Wednesday February 25, 2026
Trout Unlimited —
Flowing into one of Northern California’s most robust salmon rivers, the Lower Sacramento, Paynes Creek offers excellent spawning grounds for Chinook and Central Valley steelhead. But it’s also an important source of water for the people and agriculture of Tehama County. Like many small waterways in the area, it’s a stream that must balance many needs.
With that in mind, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) approached Trout Unlimited in 2016 to ask for help improving a relatively small, yet consequential agricultural diversion on the creek’s lower section. The project became a great example of how partnerships are the foundation of our work to reconnect fragmented habitat so that steelhead and salmon populations can recover and thrive.