Each year, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) carefully counts juvenile and adult coho salmon in North Coast rivers and streams. This work is especially important for tracking the status of endangered populations of Central California Coast (CCC) coho.
Last winter, CDFW staff realized they were seeing exceptional numbers of adult salmon returning to Mendocino’s coastal streams during their spawning run. When the monitoring season was over and the numbers were crunched, everyone working to recover these populations got some truly inspiring news:
Last year, CCC coho salmon returns surged to their highest numbers since extensive monitoring began!
The Noyo and Ten Mile Rivers exceeded the federal Endangered Species Act recovery targets, and the Garcia and Big Rivers saw record salmon returns.
In a new short video, TU’s Anna Halligan and CDFW’s Sarah Gallagher got together at the South Fork Noyo River to celebrate the encouraging numbers of returning salmon, the partnerships working together to recover these runs and their hope for the future.
For twenty-five years, TU’s North Coast Coho Project (NCCP)has been partnering with state and federal agencies, local contractors, private and public landowners and other regional conservation organizations to restore and reconnect salmon and steelhead habitat in California’s Priority Waters.
While CCC coho still have a long way to go towards rebuilding their populations, the improving numbers are a thrilling sign of progress and inspiration to keep driving this important work forward.
Learn more about salmon recovery on California’s North Coast
Recently, our federal partners at the NOAA Restoration Center published a pair of great articles digging into the strong CCC coho returns last winter, the investments in habitat restoration underway in Mendocino coastal rivers and the partnerships making this work possible.
Endangered California Coho Salmon Experience Record-Breaking Spawning Season on Mendocino Coast
This is a good look at the effort and importance of CDFW’s ongoing work to monitor juvenile and adult coho populations and the federal investments supporting instream habitat restoration.
Endangered Salmon Move into Newly Restored Habitat on the Mendocino Coast
This story highlights recent NOAA-funded habitat restoration and reconnection work being led on the ground by Trout Unlimited and The Nature Conservancy in the Ten Mile and lower Big Rivers.
Looking Ahead: Teamwork makes the streams work!
The improving numbers of CCC coho is welcome news and a great boost to everyone working hard to recover these keystone populations of native fish.
Far from resting on their laurels, in the coming years TU’s NCCP staff are leading multiple restoration projects in watersheds across the North Coast, including ongoing NOAA-funded fish passage projects, a re-wilding golf course, and upcoming work funded by CDFW’s Fisheries Restoration Grant Program this winter.