Meet Butte Creek: California's Secret Stronghold 

A century ago, California's Central Valley may have seen spring Chinook runs as large as 700,000 fish. Today, good years rarely top 30,000. Almost all of these wild springers are headed to Butte Creek, a slender tributary high up in the Sierra Nevadas. “Butte Creek spring Chinook are the whole reason why Sacramento springers aren’t yet considered fully endangered,” says Wild Salmon Center Senior Manager John Kober. Losing the last, best spring Chinook run in the Central Valley isn't an option. So, with a team of partners, we're getting to work.

Watch on Video: A Klamath River Stretch Flows Free for the First Time in a Century

On January 23, workers blew a 6-foot hole in the bottom of the Klamath River's Copco 1 Dam: the latest step in removing the second of four dams on this key Northern California river. The blast released a pulse of water, logs, and sediment into the drained reservoir below—captured on video by Wild Salmon Center's Dr. Tim Elder. Once all four dams are out, salmon will be able to access over 400 miles of historic habitat: a game changer for this key wild fish system. Watch on Instagram as a stretch of the Klamath flows free for the first time in a century.

Thanks to You, We Spoke Up Loud and Clear for Alaska Public Lands

In the last 60 days, over 100,000 Americans joined more than half of Alaska Native Tribes and hundreds of businesses to urge the Biden Administration to keep 28 million public acres from being opened to mining and oil and gas development (see press release). It's a huge groundswell of support for a potentially historic conservation win. Thanks to you, the U.S. government heard our message: keep protections for America's largest remaining intact ecosystems, from high alpine tundra to the pristine estuaries and wetlands of Bristol Bay. Next, the Secretary of the Interior will review public comments, with a final decision expected this summer.

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The mission of the Wild Salmon Center is to promote the conservation and sustainable use of wild salmon ecosystems across the Pacific Rim.

Photo credits (from top): spring Chinook holding in Butte Creek, California Central Valley (John Sherman/@johngsherman); pre-blast preparation in the drained reservoir below the Klamath River's Copco 1 dam (Shane Anderson @Swiftwater Films); Bristol Bay rainbow trout (Dave McCoy @davemccoyewa); Bristol Bay watershed (Cassie Bergman @cassiebergman.zip).

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