Tag: Coho salmon
-
A salmon success story during the California drought
Looking back on 2014, it’s hard not to feel despair for California salmon. With drought-stricken rivers running dangerously warm and slow for spring migration, the government was giving millions of young hatchery salmon a lift to the Pacific by truck and barge. Come August, several streams in the Central Valley were drying up. Native fish…
-
Yurok stewardship of Klamath’s Blue Creek bodes well for fish
By Peter Moyle Last summer I had the privilege of camping overnight with members of the Yurok Tribe and Western Rivers Conservancy on Blue Creek, one of California’s loveliest streams and an important cold-water refuge for migrating salmon and steelhead. The creek tumbles down the misty Siskiyou Mountains not far from Redwood National Park. I…
-
When Good Fish Make Bad Decisions
Carson Jeffres, Staff Research Associate, Center for Watershed Sciences Restoration of degraded habitat is generally considered to be a no-brainer. But, what if by “restoring” the habitat, you inadvertently create a habitat that causes either the target species or other important non-target species to spiral towards extinction—that is, a place that looks good on the…
-
Coho in Crisis, Part 2: Saving coho, saving salmon, restoring streams
By Peter Moyle In my last blog, I provided evidence that coho salmon were headed for extinction in California. Here I discuss why and what we can do about it. The over-riding cause of coho decline is 150 years of land abuse in fragile coastal watersheds. This abuse is from logging, farming, grazing, mining, urbanization,…
-
Coho in Crisis, Part 1: The decline toward extinction in California
By Peter Moyle In case you hadn’t noticed, one of California’s most spectacular fish is leaving us. The coho salmon, silvery favorites of fishermen and essential components of our coastal rainforest ecosystems, are headed for extinction in the state. This projection was made abundantly clear, at least to me, in a recent (August 16) State…
-
Benefits of growing up in a spring stream
Juvenile coho salmon feeding on invertebrates drifting in the water column. The material floating down also consists of plant material that invertebrates use as a food resource. Video by Carson Jeffres By Carson Jeffres and Jeffrey Mount When ecologists talk about improving habitat for native fishes, they often focus on enhancing food webs…