Tag: Putah Creek
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Three Generations of Stewardship: Exploring the Legacy of Environmental Protection on Putah Creek
By Petrea Moyle Marchand . . . This is a cross-post from a blog featured on Consero Solutions. After the indefinite cancellation of school at the start of the Covid-19 quarantine, my Dad, Peter Moyle, offered to teach my kids about Putah Creek. A fish biologist and University of California, Davis professor who started studying the…
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Build it, and they will come: Early evidence for establishment of Chinook salmon in Putah Creek, CA
By Lauren G. Hitt, Malte Willmes, Mackenzie C. Miner, Max Stevenson, Carson A. Jeffres, Robert A. Lusardi, Nann A. Fangue, and Andrew L. Rypel For the third year in a row, regulators have canceled California’s commercial Chinook salmon fishing season.Poor spawning salmon returns in 2024 and low predicted numbers of salmon in the ocean during 2025…
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Schooling Fish: Behind the Scenes of Putah Creek Fish Sampling
By Christine A. Parisek, Peter B. Moyle, Joshua Porter, and Andrew L. Rypel It’s a curious thing, teaching a classroom of future fish conservationists about revitalizing degraded ecosystems. Putah Creek was an unconventional place to teach ecology. After the creek turned bad, it stayed that way for decades – deteriorated habitat, nonexistent flow, garbage, rusted cars,…
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Putah Creek’s rebirth: a model for reconciling other degraded streams?
By Emily Jacinto, Nann A. Fangue, Dennis E. Cocherell, Joseph D. Kiernan, Peter B. Moyle, and Andrew L. Rypel It’s hard to look at native fishes in Putah Creek and not grin a little. Be it a Sacamento Pikeminnow (below), a Sacramento Sucker, a Tule Perch, or even a Chinook Salmon – Putah Creek has…
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Being patient and persistent with nature
By Andrew L. Rypel In the coming weeks, fall-run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) will appear in Putah Creek again to spawn. The fact that any salmon spawn in Putah Creek is a small miracle, and testimony to the resilience of salmon and a small army of people that worked tirelessly to restore and care for…
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The Putah Creek Fish Kill: Learning from a Local Disaster
By Alex Rabidoux, Max Stevenson, Peter B. Moyle, Mackenzie C. Miner, Lauren G. Hitt, Dennis E. Cocherell, Nann A. Fangue, and Andrew L. Rypel Putah Creek is a small stream located in the Central Valley that has been extensively modified to suit urban and agricultural water needs. Following ratification of the Putah Creek Accord in…
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New insights into Putah Creek salmon
by Malte Willmes, Anna Steel, Levi Lewis, Peter B. Moyle, and Andrew L. Rypel It’s November 2016, and we’re out in canoes on Putah Creek as part of the annual salmon survey. Just as we navigate our watercraft through a narrow river section using push poles, thorny blackberry bushes and trees begin to close in…
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Habitat Restoration for Chinook Salmon in Putah Creek: A Success Story
by Eric Chapman, Emily Jacinto, and Peter Moyle 2017 was another good year for Chinook salmon in Putah Creek. Putah Creek is just a small stream flowing through Yolo and Solano counties, fed by releases of water from Lake Berryessa. For decades, Chinook salmon were rare in the creek. Yet, now, with salmon populations struggling…
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Salmon finding a home in my backyard – Could it be?
By Peter Moyle The sound of splashing drew me to the stream. A dark finned back cut the surface. Salmon? The fish came into view and its snout was a giveaway, maroon-hued and curved like a hook. This was a spawning male Chinook salmon. It alternated between chasing another hooknose and two jacks, small males…