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In search of national monument designation
Dan Johnson is an amiable bear of a man with an ursine nose for finding things. We were on a mission to find one of the sources of California’s largest spring creek, the Fall River. Yes, that Fall River. The one whose unique chemistry produces huge volumes of macroinvertebrates, dense hatches of midges, mayflies and…
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Bringing the salmon home
On the border of Oregon and California, the largest dam removal ever attempted, anywhere on the planet, is underway on the Klamath River.
When the dams come out, the Klamath will come back. May 2024: The Klamath River dam removal is well underway. The smallest of the four dams to be removed, Copco 2, is already gone. The reservoirs behind the three remaining dams – Copco 1, Iron Gate, and JC Boyle – were drained this winter and…
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Biden expands San Gabriel Mountains National Monument
One of the most spectacular scenic backdrops to any major American city is that of the San Gabriel Mountains, which fringe the Los Angeles metropolitan area. After winter storms clear the air of the LA basin, a fine mantle of white hangs from the ramparts of Mt. Baldy, sitting at 10,000 feet in elevation and…
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There’s hope for endangered salmon and steelhead
TU’s sticktuitiveness at work on a Priority Water in California A few years ago, the president of the Trout Unlimited Golden Gate Chapter took me to a creek called Devil’s Gulch—a tributary of Lagunitas Creek, an important salmon and steelhead river in California that is one of TU’s Priority Waters. Mike Cronin proudly showed off…
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Coldwater champions of the California legislature
The California Salmon and Steelhead Coalition celebrates ten years, legislative leaders for coastal streams and water policy On February 26, Trout Unlimited and our partners in the California Salmon and Steelhead Coalition – The Nature Conservancy and California Trout – commemorated ten years of working together to protect and restore native salmon and steelhead on…
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New plan aims to recover native salmon and steelhead in California, reflects TU restoration and policy priorities
It’s been tough going for salmon and steelhead in California for basically the last century. Dams, diversions, pollution, and habitat loss have hammered many populations to the point where they are now listed or imperiled. The warming climate is intensifying the impacts of these factors. On January 30, Governor Gavin Newsom released a plan for…
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Klamath Reservoir Drawdown Begins
The world’s largest dam removal project takes another step forward as the reservoirs behind Iron Gate, Copco 1 and JC Boyle Dams begin to be drained In the middle of January, early in the morning on a cold winter’s day, the process to reconnect the Klamath River took another huge step forward. Crews opened the…
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