March 9, 2018 — During the worst of California’s five-year drought, thousands of eggs and newly spawned salmon baked to death along a short stretch of the Sacramento River below Shasta Dam.
The winter-run Chinook, already hanging by a thread, nearly went extinct.
Hoping to avoid a repeat of that dire scenario, fisheries officials announced Thursday the launch of a plan — nearly 20 years and $100 million in the making — they say would expand the spawning range of the fish to include a cold-water stream called Battle Creek. The idea is that the stream could keep the fragile winter-run alive as California’s rivers get hotter because of a warming climate.
The stakes are high and go well beyond the fate of the fish. Concerns about this run of salmon have a major impact on how water is distributed to farms and cities across California.
During the drought, for example, farmers experienced cuts to their water supply as dam managers held water in Shasta, the state’s largest reservoir, in a frantic effort to ward off extinction of the Chinook.
Read the full story at the Sacramento Bee