Bring 'em Home! The Reintroduction of Salmon in the Central Valley - Livestream

Salmon is a keystone species, iconic for its importance as nourishing food, inextricable connection to human culture from native peoples to current times, an economic driver, and a critical food source for the marine species including some of the cetaceans we aim to protect and conserve. Please join us to hear from Jon Ambrose, salmonid biologist for NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) Central Valley Office (CVO) in Sacramento, California, on the efforts to save the species. Jon will share from the front lines some of the ongoing reintroduction efforts as essential actions to conserve and recover these iconic species.

Reintroduction of imperiled species to historical habitats is a frequently used conservation tool for many terrestrial and avian species, however, it is less commonly used for at-risk fish species (including anadromous salmonids during their freshwater life stages).  NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service has determined reintroduction of California’s Central Valley salmonids to historical habitats is an essential action to conserve and recover these iconic species. In the Central Valley, most rivers feature high-head dams just upstream of the valley floor. Every one of these dams lacks fish passage facilities, thus preventing salmon and steelhead from accessing their historical spawning, holding, and rearing habitats found at higher elevations in the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade mountain ranges.  The consequence of this loss of access to high-quality habitats is that the overall viability of steelhead, winter-run Chinook salmon, and spring-run Chinook salmon in the Central Valley has been compromised and these species are now listed under the Endangered Species Act. 

In the Pacific Northwest, unlike California, reintroduction upstream of high-head dams is an ongoing fisheries management practice. The benefits are many, and if successful these efforts will provide a hedge against a warming climate and contribute to an overall expansion in salmonid populations. 

In his presentation, Mr. Ambrose will describe some of the ongoing reintroduction efforts and the challenges in California’s Central Valley.  He will conclude with an overview of exciting progress in the reintroduction of highly endangered winter-run Chinook salmon to the McCloud River (upstream of Shasta Dam) in 2022.

Register at weblink to receive connection information

Speaker: Jon Ambrose, NOAA Marine Fisheries Service