Salmonid/Wildlife Impacts – California River Watch

The project area for the Carmel River restoration project as seen from the air. (Courtesy Big Sur Land Trust)

Funding Will Help Communities Implement Groundwater Recharge, Flood Management, Water Conservation and Water Supply Reliability Projects May 17, 2023 “California’s changing climate presents unique challenges to our regions across the state,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “These projects meet multiple needs including constructing new water infrastructure, improving water quality, protecting wildlife and preparing for a […]

Brian Nguyen 1 , Dominique Claveau-Mallet 1 , Laura M Hernandez 1 , Elvis Genbo Xu 1 , Jeffrey M Farner 1 , Nathalie Tufenkji 1 March 29, 2023 Abstract The vast amount of plastic waste emitted into the environment and the increasing concern of potential harm to wildlife has made microplastic and nanoplastic pollution a growing environmental concern. Plastic pollution has the potential to cause both physical and chemical harm […]

An annual report highlights 10 waterways that have arrived at forks: where public support could determine whether they receive protection. By: EosApril 20, 2023By Saima May Sidik America’s waterways need help. Threats such as industrial pollution, poorly planned development, and climate change are widespread. In some cases, help could be imminent—but only with support from the public […]

A very large salmon caught during a research cruise

California’s commercial and recreational salmon season was officially canceled late Thursday — and Gov. Newsom quickly announced he’s seeking a federal fishery disaster declaration to ease the pain for fishing communities.

As CalMatters’ Alastair Bland reported last month, California’s commercial and recreational fishing fleet landed about 300,000 salmon last year. But crashing populations are forcing this drastic move by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, something that hasn’t been done since 2009. The closure is expected to take effect in mid-May. And on May 17, […]

Officials vow to push for speedy action to support a salmon fishing industry facing full season closure. MARY CALLAHANTHE PRESS DEMOCRATApril 7, 2023, 11:54AM State and federal officials are vowing to move quickly to secure disaster aid for Californians affected by the closure of this year’s commercial and recreational salmon season, which could have an […]

US-101, Klamath, CA 95548, USA, United States

At last year’s COP26 in Scotland, the United States and more than 140 other countries made an ambitious commitment to reverse global deforestation by 2030 to help combat climate change. President Joe Biden declared that the United States would “lead by our example at home” to conserve and restore forest carbon sinks.

At this year’s COP27 global climate summit in Egypt, Biden takes the world stage as U.S. forest-management agencies are failing to live up to his promise. They’re logging carbon-rich, mature and old-growth trees and forests on federally owned lands undercutting […]

PALO ALTO – In a deep muddy creek near Silicon Valley’s busiest freeway, a large furry head pokes up. And then quickly submerges.

The brief sighting, along with a growing collection of video footage, confirms something remarkable:

Ducks swimming on algae bloom at Spring Lake in Santa Rosa, CA

Questions swirl as carcasses rot at Lake Merritt and beyond. We talked to experts and explored 100 years of local fish-kills. by Natalie Orenstein and Darwin BondGrahamSeptember 2, 2022 Scientists are hard at work trying to home in on the cause—or likely causes—of the algae bloom that’s led to mass death for marine life. Credit: Amir Aziz “Mystery epidemic kills […]

Exciting news! Rangers Josh Crosbie and Keith Gray recently observed a beaver dam at Maxwell Farms Regional Park. Beavers are important “ecosystem engineers” that help create habitat for other species. Beavers are also a “keystone species,” which means they have a disproportionately positive influence on the species and environment around them. Beavers help sequester carbon […]

Wildlife officials and ecologists say urgent and drastic measures are needed to eradicate mice, a threat to island’s endemic speciesMaanvi Singh in San FranciscoFri 17 Dec 2021 A plan to eradicate a “plague-level infestation” of invasive mice on California’s Farallon Islands by dropping poisoned bait from helicopters has been approved by state officials. After hours of impassioned […]

A controversial plan to poison rodents on the Farallon Islands is coming up for a key vote after years of debate. The federal government proposes to airdrop poison pellets on the islands to kill tens of thousands of invasive house mice that have wreaked havoc on seabirds and the local ecosystem. The islands are a wildlife refuge with the largest seabird breeding colony in the contiguous United States. In a twist, the plan has […]

Blooms of harmful algae, like this "red tide" off the coast of Texas, can cause illness and death in humans and animals.

NOAA is announcing $15.2M in funding for harmful algal bloom (HAB) research projects throughout U.S. coastal and Great Lakes waters. HABs can produce toxins or cause other harmful effects that can damage ecosystems, disrupt our seafood supply, impact economies, and threaten human health. Marine and fresh waters of the United States are increasingly impacted by […]

The animals, confined at the Point Reyes National Seashore to keep them away from cattle ranches, couldn't reach water, the lawsuit contends.

By Mary Papenfuss06/25/2021 The tule elk, endemic to California, died over the last two years, confined inside an eight-foot fence to a 2,200-acre portion of the 71,000-acre public seashore. The elk are fenced to stop them from competing for forage with commercial beef and dairy operations allowed on the public land. The elk are dying […]

Theresa Harlan, whose Costal Miwok ancestors lived in the seashore, speaks to protesters at a rally about a rally about an expected decision by the Department of the Interior concerning cattle ranching and the management of the Tule Elk in the park lands outside the Point Reyes National Seashore Visitor Center in Point Reyes Station on Sept. 12, 2021. The group wants an end of cattle ranching in the park and the expansion of the lands for the Tule Elk. (Douglas Zimmerman/Special to the Marin Independent Journal)

Will Houston | whouston@marinij.comSeptember 13, 2021 Fifty-nine years to the date since President John F. Kennedy signed the legislation establishing the Point Reyes National Seashore, the Biden administration approved a controversial plan on Monday to allow the park to kill some of its tule elk and to extend how long commercial cattle ranchers can rent […]

THE MOTHER OF ALL GROUPS August 24, 2021, 11:03AM The misguided proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to scatter a ton-and-a-half of cereal bait laced with the deadly Brodifacoum anticoagulant blood thinner from helicopters, right in the midst of our Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, is unfortunately not dead yet. This controversial […]

Olivia Rosane Aug. 25, 2021 Extreme heat waves have made this a devastating summer for the endangered salmon species of the U.S. West Coast. In mid July, California wildlife officials warned that almost all of the young Chinook salmon in the Sacramento River would likely die because of lower water levels and higher water temperatures. Weeks later, a conservation group further north shared disturbing footage of […]

Warming temperatures threaten an entire run of Chinook salmon, which California officials blame on drought, climate change and a Trump-era water policy. SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — Facing another summer of catastrophic fish kills, California lawmakers and fisheries managers on Tuesday blamed a Trump-era water policy and climate change for the sizzling water temperatures threatening to erase an entire run of Chinook salmon. “We’re witnessing the collapse of this iconic species right in front of our eyes,” said state Senator Mike McGuire, a Democrat from Santa Rosa. […]

Two of over 12,000 spring Chinook salmon that died in Butte Creek before spawning. Photo by Allen Harthorn, Friends of Butte Creek.

By: SN&R Staff August 5, 2021 By Dan Bacher In an extreme drought year where nearly all juvenile Sacramento River winter run Chinook salmon are expected to die before spawning due to alleged water mismanagement by the state and federal governments, the return of a record run of adult spring run Chinook salmon on Butte Creek this […]

By The Times Editorial BoardJuly 26, 2021 The news reports about the California salmon wipeout got a good chunk of the story right: Record-breaking heat waves made Northern California rivers too warm to sustain migrating chinook salmon, and virtually all of the salmon in the Sacramento River this summer have died, or will die, before reproducing. Any eggs that were […]

Endangered coho salmon spawn in Marin County's Lagunitas Watershed.

The Marin County Superior Court ruled that the county in Northern California failed to adequately protect coho salmon and their habitat in the San Geronimo Valley. Marin County originally planned to adopt a streamside conservation ordinance to preserve vegetation, maintain water quality and prevent erosion in 2007 when it last updated its countywide plan. But […]

The Biden administration is doubling down on a plan to airdrop tons of poison-laced bait on the Farallon Islands near the Golden Gate to eradicate invasive house mice that have overrun […]

Here we go again …. The Farallones “Poison Drop” is coming back before the California Coastal Commission. Richard Charter has created a new video, 1 ½ minutes, explaining the whole thing.sOn May 12, 13, or 14, 2021, the California Coastal Commission will decide whether or not to permit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to […]

BOB NORBERGTHE PRESS DEMOCRATNovember 21, 2007 The fall run of chinook salmon started slowly on the Russian River and, biologists said Tuesday, it hasn’t gotten any better. So far, 950 fish have been counted passing through the Sonoma County Water Agency’s fish ladder near Forestville, which would make this year the smallest run in the […]

Rooted in Roman law, the public trust doctrine recognizes the public right to many natural resources including “the air, running water, the sea and its shore.”

The public trust doctrine requires the sovereign, or state, to hold in trust designated resources for the benefit of the people. Traditionally, the public trust applied to commerce and fishing in navigable waters, but its uses were expanded in California in 1971 to include fish, wildlife, habitat and recreation. […]

The danger lurks in California, too Kurtis AlexanderDec. 3, 2020 Pacific Salmon | Species | WWF Rodeo Creek in Hercules is one of four Bay Area waterways where scientists found lethal levels of 6PPD-quinone, which researchers say is killing salmon. Paul Kuroda / Special to The ChronicleScientists in the Pacific Northwest say they’ve solved a […]

Take Action Tuesday @EarthFoodLife December 15, 2020 By Reynard Loki, Independent Media Institute In December 2019, at the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s annual Assembly of States Parties in the Hague, the Pacific island state of Vanuatu made an audacious proposal: Make ecocide—the destruction of nature—an international crime. “An amendment of the Rome Statute could criminalize […]

Dec. 3, 2020 Scientists in the Pacific Northwest say they’ve solved a long-running mystery behind the region’s dying salmon, a discovery that may explain what’s harming fish elsewhere around the globe, including California. In research published Thursday, a team of university and government scientists identify a toxic material derived from tire treads that is washing […]

Felta Creek The logging plan known as Fox Meadows includes critical sections of Felta Creek, known as the last refugia for Coho Salmon. This property was purchased by a land developer for investment purposes and had many previous violations with local jurisdictions. A group formed, Friends of Felta Creek, that elicited help from Forest Unlimited, […]

Enforceable transparency and analysis to replace years of failure to comply with existing water quality and flow standards. SACRAMENTO, California — Three California environmental nonprofits secured a landmark settlement agreement with the California State Water Resources Control Board to uphold the common law Public Trust Doctrine and other legal protections for imperiled fish species in […]

Brock Dolman in a salmon suit testifying to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on behalf of Totem Salmon.

I am a ghost of coho salmons past, once born and raised in Dutch Bill Creek, below Occidental. My last reported sighting there was in the 1960’s. I speak for all salmon and wildlife species not able to attend your meetings. Do you realize that as public servants and supposed stewards of the Russian River […]

Category: Salmonid/Wildlife Impacts

DWR Delivers $143.7 Million to Local Communities to Address Regional Water Supply Challenges and Build Climate Resilience State

Separation and Analysis of Microplastics and Nanoplastics in Complex Environmental Samples

10 Rivers Facing Pollution, Development, and Climate Change — And Policies That Can Help

Salmon season officially off

State, federal officials vow to take quick action on Federal Fishery Disaster Declaration for salmon fishing industry

America’s Vanishing Climate Forests:

The re-beavering of the Bay Area

Toilets? Cannabis grows? Rising temps? We looked into theories and history behind the Bay Area algae bloom

Beavers are Here!

Helicopters to drop poison on California’s Farallon Islands amid ‘plague’ of mice

Farallon Islands poison airdrop plan set for key vote

NOAA Awards $15.2M for Harmful Algal Bloom Research

U.S. Sued After 150 Fenced Tule Elk Die In California Drought

Point Reyes adopts controversial ranch, Elk Plan

Our treasured Farallon islands: Not yet safe from a crazy helicopter poisoning plan

EPA Takes Action to Protect Pacific Salmon From Pesticides

California preps for catastrophic summer salmon slaughter

Record spring salmon run on Sacramento River tributary turns into disaster as most fish die before spawning

Editorial: The California salmon wipeout is even worse than you think

Court Rules Marin County’s Protections for Endangered Coho Salmon Inadequate

Biden administration revives controversial Farallon Islands poison plan

The Farallones “Poison Drop”

Salmon: Smallest run on Russian River in 8 years

Public Trust Doctrine

New research explains why salmon are dying in the Pacific Northwest

Killing Mother Earth Must Be a Crime: The Case for Ecocide

New research explains why salmon are dying in the Pacific Northwest. The danger lurks in California, too

Tale of Two Sagas–citizens protecting rivers, critical salmon, and forest watersheds

Landmark Lawsuit Settlement Between Environmentalists and State Water Boards Strengthens Delta Protections

Sorax, The Ghost of Coho Salmon Past, Addresses The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors By Brock Dolman

Recent Posts

Links