low fish production and returns. ”It operates on about $730,000 annual budget, we estimate it needs one million dollars immediately, and the annual operating cost just to keep the status quo. We’re looking at 10 million in immediate repairs that need to be tackled, and long term to make it a reliable hatchery going forward, we need about $30 million,” said California Department of Fish and Wildlife information officer, Peter Tira.

Other hatchery news:

  • The Montecito Journal (Calif.): A fish story that’s no fish story
  • Undercurrent News: California releases 3.5m juvenile fish to revive struggling salmon fishery
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Aquafornia news May 12, 2025 Office of Assemblymember Chris Rogers

News release: Assembly passes AB 263 to protect Klamath River salmon flows

On Monday, AB 263 overwhelmingly passed the state Assembly. The bill protects salmon populations in two key tributaries of the Klamath River watershed by keeping minimum flow requirements in place until the State Water Board can establish new long-term flow regulations. The bill is now headed to the state Senate for their consideration. … AB 263 was introduced in partnership with the Karuk Tribe, California Coastkeeper Alliance, and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Association (PCFFA). The bill would maintain river flows for at-risk salmon runs on two critical Klamath River tributaries – the Scott and Shasta Rivers. 

Other salmon news:

  • Times-Standard (Eureka, Calif.): Chris Rogers’ Klamath water bill clears Assembly hurdle
  • Monterey County Now: Chinook salmon fishing opens for first time since 2022 
  • Read more
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Aquafornia news May 9, 2025 KMJ-AF1 (Fresno, Calif.)

Newsom announces upgrades to 21 state fish hatcheries to boost salmon populations

Governor Newsom today announced that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is upgrading 21 fish hatcheries to boost the state’s salmon and trout populations and protect hatcheries from the impacts of climate change. The project helps build the California salmon and trout supply, which are central to the health of California’s biodiversity but also indigenous peoples, communities, and the state’s multimillion-dollar fishing industry. … The “Climate Induced Hatcheries Upgrade Project” launched today was first funded with $15 million in emergency drought funding in 2021. Since that funding was allocated, CDFW has been working with leading hatchery and hydrology consultants to identify specific concerns with regard to water quality and quantity, fish rearing and water supply infrastructure and operational inefficiencies at the hatcheries.

Other salmon news:

  • Office of Gov. Gavin Newsom: News release: Governor Newsom announces upgrades to 21 state fish hatcheries to boost salmon populations​
  • myMotherLode.com (Murphys, Calif.): Moccasin among fish hatcheries receiving upgrades
  • The Plumas Sun (Calif.): CDFW implements ‘significant shift’ in salmon strategy
  • Marin Independent Journal (Calif.): Opinion: Salmon fishing shutdown marks grim milestone, but we shouldn’t give up hope
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Aquafornia news May 8, 2025 The Oregonian

Opinion: A surge of salmon – and hope – after Klamath dams’ removal

Last year, we watched as the last of four dams were removed from the Klamath River in a historic endeavor. Karuk and Yurok citizens sighed in relief, grateful that decades of tribal-led activism, scientific research and litigation had succeeded in reopening 400 stream miles of spawning habitat for salmon and other species. The tears of joy came just a few weeks later, when research cameras showed the first of more than 6,000 fish traveling past the first dam site. Spawning salmon were crossing into Oregon’s Spencer Creek, a tributary of the Klamath, for the first time in 112 years. The salmon had remembered the way, for it is embedded into their DNA just as it is in our ancestors’ – a testament of shared memory and spiritual connection between our people and the river.
–Written by Russell “Buster” Attebery, chairman of the Karuk Tribe, and Joseph L. James, chairman of the Yurok Tribe.

Other Klamath River news:

  • KOBI (Medford, Ore.): White-water rafting on the ‘New Klamath’ River
  • IFLScience: Largest dam removal project in the world triggers return of salmon after years of campaigning
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Aquafornia news May 7, 2025 Redheaded Blackbelt (Humboldt, Calif.)

Community rallies in attempt to save Mad River Fish Hatchery as closure looms

A grassroots petition to save the Mad River Fish Hatchery is gaining momentum, with nearly 2,000 signatures collected as of Tuesday afternoon. Launched by local fishing guide Tyler Belvin on Change.org, the petition calls on state officials to reverse the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (CDFW) decision to shut down the hatchery this summer. Located just outside of Blue Lake, the Mad River Fish Hatchery has been part of the North Coast community for more than 50 years. Belvin’s petition describes the hatchery as “a cornerstone of our community,” emphasizing its role in steelhead conservation, local recreation, and environmental education. “Its closure would not only disrupt these crucial activities,” the petition reads, “but would also significantly impact recreational fishing and local traditions linked to our river heritage.”

Other hatchery news:

  • SFGate: Amid ‘complete disaster,’ California pulls plug on vital hatchery
  • Record Searchlight (Redding, Calif.): State aims to help feds bring back Chinook salmon population
  • Seafood Source: California begins dumping hatchery fish directly into Sacramento River amid salmon crisis
  • Read more
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Aquafornia news May 6, 2025 Rio Linda Online News

State takes bold step to save Sacramento River salmon: millions of young fish released directly into main river

In a major change of plans aimed at rescuing California’s struggling salmon populations, state wildlife officials have done something never tried before: releasing millions of young hatchery-raised Chinook salmon directly into the main stem of the Sacramento River. This historic release of roughly 3.5 million juvenile fall-run Chinook salmon happened in mid-April near Redding and Butte City. Typically, hatchery fish are released into the rivers where their hatcheries are located, like the Feather or Mokelumne Rivers. … This unprecedented move comes as fall-run Chinook salmon numbers in the main Sacramento River – the historical heart of California’s salmon fishery – are at critically low levels.

Other anadromous fish restoration news:

  • California Department of Fish and Wildlife: News release: CDFW adjusts salmon releases to support Sacramento River Populations
  • FOX40 (Sacramento, Calif.): California releases 3.5 million salmon into Sacramento River amid population crisis​
  • SFGate: California unplugs local ‘life support’ for imperiled species
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Aquafornia news May 6, 2025 Christian Science Monitor

From birdies to birds: Why US golf courses are becoming nature preserves

Beside a restored creek in San Geronimo, California, birds soar where birdies once were scored. Formerly home to an 18-hole golf course, the 157-acre property has been rewilded into a thriving nature preserve. The fairway, once groomed to unnatural perfection, is now overgrown with tall grass and wildflowers. … Vitally, the creek that runs through the course’s front nine – no longer impeded by a dam – is seeing a slow return of the endangered coho salmon. … With the number of golf course closures outweighing openings every year since 2006, some are rethinking the best use of these open spaces. In states such as Florida, Ohio, Massachusetts, and California, nature is now being allowed to run its course to protect wildlife and protect against storms.

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Aquafornia news May 1, 2025 Phys.org

Juvenile salmon roam between salt and fresh water while exploring coast and rivers, research finds

The migrations that make up the well-known salmon life cycle have long been described as one way at a time. Juvenile salmon hatch and swim down rivers to the ocean, where they grow and mature before returning to the same river to spawn the next generation. Turns out that many young salmon do things differently, according to new research by NOAA Fisheries, Tribal, and university scientists. The findings were published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. They discovered that as many as 22% of juvenile salmon in California and Washington streams swam downriver to the ocean and then back up other rivers as many as 9 times. They reached rivers as far as 40 miles away along the coast. 

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Aquafornia news April 29, 2025 KRCR (Redding, Calif.)

Promising signs for 2026 after California closes commercial salmon season for the year

For the third consecutive year, commercial salmon fishing off the California coast will be prohibited, although there will be a limited opportunity for recreational anglers for the first time since 2022. However, officials say data indicates the industry could see a return in 2026. Angela Forristall, salmon staff officer with the Pacific Fishery Management Council, said the decision to recommend closing the state’s commercial salmon fisheries for the year followed a challenging debate among the council and stakeholders from both the recreational and commercial fishing industries. Forristall shared that there were several versions of the recommendation that did open commercial fishing briefly, but the data they’re seeing from populations in the Klamath and Sacramento rivers says it’s potentially too soon for major operations. 

Other salmon news:

  • CalMatters: Why this California town is pivoting from its iconic fishing industry
  • Daily Kos: Blog: Failed water policies spawn unprecedented third commercial salmon season closure
  • Read more
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Aquafornia news April 28, 2025 The Sacramento Bee

Monday Top of the Scroll: Yuba River ‘fishway’ project faces pushback from anglers

An agreement to build a waterway allowing fish to swim freely past a dam on the lower Yuba River has moved forward as part of an initiative that also includes returning a threatened salmon species to another part of the watershed. Federal, state and local agencies have partnered on the potentially $100 million project and tout its goal of restoring access for a variety of fish species to parts of the river system walled off for more than a century. … But local anglers have raised concerns about the project, fearing that the free-flowing bypass will allow predatory fish, particularly striped bass, to access a section of the river seen as a haven for certain species.

Related articles:

  • Office of Gov. Gavin Newsom: News release: California, federal government, Yuba Water Agency partner up in historic project to reopen North Yuba River to native fish
  • Yuba Water Agency: News release: Yuba Water, partners formalize Yuba River Resilience Initiative to benefit fish and water supplies
  • NOAA: News release: NOAA signs agreement to ensure reliable water supply for California agriculture
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news April 24, 2025 KRCR (Redding, Calif.)

Assembly member Chris Rogers introduces a bill to extend emergency water regulations

Assemblymember Chris Rogers has introduced his bill, Assembly Bill 263, which aims to protect salmon populations in the Klamath River watershed while also providing local agricultural operations with certainty regarding river flows. This was introduced in partnership with the Karuk and Yurok Tribes, as well as the California Coastkeeper Alliance. … Bill 263 would allow specified emergency regulations adopted by the board for the Scott River and Shasta River watersheds to remain in effect until permanent rules establishing and implementing long-term instream flow requirements for these watersheds are enacted. According to Assemblyman Rogers, this measure is crucial for protecting salmon populations in the Klamath River watershed while providing certainty regarding river flows. … President Ryan Walker of the Siskiyou County Farm Bureau says farmers have concerns about the regulations and how it could affect their profits.

Other Klamath River news:

  • KOBI (Klamath Falls, Ore.): Klamath Basin rising out of drought after 8 years​
  • KLCC (Eugene, Ore.): After years of drought, Klamath Basin farmers get long-awaited water relief
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news April 23, 2025 E&E News by Politico

Trump’s dismantling of NOAA has an unforeseen consequence: Fishermen can’t fish

President Donald Trump’s efforts to free fishermen from regulatory red tape are tying up the very people he seeks to unburden as thousands of small and medium-size operators begin feeling the weight of the president’s NOAA wrecking ball. “We’re seeing the whole system grind to a halt and fall apart,” said Meredith Moore, director of the fish conservation program at Ocean Conservancy, which has tracked the Trump administration’s fisheries rulemaking since Feb. 1. … Slash-and-burn downsizing, fishermen and experts say, is eroding NOAA’s ability to perform basic functions — like opening or closing a fishery, updating a fishery management plan, completing a stock assessment or engaging with regional advisory councils to ensure it’s following the latest science. The management rules are effectively stop-and-go lights on the fisheries highway. Without them, fishing boats remain dockside and fishermen lose critical income.

Other NOAA news:

  • NBC: Meteorologists say NWS cuts degraded forecasts during recent storms
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Aquafornia news April 21, 2025 Times-Standard (Eureka, Calif.)

‘Hope dies hard’: Fishing industry reacts to CA salmon season closure

This week, the Pacific Fishery Management Council adopted recommendations for ocean salmon fishing along the West Coast; for an unprecedented third year in a row, the council has recommended closing commercial fishing off the California coast and allowing only limited commercial fishing in Oregon and Washington. … (Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations Executive Director Lisa )Damrosch told the Times-Standard that commercial fishermen have been feeling the effects of — and working to prevent — salmon population collapse in the Sacramento Valley. She stressed the PCFFA’s long-term goals of returning to a system of production hatcheries, if Californians want to continue to divert water to farming interests in Central and Southern California.

Other salmon news:

  • California Trout: Blog: Strong salmon run and restoration funding flow into the Eel River, amidst third consecutive state commercial fishery closure​
  • The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.): Editorial: More bad news for fishing communities
  • Read more
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Aquafornia news April 18, 2025 CalMatters

Opinion: Why California should be hopeful amid salmon fishing shutdown

This week, a public federal process determined there will be no commercial salmon fishing off California’s coast for the third year in a row. It’s a grim milestone for our state. While we will see some recreational ocean fishing, we’re at the low-water mark. … For the salmon lovers among us, these are dark times. But I see glimmers of hope. … Two weeks ago, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife revealed the progress on California’s “Salmon Strategy for a Hotter, Drier Future.” It was an update on the strategy Gov. Gavin Newsom released last year, which outlined dozens of key action items the state must take to better support healthy salmon populations. In the last year alone, state fish and wildlife and its partner agencies have made critical headway on nearly 70% of the action items set by Gov. Newsom. Another 26% are already done.
–Written by Charlton H. Bonham, director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Other fishery news:

  • Times of San Diego: California to close statewide commercial salmon fishing in May
  • Lost Coast Outpost (Eureka, Calif.): Rep. Jared Huffman responds to ‘unprecedented’ commercial salmon fishery closure
  • SeafoodSource: California’s commercial salmon fishery to remain closed for a third consecutive year
  • SeafoodSource: Oregon asks federal government to declare fishery disaster for 2024 salmon season
  • Reuters: Trump order seeks looser regulation of US fishing industry
  • White House: News release: Unleashing American commercial fishing in the Pacific
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news April 17, 2025 KRON (San Francisco)

California to reopen recreational salmon fishing for first time since 2022

The council overseeing U.S. Pacific coast fisheries issued a new recommendation Tuesday for “very limited” recreational salmon fishing through the end of 2025, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The decision allows for the first recreational ocean salmon fishing in California waters since 2022. The recommendation from the Pacific Fishery Management Council also included keeping California’s commercial salmon fisheries closed for the third year in a row. … Salmon in California waters face ongoing issues from drought, climate disruption, wildfires, algal blooms, shifting food sources, habitat destruction and thiamine deficiency, according to wildlife officials.

Other salmon news:

  • KCRA (Sacramento, Calif.): ‘Another nail in the coffin’: Salmon fishing restrictions, golden mussel closures hurting bait shop
  • KTVU (Oakland, Calif.): Recreational salmon fishing is coming back to California
  • National Fisherman: CA commercial salmon season cancelled for a third year
  • Daily Kos: Blog: Salmon and water groups respond to closure of California commercial salmon fishing for third year
  • California Trout: News release: CalTrout remains committed to salmon recovery efforts as commercial salmon fishing season is shut down again
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news April 16, 2025 CalMatters

Wednesday Top of the Scroll: Commercial salmon season is shut down — again. Will California’s iconic fish ever recover?

Facing the continued collapse of Chinook salmon, officials today shut down California’s commercial salmon fishing season for an unprecedented third year in a row. Under the decision by an interstate fisheries agency, recreational salmon fishing will be allowed in California for only brief windows of time this spring. This will be the first year that any sportfishing of Chinook has been allowed since 2022. … The decline of California’s salmon follows decades of deteriorating conditions in the waterways where the fish spawn each year, including the Sacramento and Klamath rivers.

Other salmon news:

  • San Francisco Chronicle: California salmon fishing will be closed for the third year in a row
  • Los Angeles Times: U.S. panel calls for suspending commercial salmon fishing in California for third year
  • The Independent (London, U.K.): Californian salmon industry suffers despite Trump promise to put ‘people over fish’
  • California Department of Fish and Wildlife: News release: Pacific Fishery Management Council recommends limited recreational ocean salmon season, continued closure for commercial salmon fishing off California
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news April 15, 2025 Oregon Capital Chronicle

Oregon governor, congressional delegation urge feds to declare disaster for coast salmon fisheries

For the seventh time in less than a decade, Oregon’s commercial fishermen, governor and congressional delegation are asking for federal aid to soften the blow of climate change on the state’s ocean salmon fisheries. … Oregon’s commercial ocean salmon fishermen caught about 18,000 Chinook between March and October of 2024 — about 40% of the 10-year average. From 2011 to 2015, the average catch was closer to 75,000 per year, according to John North, an assistant fish division administrator with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. More than 50% of Chinook were caught in Newport in 2024, while southern Oregon fisheries struggled with low returns due to drought and warming waters in the Sacramento and Klamath rivers.

  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Tour October 22, 2025 - 7:30am - October 24, 2025 - 6:30pm Become a Tour Sponsor! Nick Gray

Northern California Tour 2025
Field Trip - October 22-24

Registration Opens May 28!

Explore the Sacramento River and its tributaries through a scenic landscape while learning about the issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.

All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.

Water Education Foundation
2151 River Plaza Drive, Suite 205
Sacramento, CA 95833
View map
  • Read more
Aquafornia news April 10, 2024 Western Outdoor News

California Department of Fish and Wildlife recommends 2024 ocean salmon closure

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife recommended Alternative 3 – Salmon Closure during the final days of the Pacific Fisheries Management Council (PFMC) meeting mirroring the opinions of commercial and recreational charter boat anglers. The department’s position is a significant change from early March. The PFMC meetings are being held in Seattle from April 6 to 11, and the final recommendations of the council will be forwarded to the California Fish and Game Commission in May.

  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news February 6, 2024 NOAA Fisheries

Blog: Sacramento River winter-run chinook salmon remain endangered, review finds

Partners have pulled together to support the recovery of endangered Sacramento winter-run Chinook salmon in the last few years. However, the species still faces threats from climate change and other factors. That is the conclusion of an Endangered Species Act review that NOAA Fisheries completed for the native California species. It once returned in great numbers to the tributaries of the Sacramento River and supported local tribes. The review concluded that the species remains endangered, and identified key recovery actions to help the species survive climate change. While partners have taken steps to protect winter-run Chinook salmon, blocked habitat, altered flows, and higher temperatures continue to threaten their survival.

Related articles: 

  • National Fisherman: California salmon disaster funding falls far short, say fishing advocates
  • FishBio: If you (un)build it, they will come – Studying impacts of fish passage barrier removal on Big Chico Creek
  • KRCR – Redding: Historic dam removals in California’s Klamath aim to revive salmon
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news December 20, 2023 CalMatters

State limits water for Klamath farmers to protect salmon

…Tuesday, the State Water Resources Control Board took action to protect the salmon, unanimously extending the region’s expired emergency drought measures. Ground and surface water for farms will be restricted for another year if flows in the Shasta and Scott rivers dip below minimum thresholds. State officials say these measures are likely to kick in next year. Water board chair Joaquin Esquivel said action is needed because “a fish emergency” remains on the rivers. “Time isn’t our friend,” he said at a previous meeting in August. “There is an urgency.” The water board also is investigating the possibility of permanent requirements to keep more water in the rivers, after the Karuk Tribe and the fishing industry petitioned the state for stronger protections. That decision, however, could take years.

Related articles: 

  • Marin Independent Journal: Marin rain could spur salmon activity
  • Sonoma County Gazette: $2 million grant awarded to Sonoma Water to help salmon, steelhead in Russian River
  • CA Department of Fish and Wildlife: News release - Proposition 1 restoration grant programs
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Tour October 16, 2024 - 7:30am - October 18, 2024 - 6:30pm Nick Gray

Northern California Tour 2024
Field Trip - October 16-18

This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries through a scenic landscape while learning about the issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.

All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.

Water Education Foundation
2151 River Plaza Drive, Suite 205
Sacramento, CA 95833
View map
  • Read more
Western Water August 3, 2023 Layperson's Guide to the Klamath River Basin Klamath River Watershed Map WESTERN WATER: Solar-Paneled Canopies over Canals Catching on in Southwest By Nick Cahill

‘If You Unbuild It, They Will Come’
WESTERN WATER IN-DEPTH: Scientists Chart Transformation of Klamath River and Its Salmon Amid Nation’s Largest Dam Removal Project

The Copco No. 1 dam on the Klamath RiverThe Klamath River Basin was once one of the world’s most ecologically magnificent regions, a watershed teeming with salmon, migratory birds and wildlife that thrived alongside Native American communities. The river flowed rapidly from its headwaters in southern Oregon’s high deserts into Upper Klamath Lake, collected snowmelt along a narrow gorge through the Cascades, then raced downhill to the California coast in a misty, redwood-lined finish.

  • Read more
Tour October 18, 2023 - 7:30am - October 20, 2023 - 6:30pm Nick Gray Northern California Tour Explores Water Resources Across Sacramento Valley to Shasta Dam

Northern California Tour 2023
Field Trip - October 18-20

This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries through a scenic landscape while learning about the issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.

All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.

Water Education Foundation
2151 River Plaza Drive, Suite 205
Sacramento, CA 95833
View map
  • Read more
Tour October 12, 2022 - 7:30am - October 14, 2022 - 6:30pm Nick Gray Northern California Tour Explores Water Resources Across Sacramento Valley to Shasta Dam

Northern California Tour 2022
Field Trip - October 12-14

This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries through a scenic landscape while learning about the issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.

All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.

Water Education Foundation
2151 River Plaza Drive, Suite 205
Sacramento, CA 95833
View map
  • Read more
Tour April 20, 2022 - 7:30am - April 22, 2022 - 6:30pm Explore Epicenter of Drought and Groundwater Sustainability on the Central Valley Tour Nick Gray

Central Valley Tour 2022
Field Trip - April 20-22

Central Valley Tour participants at a dam.This tour ventured through California’s Central Valley, known as the nation’s breadbasket thanks to an imported supply of surface water and local groundwater. Covering about 20,000 square miles through the heart of the state, the valley provides 25 percent of the nation’s food, including 40 percent of all fruits, nuts and vegetables consumed throughout the country.

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Western Water November 19, 2021 California Water Map WESTERN WATER-California Spent Decades Trying to Keep Central Valley Floods at Bay. Now It Looks to Welcome Them Back By Alastair Bland

California Spent Decades Trying to Keep Central Valley Floods at Bay. Now It Looks to Welcome Them Back
WESTERN WATER IN-DEPTH: Floodplain restoration gets a policy and funding boost as interest grows in projects that bring multiple benefits to respond to climate change impacts

Land and waterway managers labored hard over the course of a century to control California’s unruly rivers by building dams and levees to slow and contain their water. Now, farmers, environmentalists and agencies are undoing some of that work as part of an accelerating campaign to restore the state’s major floodplains.

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Western Water November 19, 2021 By Alastair Bland

SIDEBAR: Creating A Floodplain Buffet for Salmon Smolts

Biologists have designed a variety of unique experiments in the past decade to demonstrate the benefits that floodplains provide for small fish. Tracking studies have used acoustic tags to show that chinook salmon smolts with access to inundated fields are more likely than their river-bound cohorts to reach the Pacific Ocean. This is because the richness of floodplains offers a vital buffet of nourishment on which young salmon can capitalize, supercharging their growth and leading to bigger, stronger smolts.

  • Read more
Tour October 14, 2021 - 2:30pm - 5:30pm Nick Gray Jenn Bowles

Northern California Tour 2021
A Virtual Journey - October 14

This tour guided participants on a virtual exploration of the Sacramento River and its tributaries and learn about the issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.

All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project.

  • Read more
Western Water April 25, 2019 California Water Map Gary Pitzer

California’s New Natural Resources Secretary Takes on Challenge of Implementing Gov. Newsom’s Ambitious Water Agenda
WESTERN WATER Q&A: Wade Crowfoot addresses Delta tunnel shift, Salton Sea plan and managing water amid a legacy of conflict

Wade Crowfoot, California Natural Resources Secretary.One of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s first actions after taking office was to appoint Wade Crowfoot as Natural Resources Agency secretary. Then, within weeks, the governor laid out an ambitious water agenda that Crowfoot, 45, is now charged with executing.

That agenda includes the governor’s desire for a “fresh approach” on water, scaling back the conveyance plan in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and calling for more water recycling, expanded floodplains in the Central Valley and more groundwater recharge.

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Western Water January 4, 2019 Douglas E. Beeman

Women Leading in Water, Colorado River Drought and Promising Solutions — Western Water Year in Review

Dear Western Water readers:

Women named in the last year to water leadership roles (clockwise, from top left): Karla Nemeth, director, California Department of Water Resources; Gloria Gray,  chair, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California; Brenda Burman, Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner; Jayne Harkins,  commissioner, International Boundary and Water Commission, U.S. and Mexico; Amy Haas, executive director, Upper Colorado River Commission.The growing leadership of women in water. The Colorado River’s persistent drought and efforts to sign off on a plan to avert worse shortfalls of water from the river. And in California’s Central Valley, promising solutions to vexing water resource challenges.

These were among the topics that Western Water news explored in 2018.

We’re already planning a full slate of stories for 2019. You can sign up here to be alerted when new stories are published. In the meantime, take a look at what we dove into in 2018:

  • Read more
Western Water October 19, 2018 Klamath River Watershed Map Layperson's Guide to Groundwater Gary Pitzer

California Leans Heavily on its Groundwater, But Will a Court Decision Tip the Scales Against More Pumping?
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: Pumping near the Scott River in Siskiyou County sparks appellate court ruling extending public trust doctrine to groundwater connected to rivers

Scott River, in Siskiyou County. In 1983, a landmark California Supreme Court ruling extended the public trust doctrine to tributary creeks that feed Mono Lake, which is a navigable water body even though the creeks themselves were not. The ruling marked a dramatic shift in water law and forced Los Angeles to cut back its take of water from those creeks in the Eastern Sierra to preserve the lake.

Now, a state appellate court has for the first time extended that same public trust doctrine to groundwater that feeds a navigable river, in this case the Scott River flowing through a picturesque valley of farms and alfalfa in Siskiyou County in the northern reaches of California.

  • Read more
Tour October 2, 2019 - 7:30am - October 4, 2019 - 6:30pm Nick Gray Northern California Tour Explores Water Resources Across Sacramento Valley to Shasta Dam

Northern California Tour 2019
Field Trip - October 2-4

This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries through a scenic landscape as participants learned about the issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.

All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project. Tour participants got an on-site update of Oroville Dam spillway repairs.

  • David Guy Presentation
  • Willie Whittlesey Presentation
  • Kevin Phillips Presentation
  • Mark Oliver Presentation
  • Read more
Western Water September 7, 2018 Enhancing California’s Water Supply: The Drive for New Storage Is California's Water Supply Resilient and Sustainable? Water Education Foundation

ON THE ROAD: Picturesque Northern California Valley Could Become the State’s Next Major Reservoir
Sites Reservoir site is a stop on our Northern California Tour Oct. 10-12

The proposed Sites Reservoir is in a rural cattle-grazing area west of the Sacramento Valley town of Maxwell. An hour’s drive north of Sacramento sits a picture-perfect valley hugging the eastern foothills of Northern California’s Coast Range, with golden hills framing grasslands mostly used for cattle grazing.

Back in the late 1800s, pioneer John Sites built his ranch there and a small township, now gone, bore his name. Today, the community of a handful of families and ranchers still maintains a proud heritage.

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Western Water August 24, 2018 California Water Map Gary Pitzer

When Water Worries Often Pit Farms vs. Fish, a Sacramento Valley Farm Is Trying To Address The Needs Of Both
WESTERN WATER SPOTLIGHT: River Garden Farms is piloting projects that could add habitat and food to aid Sacramento River salmon

Roger Cornwell, general manager of River Garden Farms, with an example of a refuge like the ones that were lowered into the Sacramento River at Redding to shelter juvenile salmon.  Farmers in the Central Valley are broiling about California’s plan to increase flows in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river systems to help struggling salmon runs avoid extinction. But in one corner of the fertile breadbasket, River Garden Farms is taking part in some extraordinary efforts to provide the embattled fish with refuge from predators and enough food to eat.

And while there is no direct benefit to one farm’s voluntary actions, the belief is what’s good for the fish is good for the farmers.

  • Read More
Tour October 10, 2018 - October 12, 2018 New Stop Announced for Northern California Tour: Salmon Rearing Structures in the Sacramento River

Northern California Tour 2018

This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries through a scenic landscape as participants learned about the issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.

All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project. Tour participants got an on-site update of repair efforts on the Oroville Dam spillway. 

  • David Guy
  • Christopher Williams
  • Carson Jeffres
  • Curt Aikens
  • Kelly Peterson
  • Mark Oliver
  • Read more
Western Water May 23, 2017 Gary Pitzer

Habitat Renewal Project Aims to Boost Sacramento River Salmon
Salmon shelters installed in early May to help fry and juvenile salmon

Before dams were built on the upper Sacramento River, flood water regularly carried woody debris that was an important part of the aquatic habitat.

Deprived of this refuge, salmon in the lower parts of the upper Sacramento River have had a difficult time surviving and making it down the river and out to the ocean. Seeing this, a group of people, including water users, decided to lend a hand with an unprecedented pilot project that saw massive walnut tree trunks affixed to 12,000-pound boulders and deposited into the deepest part of the Sacramento River near Redding to provide shelter for young salmon and steelhead migrating downstream.

  • Read more
Western Water Excerpt February 15, 2017 Jenn Bowles

Preservation and Restoration: Salmon in Northern California
Winter 2017

Protecting and restoring California’s populations of threatened and endangered Chinook salmon and steelhead trout have been a big part of the state’s water management picture for more than 20 years. Significant resources have been dedicated to helping the various runs of the iconic fish, with successes and setbacks. In a landscape dramatically altered from its natural setting, finding a balance between the competing demands for water is challenging.

  • Read more
Aquapedia background September 1, 2016 California Water Map

Butte Creek

Butte Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River, begins less than 50 miles northeast of Chico, California and is named after nearby volcanic plateaus or “buttes.” The cold, clear waters of the 93-mile creek sustain the largest naturally spawning wild population of spring-run chinook salmon in the Central Valley. Several other native fish species are found in Butte Creek, including Pacific lamprey and Sacramento pikeminnow.

  • Read more
Video May 27, 2014

The Klamath Basin: A Restoration for the Ages (20 min. DVD)

20-minute version of the 2012 documentary The Klamath Basin: A Restoration for the Ages. This DVD is ideal for showing at community forums and speaking engagements to help the public understand the complex issues related to complex water management disputes in the Klamath River Basin. Narrated by actress Frances Fisher.

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Video May 27, 2014

The Klamath Basin: A Restoration for the Ages (60 min. DVD)

For over a century, the Klamath River Basin along the Oregon and California border has faced complex water management disputes. As relayed in this 2012, 60-minute public television documentary narrated by actress Frances Fisher, the water interests range from the Tribes near the river, to energy producer PacifiCorp, farmers, municipalities, commercial fishermen, environmentalists – all bearing legitimate arguments for how to manage the water. After years of fighting, a groundbreaking compromise may soon settle the battles with two epic agreements that hold the promise of peace and fish for the watershed. View an excerpt from the documentary here.

  • Read more
Video May 27, 2014

Restoring a River: Voices of the San Joaquin

This 30-minute documentary-style DVD on the history and current state of the San Joaquin River Restoration Program includes an overview of the geography and history of the river, historical and current water delivery and uses, the genesis and timeline of the 1988 lawsuit, how the settlement was reached and what was agreed to.

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Video May 27, 2014

A Climate of Change: Water Adaptation Strategies

This 25-minute documentary-style DVD, developed in partnership with the California Department of Water Resources, provides an excellent overview of climate change and how it is already affecting California. The DVD also explains what scientists anticipate in the future related to sea level rise and precipitation/runoff changes and explores the efforts that are underway to plan and adapt to climate.

  • Read more
Maps & Posters May 20, 2014

San Joaquin River Restoration Map
Published 2012

This beautiful 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, features a map of the San Joaquin River. The map text focuses on the San Joaquin River Restoration Program, which aims to restore flows and populations of Chinook salmon to the river below Friant Dam to its confluence with the Merced River. The text discusses the history of the program, its goals and ongoing challenges with implementation. 

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Maps & Posters May 20, 2014

Truckee River Basin Map
Published 2005

This beautiful 24×36-inch poster, suitable for framing, displays the rivers, lakes and reservoirs, irrigated farmland, urban areas and Indian reservations within the Truckee River Basin, including the Newlands Project, Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe. Map text explains the issues surrounding the use of the Truckee-Carson rivers, Lake Tahoe water quality improvement efforts, fishery restoration and the effort to reach compromise solutions to many of these issues. 

  • Read more
Publication May 20, 2014

Layperson’s Guide to the State Water Project
Updated 2013

The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the State Water Project provides an overview of the California-funded and constructed State Water Project.

The State Water Project is best known for the 444-mile-long aqueduct that provides water from the Delta to San Joaquin Valley agriculture and southern California cities. The guide contains information about the project’s history and facilities.

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Publication May 20, 2014

Layperson’s Guide to the Klamath River Basin
Published 2023

The Water Education Foundation’s second edition of the Layperson’s Guide to The Klamath River Basin is hot off the press and available for purchase.

Updated and redesigned, the easy-to-read overview covers the history of the region’s tribal, agricultural and environmental relationships with one of the West’s largest rivers — and a vast watershed that hosts one of the nation’s oldest and largest reclamation projects.

  • Read more
Publication May 20, 2014

Layperson’s Guide to Flood Management
Updated 2009

The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to Flood Management explains the physical flood control system, including levees; discusses previous flood events (including the 1997 flooding); explores issues of floodplain management and development; provides an overview of flood forecasting; and outlines ongoing flood control projects. 

  • Read more
Publication May 20, 2014 California Water Map

Layperson’s Guide to California Water
Updated 2021

The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to California Water provides an excellent overview of the history of water development and use in California. It includes sections on flood management; the state, federal and Colorado River delivery systems; Delta issues; water rights; environmental issues; water quality; and options for stretching the water supply such as water marketing and conjunctive use. New in this 10th edition of the guide is a section on the human need for water. 

  • Read more
Publication May 20, 2014

Layperson’s Guide to the Central Valley Project
Updated 2021

The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Central Valley Project explores the history and development of the federal Central Valley Project (CVP), California’s largest surface water delivery system. In addition to the project’s history, the guide describes the various facilities, operations and benefits the water project brings to the state along with the CVP Improvement Act (CVPIA).

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Publication April 17, 2014 Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Map

Layperson’s Guide to the Delta
Updated 2020

The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to the Delta explores the competing uses and demands on California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Included in the guide are sections on the history of the Delta, its role in the state’s water system, and its many complex issues with sections on water quality, levees, salinity and agricultural drainage, fish and wildlife, and water distribution.

  • Read more
Aquapedia background February 11, 2014

Red Bluff Fish Passage Improvement Project and Diversion Dam

The Red Bluff Diversion Dam, its gates raised since 2011 to allow fish passage, spans the Sacramento River two miles southeast of Red Bluff on the Sacramento River in Tehama County. It is owned by the Bureau of Reclamation and operated and maintained by the Tehama-Colusa Canal Authority.

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Aquapedia background February 11, 2014

Pelagic Fish

Pelagic fish are those that live near the water’s surface rather than on the bottom. In California, pelagic fish species include the Delta smelt, longfin smelt, striped bass and salmon.

In California, the fate of pelagic fish has been closely tied to the use of the water that supports them.

  • Read more
Aquapedia background February 10, 2014 Layperson's Guide to the Klamath River Basin Klamath River Watershed Map

Klamath River Basin

Cropland around Upper Klamath Lake in Oregon

The Klamath River Basin is one of the West’s most important and contentious watersheds.

The watershed is known for its peculiar geography straddling California and Oregon. Unlike many western rivers, the Klamath does not originate in snowcapped mountains but rather on a volcanic plateau. 

A broad patchwork of spring-fed streams and rivers in south-central Oregon drains into Upper Klamath Lake and down into Lake Ewauna in the city of Klamath Falls. The outflow from Ewauna marks the beginning of the 263-mile Klamath River.

The Klamath courses south through the steep Cascade Range and west along the rugged Siskiyou Mountains to a redwood-lined estuary on the Pacific Ocean just south of Crescent City, draining a watershed of 10 million acres. 

A bounty of resources – water, salmon, timber and minerals – and a wide range of users turned the remote region into a hotspot for economic development and multiparty water disputes (See Klamath River timeline).

Though the basin has only 115,000 residents, there is seldom enough water to go around. Droughts are common. The water scarcity inflames tensions between agricultural, environmental and tribal interests, namely the basin’s four major tribes: the Klamath Tribes, the Karuk, Hoopa Valley and Yurok. Klamath water-use conflicts routinely spill into courtrooms, state legislatures and Congress. 

In 2023, a historic removal of four powers dams on the river began, signaling hope for restoration of the river and its fish and easing tensions between competing water interests. In February 2024, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced a “historic” agreement between tribes and farmers in the basin over chronic water shortages. The deal called for a wide range of river and creek restoration work and modernization of agricultural water supply infrastructure. 

Water Development

Farmers and ranchers have drawn irrigation water from basin rivers and lakes since the late 1900s. Vast wetlands around Upper Klamath Lake and upstream were drained to grow crops. Some wetlands have been restored, primarily for migratory birds.

In 1905, the federal government authorized construction of the Klamath Project, a network of irrigation canals, storage reservoirs and hydroelectric dams to grow an agricultural economy in the mostly dry Upper Basin. The Project managed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation irrigates about 240,000 acres and supplies the Lower Klamath Lake and Tule Lake national wildlife refuges managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Klamath River Basin

Water Management

Since 1992, federal mandates to restore populations of fish protected by the Endangered Species Act have led in some dry years to drastic cuts in water deliveries to Klamath Project irrigators.

Water in Upper Klamath Lake must be kept above certain levels for the endangered shortnose and Lost River suckers. Lake levels and Klamath River flows below Iron Gate Dam also must be regulated for the benefit of threatened coho salmon (See Klamath Basin Chinook and Coho Salmon).

Conflict

In 2001, Reclamation all but cut off irrigation water to hundreds of basin farmers and ranchers, citing a severe drought and legal obligations to protect imperiled fish. In response, thousands of farmers, ranchers and residents flocked to downtown Klamath Falls to form a “bucket brigade” protest, emptying buckets of water into the closed irrigation canal. The demonstrations stretched into the summer, with protestors forcing open the irrigation headgates on multiple occasions. Reclamation later released some water to help farmers.

Karuk fisheries workers netting salmon in Klamath River.In September 2002, a catastrophic disease outbreak in the lower Klamath River killed tens of thousands of ocean-going salmon. The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations sued Reclamation, alleging the Klamath Project’s irrigation deliveries had violated the Endangered Species Act. The fishing industry eventually prevailed, and a federal court ordered an increase to minimum flows in the lower Klamath.

Compromise

The massive salmon kill and dramatic water shut-off set in motion a sweeping compromise between the basin’s many competing water interests: the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement and the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement. The 2010 agreements included:

  • Removal of four hydroelectric dams
  • $92.5 million over 10 years to pay farmers to use less water, increase reservoir storage and help pay for water conservation and groundwater management projects.
  • $47 million over 10 years to buy or lease water rights to increase flows for salmon recovery.

Dam Removals

Congress never funded the two agreements, allowing the key provisions to expire. The restoration accord dissolved in 2016. The hydroelectric pact, however, was revived in an amended version that did not require federal legislation.

The new deal led to the nation’s largest dam removal project ever undertaken.

The Klamath's Copco No. 2 DamCalifornia and Oregon formed a nonprofit organization called the Klamath River Renewal Corporation to take control of the four essentially obsolete power dams – J.C. Boyle, Copco No. 1, Copco No. 2 and Iron Gate – and oversee a $450 million dam demolition and river restoration project.

Taking out the dams will open more than 420 miles of river and spawning streams that had been blocked for more than a century, including cold water pools salmon and trout need to survive the warming climate.  

Demolition crews took out the smallest dam in 2023 and the others were scheduled to come down by the end of 2024.

The images of yellow heavy machinery tearing into the dam’s spillway gates prompted a cathartic release for many who have been fighting for decades to open this stretch of the Klamath.

“I’m still in a little bit of shock,” said Toz Soto, the Karuk fisheries program manager. “This is actually happening…It’s kind of like the dog that finally caught the car, except we’re chasing dam removal.”

  • Read more
Aquapedia background February 10, 2014

Klamath Basin Chinook and Coho Salmon

The Klamath Basin’s Chinook salmon and coho salmon serve a vital role in the watershed.

Together, they are key to the region’s water management, habitat restoration and fishing.

However, years of declining population have led to federally mandated salmon restoration plans—plans that complicate the diversion of Klamath water for agriculture and other uses.

  • Read more
Aquapedia background January 30, 2014

Battle Creek

Battle Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River in Shasta and Tehama counties, is considered one of the most important anadromous fish spawning streams in the Sacramento Valley.

At present, barriers make it difficult for anadromous fish, including chinook salmon and Central Valley steelhead trout, to migrate. Battle Creek has several hydroelectric dams, diversions and a complex canal system between its north and south forks that impede migration.

  • Read more
Western Water Magazine May 1, 2013

Meeting the Co-equal Goals? The Bay Delta Conservation Plan
May/June 2013

This issue of Western Water looks at the BDCP and the Coalition to Support Delta Projects, issues that are aimed at improving the health and safety of the Delta while solidifying California’s long-term water supply reliability.

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Western Water Magazine January 1, 2013

Viewing Water with a Wide Angle Lens: A Roundtable Discussion
January/February 2013

This printed issue of Western Water features a roundtable discussion with Anthony Saracino, a water resources consultant; Martha Davis, executive manager of policy development with the Inland Empire Utilities Agency and senior policy advisor to the Delta Stewardship Council; Stuart Leavenworth, editorial page editor of The Sacramento Bee and Ellen Hanak, co-director of research and senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California.

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Western Water Magazine July 1, 2012

How Much Water Does the Delta Need?
July/August 2012

This printed issue of Western Water examines the issues associated with the State Water Board’s proposed revision of the water quality Bay-Delta Plan, most notably the question of whether additional flows are needed for the system, and how they might be provided.

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Western Water Magazine July 1, 2011

Making the Connection: Sound Science and Good Delta Policy
July/August 2011

This printed issue of Western Water examines science – the answers it can provide to help guide management decisions in the Delta and the inherent uncertainty it holds that can make moving forward such a tenuous task.

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Western Water Magazine May 1, 2009

A Tale of Two Rivers: The Russian and the Santa Ana
May/June 2009

This printed issue of Western Water examines the Russian and Santa Ana rivers – areas with ongoing issues not dissimilar to the rest of the state – managing supplies within a lingering drought, improving water quality and revitalizing and restoring the vestiges of the native past.

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Western Water Magazine March 1, 2009

Delta Conveyance: The Debate Continues
March/April 2009

This printed issue of Western Water provides an overview of the idea of a dual conveyance facility, including questions surrounding its cost, operation and governance

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Western Water Magazine January 1, 2009

Making a Future for Fish: Preserving and Restoring Native Salmon and Trout
January/February 2009

This printed copy of Western Water examines the native salmon and trout dilemma – the extent of the crisis, its potential impact on water deliveries and the lengths to which combined efforts can help restore threatened and endangered species.

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Western Water Magazine March 1, 2008

Finding a Vision for the Delta
March/April 2008

This printed copy of Western Water examines the Delta through the many ongoing activities focusing on it, most notably the Delta Vision process. Many hours of testimony, research, legal proceedings, public hearings and discussion have occurred and will continue as the state seeks the ultimate solution to the problems tied to the Delta.

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Western Water Magazine November 1, 2004

Farms, Fish and Restoration: The Friant Decision and the Future of the San Joaquin River
November/December 2004

This issue of Western Water explores the implications for the San Joaquin River following the decision in the Natural Resources Defense Council lawsuit against the Bureau of Reclamation and Friant Water Users Authority that Friant Dam is required to comply with a state law that requires enough water be released to sustain downstream fish populations.

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Western Water Excerpt January 1, 1998 Sue McClurgRita Schmidt Sudman

Saving the Salmon
Jan/Feb 1998

Fresh from the ocean, adult salmon struggle to swim hundreds of miles upstream to spawn — and then die — in the same stream in which they were born. For the salmon, the river-to-ocean, ocean-to-river life cycle is nothing more than instinct. For humans, it invites wonder. The cycle has prevailed for centuries, yet as salmon populations have declined, the cycle has become a source of conflict. Water users have seen their supplies reduced. Fishermen have had their catch curtailed. Environmentalists have pushed for more instream flows for fish.

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