Monday November 15, 2021
The Press Democrat —
Chinook salmon are back, baby!
After a rush of cold-running water brought by the atmospheric river in late October, Sonoma Creek, along with other streams across the Bay Area, saw a surge in flow giving Chinook, or king salmon, the perfect conditions to make their way upstream from the Pacific.
The adult fish are now making their way from San Pablo Bay, swimming up Sonoma Creek to prepare their nests and spawn a new generation of offspring in the water that gushes down from Sugarloaf Ridge State Park high above Sonoma Valley.
They are travelers on a long and tenuous journey to spawn and die in the rivers and creeks where they were born ― all so their young can return back to the ocean and begin the cycle again.
A threatened species, the Chinook are fighting to hang on in Northern California and across the Pacific Northwest amid intense weather swings and worsening climate conditions, including severe drought.