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Monday February 24, 2025

Los Angeles Times

For the first time in more than 80 years, Chinook salmon are swimming in the North Yuba River in Northern California thanks to an innovative wildlife program.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, along with federal and local agencies, launched a pilot program to reintroduce Chinook salmon into their historic spawning grounds in the North Yuba River in Plumas County. This stretch of cool water, according to the state, is considered some of the highest quality and most climate-resilient in California.

But Chinook salmon disappeared from the waterway after the construction of the Englebright Dam prevented fish from swimming upstream.

In October, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife constructed a series of nests along the 12-mile stretch of gravel riverbed and then filled them with fertilized Chinook salmon eggs from a nearby hatchery. Four months later, these salmon eggs have begun to hatch and the first young salmon were observed Feb. 11, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

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