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…

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…

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…

Understanding evidentiary hearings in water rights cases The term “evidentiary hearing” means different things in different legal venues. An evidentiary hearing in a criminal court is not the same as an evidentiary water rights hearing before the quasi-judicial body of the State Water Resources Control Board (the Board). An evidentiary hearing in a water rights…

The 2024/25 winter spawning run of Central California Coast coho salmon (CCC) in the lower Russian River watershed brought fruition to ongoing local salmon recovery efforts. The data collected this last winter reveals an impressive return of adult coho salmon in the lower Russian River watershed and reinforces the importance of the Russian River Coho…