Having fished and surveyed the Russian River watershed for many years, there have been occasions when I’ve observed spawning adult Chinook salmon, stumbled across a carcass, or accidentally hooked a “Jack” or “Jill,” a young maturing Chinook salmon. These observations were exciting. They are a reminder that a small and resilient population of fall-run Chinook salmon still remained in the Russian River. 2025 is much more promising. As of November 18, fisheries biologists with Sonoma Water have counted 3,808 adult Chinook salmon swimming up a fish ladder at the Mirabel inflatable dam site near Forestville.
Eric Woodruff, environmental policy consultant for CSPA, with a jack Chinook he caught while fly fishing in the Klamath River. Image: Eric Woodruff
Justin Smith, Senior Environmental Specialist with Sonoma Water, said Sonoma Water has operated a video camera in the Russian River since 2000. “Compared to previous years, 2025 has been a strong return year. [It] would rank fifth in our dataset. The long-term average for Chinook counted on the video camera is 2,622 adults,” said Smith.
Camera data was collected from September 1 through November 13. The Mirabel inflatable dam is rated to have no more than 2 feet of water flowing over the top. This is estimated to occur at 1,600 cubic feet per second (cfs). When there is a forecast of 1,600 cfs in the Russian River, Sonoma Water deflates the dam (Smith, 2025).
Chinook salmon swim by the fisheries viewing camera at Mirabel inflatable dam in 2025. Image: Sonoma Water
Stuart Tiffen, Public Information Officer with Sonoma Water, explained that the agency operates the inflatable dam to increase production capacity of water during peak demand months. The dam increases production capacity in two ways. First, surface water immediately behind the dam can be diverted to a series of infiltration ponds. These are sited next to the three Mirabel collector wells. Fish screening facilities ensure the safety of the fish in the river. Second, infiltration to the underlying aquifer behind the dam is significantly improved by increasing the recharge area from the river. Permanent fish ladders provide fish passage when the dam is raised.
The current count of Chinook salmon will increase since Sonoma Water removed the inflatable dam on November 13. This is because Chinook will continue to migrate into the Russian River through January 2026.
The history of Chinook salmon in the Russian River is turbid. Recorded data are minimal, but suggest that Chinook were extirpated from the Russian River in the mid-19th century. Records show a Chinook stocking program beginning in 1881. However, all stocking efforts in the Russian River were unsuccessful.
The most recent effort, the Warm Springs Chinook Program, ended in 1999 (California Sea Grant, 2025). According to Sonoma Water, the Chinook salmon currently returning to the Russian River are the offspring of wild parents that naturally spawned either in the upper 75 miles of the mainstem or in Dry Creek.
This means all returning Chinook now in the Russian system will also spawn in the river and tributaries naturally. However, some do swim into the Warm Springs Hatchery on Dry Creek. Alan Pariani, Warm Springs Hatchery Manager with California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), reported that 224 Chinook salmon entered the ladder and trap as of November 21. CDFW fisheries biologists took DNA samples from these fish and sent them to the Southwest Fisheries Science Center at the University of California, Santa Cruz. After the CDFW fisheries biologists did this, they returned the Chinook salmon to Dry Creek to spawn (Pariani 2025).
What I find the most exciting about fall-run Chinook in the Russian River is that their life cycles are relatively unassisted by hatchery operations and personnel. These fish are doing their own thing, on their own terms. We can only hope that the strong run of Chinook in 2025 is the beginning of a trend. We want to see their numbers increase to a point where Russian River Chinook are no longer threatened.
The carcass of a Russian River fall-run Chinook salmon in 2021. Image: Eric Woodruff
References
- Sea Grant California: Chinook salmon
2. Sonoma Water: Chinook salmon in the Russian River
https://www.sonomawater.org/chinook
Email and phone interviews with:
a. Alan Pariani, Warm Springs Fish Hatchery Manager, CDFW
b. Justin Smith, Senior Environmental Specialist, Sonoma Water
c. Stuart Tiffen, Public Information Officer, Sonoma Water