• Potential solutions to reduce damage to fish habitats 

    1. Prevent and reduce homelessness and housing insecurity:  Before and After photos of a clean-up of an encampment near Calabazas Creek in Santa Clara County. Credit: Valley Water 2. Actions that reduce the severity and frequency of harm posed by encampments: Housed volunteers living near encampments are good candidates to assist with clean-up efforts because…

  • How people in homeless encampments affect fish populations

    Across California, encampments of people who experience homelessness negatively affect fish populations in multiple ways. The long list of concerns includes poaching fish, cutting down trees above rivers, and polluting waterways. The best way to help fish is to assist unhoused populations get housing and remain housed. Communities also need to address the economic and…

  • Progress on Battle Creek is officially underway

    In May 2025, the final iteration of the Battle Creek Salmon and Steelhead Restoration Project launched. The launch follows years of delay and changing priorities in the wake of Pacific Gas & Electric Company’s (PG&E) 2018 decision not to seek a new license to operate the Battle Creek Hydroelectric Project.  In a parallel process, May…

  • Chinook Salmon in the Lower Mokelumne River

    During the 2024-2025 fall run, 35,450 adult Chinook salmon returned to the Lower Mokelumne River to spawn. This broke the previous 2023-24 season’s record of 28,698. The combination of successful and innovative hatchery operations, habitat enhancement, and the management of cold-water flows from Camanche and Pardee reservoirs account for the consecutive record-breaking returns. East Bay…

  • Time to hear from the protestants: Delta Conveyance Project update for July 2025

    Delta smelt survey boat in the Sacramento Delta in 2010, when survey boats were still capturing Delta smelt. Credit: Peter Johnsen, USFWS Last month, the California Department of Water Rights (DWR) concluded the presentation of its case-in-chief for the hearing on the water rights petition for the Delta Conveyance Project (DCP). The next portion of the…