Adult winter-run Chinook salmon have been spotted in the McCloud River for the first time in almost 100 years!
On July 15, CDFW confirmed reports of adult salmon near Ash Camp and saw an adult female Chinook salmon exhibiting spawning behavior guarding her nest (also known as a redd, seen in the video). Multiple smaller males – known as jacks – were seen nearby competing for position near the redd.
The salmon likely originated with efforts started in 2022 by CDFW, the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, NOAA Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to return the endangered species to its historic habitat above Shasta Dam by incubating winter-run Chinook salmon eggs in the cool, clean waters of the McCloud. Many of the resulting juvenile salmon are caught at downstream collection facilities each year and transported to the Sacramento River in Redding and released to continue their out migration to the Pacific Ocean. Others that escape the juvenile collection facilities move into Shasta Reservoir. The winter-run Chinook recently observed in the McCloud River likely spent a year or more in Shasta Reservoir before returning to the McCloud River.
In other encouraging news, adult winter-run Chinook salmon have also been observed nearby in the North Fork of Battle Creek swimming past Eagle Canyon Dam. This is the first time this has happened since fish passage facilities were constructed as part of the Battle Creek Restoration Project.
Adult salmon returning and spawning in the cool waters of their historic habitat off the increasingly hot Sacramento Valley floor is seen as critical to the recovery of winter-run Chinook salmon and is a major goal and accomplishment of the California Salmon Strategy for a Hotter, Drier Future.
