Monday March 10, 2025
NOAA Fisheries —
Thanks in part to NOAA’s 20-year investment in this species, Central California Coast coho salmon returned to Mendocino rivers and streams in record-breaking numbers last spawning season. Fish returning to these sites are bigger and healthier than other fish in the watershed.
NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation funds habitat restoration projects benefiting the endangered Central California Coast coho salmon and steelhead on the Mendocino Coast. In 2023, it awarded The Nature Conservancy and Trout Unlimited $14.5 million through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act for projects being implemented over the next several years.
We recently checked in with our Mendocino Coast partners to ask how their work is progressing. They report that juvenile CCC coho salmon and steelhead have moved into recently restored habitats, including one where coho have been absent for 70 years or more.