Friday May 13, 2022
Corning Observer —
State and federal biologists have begun moving endangered adult winter-run Chinook salmon to the upper reaches of Battle Creek and threatened spring-run Chinook salmon to Clear Creek in northern California, where colder water temperatures will better support spawning and help their eggs survive the continuing drought.
Teams from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) are relocating the fish. Together, they will return about 300 adult winter-run Chinook salmon to native habitat above Eagle Canyon Dam on North Fork Battle Creek, about 20 miles east of Cottonwood, in Shasta and Tehama counties for the first time in more than 110 years.
Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), which operates hydroelectric facilities on Battle Creek, coordinated operations to make the move possible. It is one of a series of urgent actions to help the native fish survive another year of the lasting drought and high temperatures, thiamine deficiency, predators and other stressors that devastated the population the last two years in the Sacramento River below Shasta and Keswick dams.