U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Chinook salmon like this one could return to uppper Mokelumne under restoration plan.

When the Forty-Niners arrived in the Sierra foothills, they found rivers and creeks full of gold. The rivers were rich in another resource, too — Chinook salmon and steelhead trout, which spawned in the streams after spending most of their adult lives at sea.

The construction of the big “rim dams” in the lower foothills in the early 20th century, including Pardee Dam on the Mokelumne River, blocked the return of these amazing “anadromous” fish to their prime spawning habitat in the rivers upstream. As a result, Central Valley spring-run Chinook salmon and Central Valley steelhead have not been seen in the Mokelumne River’s North Fork or upper main stem since the construction of Pardee some 80 years ago. But if the National Marine Fisheries Service has anything to say about the matter, our once-native fish may one day return to their original river home.

In October 2009 the service published the Public Draft Recovery Plan For the Evolutionarily Significant Units of Sacramento River Winter-Run Chinook Salmon and Central Valley Spring-Run Chinook Salmon and the Distinct Population Segment of Central Valley Steelhead. The report is packed with facts and recommendations regarding how to restore the three species on nearly all of the streams that feed the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, including the Mokelumne. The report calls for studies of fish passage around Camanche and Pardee dams and the reintroduction of spring-run Chinook salmon and steelhead to the Mokelumne River’s North Fork and upper main stem. It also calls for the reintroduction of both species to Dry Creek and the upper Calaveras River. The reintroductions are considered critical to survival of these fish, whose populations have plummeted in modern times.

Who would do the studies, who would pay for them, and when they would happen is not clear. But the prospect of restoring salmon and steelhead to our local rivers and creeks is a most exciting one. We hope to partner with the service and others to make it happen.

Perhaps once again Amador and Calaveras County’s rivers and creeks will teem with the flashing fish that are a fundamental element of our area’s natural heritage. We’ll keep you posted!