Breakthrough for the Eel

A new agreement promises to resolve decades of conflict over water use on California’s third largest watershed––and a legendary salmon and steelhead river
A new agreement promises to resolve decades of conflict over water use on California’s third largest watershed––and a legendary salmon and steelhead river
Juvenile salmon and steelhead are immediately using reconnected habitat on California’s North Coast
Public lands are vital for trout fishing in America. Any decent map proves this. A hearing in the U.S. Senate on Oct. 19 provided a major opportunity to highlight the importance of public lands for coldwater conservation and to advance legislation that will better protect and restore some of the most famous trout, salmon and…
Paiute cutthroat are often called the rarest trout in North America. Their historic range is an 11-mile long stretch of a single creek in the eastern Sierra Nevada near the California-Nevada border. The population of this singular trout, with its unique purplish hue and markings, succumbed to a variety of factors over the past century,…
The LA River is the setting for South Coast TU’s community outreach and instruction under a new grant from the Vamos a Pescar Education Fund. TU’s South Coast Chapter, based in Orange County, California, has been awarded a $20,000 grant from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to provide instruction, equipment, and support for…
Five hundred miles. That’s a pretty significant distance, right? Now, imagine swimming that far. That’s how many river miles will re-opened to native steelhead in the Klamath River under the terms of a revised agreement between the federal government, the states of California and Oregon, and the utility company PacifiCorp. The amended Klamath Hydropower Settlement…
TU’s Anna Halligan and Mary Ann King accepting the 2019 Nat Bingham Memorial Restorationist of the Year Award from the Salmonid Restoration Federation. On April 26, the Salmonid Restoration Federation (SRF) presented major awards to two Trout Unlimited staff and one of our grassroots leaders at the SRF annual awards dinner. Anna Halligan, director of…
U.S. Reps. Peter DeFazio (Oregon) and Jared Huffman (California) today sent a letter to the House Committee on Natural Resources urging the committee to take immediate action to schedule a hearing for H.R. 310, The Southwestern Oregon Watershed and Salmon Protection Act. This bill would permanently protect salmon and steelhead strongholds on the southern Oregon…
For one angler, a wounded California is better than no California at all It was a classic Yuba day with Joe and the Butler brothers—a 105-degree scorcher with the river inviting swimming as much as fishing. As typical as it seemed, the river was in many ways new to me. It had been two years…
Clifford, a veteran TU staff member in California, will lead TU’s conservation programs in the state; former state director, Brian Johnson, to focus on water and climate initiatives Contacts ARLINGTON, VA – Matt Clifford, a staff member in Trout Unlimited’s California program since 2013, has been named the California Director effective March 25th. Brian Johnson,…
05/08/2008 Pacific Salmon Crisis: Seeking Shared Solutions FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Brian Johnson, Trout Unlimited: (415) 385-0796 Paul Johnson, Monterey Fish Market: (510) 525-0999 Michael Brunson: Michel-Schlumberger Wine Estate: (707) 433-7427 x16 Kirk Hardcastle: Taku River Reds (AK): (808) 281-4090 Pacific Salmon Crisis: Seeking Shared Solutions CA Salmon Businesses, Chefs, Fishermen, Vintners & Conservation Groups…
Tim Frahm, Central Coast Steelhead Coordinator for Trout Unlimited, admires the newly restored Carmel River above the site of the old San Clemente Dam at the celebration event on June 6. There have no doubt been many parties on the Carmel River, one of the best steelhead streams on California’s south-central coast, over the years.…
Few animals have been as totemic for humans as salmon. Entire cultures of indigenous peoples in North America evolved around this fish, its remarkable life history, and its powers as a food source. Whole reg ional economies have risen and foundered on the vicissitudes of the world’s seven salmon species—five of which are native to…
Guide Leslie Ajari and her father, Bruce, on the Trinity River. The northwest corner of California is famous for a variety of reasons. Its towering redwoods—among the largest living things on Earth, inspire awe and were the “green gold” that drove a century of logging activity to support the build-out of the San Francisco Bay…
Redband trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss sub-species) Species summary and status: Redband trout are subspecies of rainbow trout and exist in two well-defined geographic regions. The Columbia River redband trout is found in Montana, Washington, and Idaho, and the Great Basin redband trout is found in southeastern Oregon and parts of California and Nevada. The redband is similar…
Land acquisition, conversion to regional park land, dedication of irrigation water to the Carmel River The Carmel River on California’s central coast is a native steelhead stronghold, but dams and a steady increase in diversions and pumping have contributed to a drastic decline in adult steelhead returns. Recently, two of three dams on this river…
Native south-central California coastal steelhead. Photo: Capelli/NOAA Fisheries. Steelhead, the sea-run version of rainbow trout, have one of the most diverse life histories of any fish species. On the West Coast, this life history diversity has enabled steelhead to colonize and persist in coastal drainages in a region—the south-central coast of California—with highly variable precipitation,…
The salmon and steelhead fisheries of California’s Eel River were once bountiful — and could be again. California’s Eel River—the state’s third largest watershed—is legendary among anglers for its wild steelhead and salmon fisheries. Bu t like so many coastal watersheds north of San Francisco, the Eel has been hard hit over the past century…
By Brian Johnson It’s been a busy and amazingly productive year for Trout Unlimited in California. With the help of our 10,000 California members and our dozens of agency and project partners, we reached major milestones on many of ou r highest priority initiatives. All of these highlight TU’s successful formula for protecting and restoring…
I have many bad habits, for sure, but the one fly-fishing vice I cannot break is casting at mako sharks off the California coast with flies. It started nearly 20 years ago when I met Conway Bowman while writing the book Tideline. That led to a larger story for Field& Stream magazine (“Flyfishing Gone Mad”) a couple years later.…