17 November 04

The Salmon Return

Yesterday morning there was a sighting of chinook salmon in Putah Creek by the Putah Creek Diversion Dam, just east of Lake Solano. This was just three days after a pulse of water from the recent rains opened up the quite circuitous connection between the creek and the waters leading to the ocean.

After Putah Creek was dammed in 1957, salmon weren’t seen in its waters until 1995, and in 1998 observers saw 5 salmon spawning there. And last year there were probably about 70 to 80 spawning salmon.

I’ve never seen any of the salmon in the creek, but clearly now is the time to go look. After all, the creek is about a three minute walk from here.

Posted by at 06:44 PM in Nature and Place | Link |

  1. What caused the salmon to start coming back in ‘95? Is that when the new route was opened?



    — Jarrett    17. November 2004, 20:17    Link
  2. Ah. I drove past Lagunitas Creek last weekend – home of the healthiest run of coho south of the Klamath – but it was dark and I was tired, and I didn’t stop to see if they were running.

    Chinook three minutes from your porch seems luxurious.

    — Chris Clarke    18. November 2004, 05:40    Link
  3. By 1990 most of Putah Creek’s water was being diverted and the creek was very dry, but action by local environmentalists led to more water being released, culminating in an agreement being reached in May of 2000 guaranteeing permanent environmental flows below the diversion dam.

    — Numenius    18. November 2004, 17:07    Link

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