Winter-Run Critical Habitat Conundrum
Just when you think you’ve got a species figured out, sometimes they show up where they’re “not supposed to be” and make you reconsider. This recently happened Read More…
Sacramento River
An Underwhelming 2016 Salmon Season
Every year, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) publishes a report on the previous year’s salmon fisheries along the West Coast. The report details escapement, or the Read More…
Reducing Entrainment Risk for Juvenile Green Sturgeon
Water diversions make outmigration a risky business for juvenile green sturgeon in the Sacramento River, but new research points to solutions for reducing this threat. In a Read More…
New innovations from old engineering
In drought years, there is often little concern for flood control or California's levee system that was designed a century ago, but wildlife and fisheries biologists have Read More…
Seeing what lies below
Counting migratory fish, studying fish behavior, and visually assessing aquatic habitat can typically only occur in environments with clear and shallow water. In more turbid streams such Read More…
Levee history
The Sacramento Valley as we know it today is actually an artificial creation, sustained by an intricate system of levees. The construction of levees has enabled engineers Read More…
Hungry, hungry salmon?
We recently conducted a pilot-level study to investigate the diet of Chinook salmon parr and smolts on the Lower Sacramento River — and the number of prey Read More…
Pulled into pipes: Green sturgeon and entrainment risk
Living in the Sacramento River can be a risky business for juvenile green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris). The young fish must swim through a gantlet of water diversion Read More…
Holding on to individuality
The two large salmon-bearing watersheds in California, the Klamath-Trinity and the Sacramento-San Joaquin basins, drive the production of the recreational, commercial, and tribal harvest of Chinook salmon Read More…
Ferried across
Jelly’s Ferry, Ball’s Ferry, Ord Ferry, Lea’s Ferry, Knight’s Ferry — all are familiar place-names to most residents in California’s Central Valley. These well-known local landmarks represent Read More…