The California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (CDFW’s) Heritage and Wild Trout Program (the Program) manages designated waters for wild trout species. The term “wild trout” means a fish born and reared in a specific location without human intervention. The term “heritage trout” refers to trout that have lived in a specific location since prehistoric…

This winter, Friends of the Eel River, a Eureka nonprofit, is launching the Eel River Native Plant Network. The goal of the Network is to increase regional capacity to produce native plant products. The initial focus will be to assist PG&E in its effort to replant native wildflowers, grasses, shrubs, and trees in the project…

In 2025, The Wildlands Conservancy marked its first year of seeing coho salmon in a Sonoma coast stream called Russian Gulch. With luck and hard work, this event should herald a return of coho salmon in the Russian Gulch Watershed. The change was brought about by more than a decade of effort by Conservancy staff.…

In the Lagunitas Creek watershed of Marin County, the Olema-based nonprofit called Turtle Island Restoration Network (TIRN) is helping to increase the largest population of Central California Coast wild coho salmon. The program focused on this project is TIRN’s Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN). SPAWN has a staff of one full-time employee, several residential…

This winter, a host of stakeholders are examining how Chico-area waterways and the Chinook salmon and steelhead trout that live in them are faring, after the intense burning of the July-September 2024 Park Fire. Two of the most interesting sets of observations will come from Deer Creek and Mill Creek, which are tributaries of the…