Protect The Best Salmon and Steelhead Strongholds and Wild Trout Waters
Home | Key Initiatives |There are still places in California with abundant wild fish- and we intend to keep them that way. Salmon and steelhead strongholds like the Smith River, California’s signature stronghold river, and the Eel River are places where sustainable wild fish abundance exist or is still achievable. Likewise, there are iconic wild trout waters that require near-constant vigilance from a myriad of threats. Places like Hat Creek, Fall River, Owen’s River, McCloud. For over 51 years we’ve been working to protect California’s iconic wild trout waters. Our commitment has never been stronger.
North Coast
Obtain baseline data on steelhead entering the South Fork Eel River to spawn in order to inform the angling public on steelhead abundance. Determine if sonar assessment of adult salmonids is an...
Learn MoreBay Area
Work with partners to fill key data gaps in monitoring Alameda Creek tributaries to inform future management and restoration to assist recovery of steelhead and Chinook salmon in the watershed.
Learn MoreNorth Coast
Restore and protect important riparian, instream, floodplain and side-channel habitat in Bull Creek, which supports four anadromous fish species, Coho and Chinook Salmon, Steelhead, and Pacific...
Learn MoreSierra Headwaters
Improve forest ecosystem health and minimize the impacts of future wildfires.
Learn MoreNorth Coast
Achieve consensus among a coalition of agency, tribal, and conservation partners regarding priority recovery actions and policy reform needed to recover salmonid populations in the Eel River basin,...
Learn MoreNorth Coast
Efficiently restore native anadromous fish populations and ecological processes across the Eel River watershed.
Learn MoreMt. Shasta-Klamath
Protect CA’s largest spring-fed river, over 30 miles of wild and native trout habitat, and one million acre-feet per year of cold, clean volcanic source water that provides habitat for native fish...
Learn MoreMt. Shasta-Klamath
Use large woody debris to restore 1.5 miles of instream habitat for the benefit of wild trout while helping protect cultural resources on over 5,000 acres of ancestral lands of the Illmawi Band of the...
Learn MoreSierra Headwaters
Protect the water resources that sustain wild trout and provide drinking water by removing dying trees across 518 acres of National Forest System lands. Remove excessive dead wood, implement...
Learn MoreSierra Headwaters
Apply the Sierra Meadow Strategy approach to establish a prioritized inventory of meadow restoration activities providing maximum habitat benefit for listed Kern River rainbow trout, amphibian, and...
Learn MoreSierra Headwaters
Recover Lahontan cutthroat trout populations in their native range.
Learn MoreMt. Shasta-Klamath
Protect three miles of pristine salmon habitat on the Upper Sacramento and McCloud rivers (blue ribbon wild trout fisheries) from inundation.
Learn MoreSierra Headwaters
Restore the long-term ecological health of the Mono Basin tributaries and Mono Lake.
Learn MoreSouth Coast
To prepare a list of ground-truthed refugia habitat locations for trout relocated after wildfire and during large So Cal fish passage projects.
Learn MoreSouth Coast
The management of non-native aquatic species addressees a major threat to the survival of native trout. Management is arduous and expensive, but worth the long-term investment to clear prime habitat...
Learn MoreNorth Coast
Gain a stronger technical understanding of salmon and steelhead recovery efforts through establishing a research and monitoring program in the South Fork Eel River.
Learn MoreSierra Headwaters
Seeking full implementation of the water agreement settlement terms: a) the Fisheries Enhancement Fund is active and functioning, (b) instream flow requirements are met, and (c) fully appropriated...
Learn MoreNorth Coast
Restore floodplain habitat and create public access. ...
Learn MoreSouth Coast
To develop an alternative analysis for the restoration of Southern California steelhead in the Rose Valley Lakes System and Sespe Creek Watershed.
Learn MoreSouth Coast
The goal of this project is to remove non-native species that are detrimental to native trout survival in San Mateo Creek, in federally designated critical habitat for endangered Southern California...
Learn MoreNorth Coast
Raise awareness of the current threats to the pristine North Fork of the Smith River from international mining corporations.
Learn MoreSierra Headwaters
Provide a stabilized channel access point for anglers, boaters, and other recreational users, reduce sediment delivery to the Truckee River, and restore native riparian vegetation. A defined access...
Learn MoreSouth Coast
The goal of this project is to protect one of the last and most southern native rainbow trout populations of steelhead lineage in Pacific coast of United States.
Learn MorePeter Moyle is the Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology and Associate Director of the Center for Watershed Sciences, at UC Davis. He is author or co-author of more than 240 publications, including the definitive Inland Fishes of California (2002). He is co-author of the 2017 book, Floodplains: Processes and Management for Ecosystem Services. His research interests include conservation of aquatic species, habitats, and ecosystems, including salmon; ecology of fishes of the San Francisco Estuary; ecology of California stream fishes; impact of introduced aquatic organisms; and use of floodplains by fish.
Robert Lusardi is the California Trout/UC Davis Wild and Coldwater Fish Researcher focused on establishing the basis for long-term science specific to California Trout’s wild and coldwater fish initiatives. His work bridges the widening gap between academic science and applied conservation policy, ensuring that rapidly developing science informs conservation projects throughout California. Dr. Lusardi resides at the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences and works closely with Dr. Peter Moyle on numerous projects to help inform California Trout conservation policy. His recent research interests include Coho salmon on the Shasta River, the ecology of volcanic spring-fed rivers, inland trout conservation and management, and policy implications of trap and haul programs for anadromous fishes in California.
Patrick Samuel is the Conservation Program Coordinator for California Trout, a position he has held for almost two years, where he coordinates special research projects for California Trout, including the State of the Salmonids report. Prior to joining CalTrout, he worked with the Fisheries Leadership & Sustainability Forum, a non-profit that supports the eight federal regional fishery management councils around the country. Patrick got his start in fisheries as an undergraduate intern with NOAA Fisheries Protected Resources Division in Sacramento, and in his first field job as a crew member of the California Department of Fish & Wildlife’s Wild and Heritage Trout Program.
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Dams block access to historical spawning and rearing habitats. Downstream, dams alter the timing, frequency, duration, magnitude, and rate of change of flows decreasing habitat quality and survival.
The findings from this study have made it clear – the time to act is now. We can work together to ensure that California will always have resilient populations of wild fish thriving in clean, cold water streams.
Here are some things you can do today:
This factor refers to hard rock mining, from which contaminated tailings, mine effluents, and toxic pollutants may have been dumped or leached into streams, mostly from abandoned mines. Mercury mining, used for processing gold in placer and dredge mining, left a lasting negative impact on wildlife.
Hatcheries and releases of hatchery reared salmonids into the wild can negatively impact wild populations through competition, predation, disease, and loss of fitness and genetic diversity. Hatchery influences are especially apparent to for anadromous species where dams blocked access to spawning habitat and hatcheries were established as mitigation. Inland trout can also be impacted with stocking of hatchery fish for recreation.
All anadromous salmonids depend on estuaries for rearing during a portion of their lives. Most estuaries in the state are highly altered from human activities, especially diking, draining, and sandbar removal between the estuary and ocean. Land-uses surrounding estuaries often involve extensive wetland reclamation, greatly reducing ecological function and habitat complexity.
Harvest relates to legally regulated commercial, tribal, and recreational fisheries, as well as illegal harvest (poaching). Over-harvest can have substantial impacts on fish populations, particularly for those with already limited abundance or distributions, those which are isolated or reside in discrete habitats making them easy to catch (e.g. summer steelhead), or those that attain large adult size (e.g., Chinook salmon).
Transportation corridors such as highways confine stream channels and increase sedimentation, pollution, and habitat degradation from storm runoff and altered streamflows. Culverts and other passage or drainage modifications associated with roads often block migration and restrict fish movements, which can fragment populations.
Many heavily logged watersheds once supported the highest species diversity and abundance of fishes, including anadromous salmon and steelhead. Improperly managed logging increases sediment in streams, increases solar input which increases stream temperatures, and degrades riparian cover. Stream habitat is also degraded by the extensive network of unpaved roads that supports timber extraction.
Non-native species (including fishes and other aquatic organisms) are ubiquitous across many of California’s watersheds; their impacts on native species through hybridization, predation, competition, increased disease transmission, and habitat alteration can be severe.
Wildfires are a natural component of California’s landscape. However, fire suppression, coupled with climate change, has made modern fires more frequent, severe and catastrophic. The transition from relatively frequent understory fires to less frequent, but catastrophic, crown fires can have a severe impact on fish habitat and wipe out populations with narrow habitat ranges.
Impacts from agriculture include streams polluted by agricultural return water or farm effluent; reduced flow due to diversions which can affect migratory patterns; and increased silt and pesticides in streams. Marijuana grow operations, legal and illegal, were considered in this metric.
As California’s population grows, rural development increasingly encroaches along or near streams. Resulting impacts include water diversions, groundwater pumping, streambed alteration (to protect houses from flooding, construct road crossings, etc.), and pollution (especially from septic tanks and illegal waste dumping).