On January 30, Governor Gavin Newsom released a plan for reversing the decline of native salmon and steelhead in California. This plan, California Salmon Strategy for a Hotter, Drier Future, affirms that actions and policies long supported by TU, tribes, and fishing and conservation groups are key to recovery of native salmon and steelhead and their fisheries, and that strategic, sustained collaboration will be needed to implement these actions and policies.
A Holiday Gift on Dry Dock Gulch
In September 2023, after years of planning and fundraising, TU’s North Coast Coho Project and their partners completed a fish passage and habitat improvement project on Dry Dock Gulch, a tributary of Northern California’s Big River.
The Way Forward for the Eel River
This month, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) released the initial draft of its plan to remove two old, fish-killing dams on the Eel River.
Extraordinary measures
TU and partners sue Pacific Gas and Electric to restore California’s third largest river and its legendary salmon and steelhead fisheries
NOAA recommends an estimated $20M in funding for Trout Unlimited fish passage work
Last week, the NOAA Restoration Center recommended an estimated $20 million in funding for TU’s fish passage work, which includes our steelhead restoration efforts in both Washington and California.
Freeing the Eel
The Eel River is the last, best hope for recovery of wild salmon and steelhead in California. But two old, fish-killing dams on the Eel block access to over 200 miles of high-quality spawning and nursery habitat in the headwaters and, a major factor in the decline of anadromous fishes in California’s third largest watershed.
Business as usual won’t restore the Eel River
At one time, California’s Eel River once had incredibly abundant salmon, steelhead, and Pacific lamprey fisheries. But dams, major water diversions, legacy impacts from clearcut logging, and illegal cannabis cultivation have compromised the Eel’s productivity for salmonids and lamprey.
Last best chance for recovery of Klamath salmon and steelhead
There is real hope for restoring the Klamath River and its fisheries, however. That’s because a multi-decade effort to remove the four dams of the Lower Klamath Project—in which Trout Unlimited has played a major role—is now close to the finish line.
California Legislative Update : 2022 Session
Wild Steelheaders United and Trout Unlimited and our allies are tracking and working on several bills and budget actions that could affect wild steelhead management in the Golden State.
Clearing the way for wild steelhead on the Carmel River
Our restoration leader on California’s Central Coast takes his steelheading, and steelhead conservation, very seriously.