OAI Fisheries Biologist, Hannah Mone, based out of Sacramento, CA and on contract with NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region, recently visited the McCloud River in Northern California this past July. She participated in a collaboration between state, federal, tribal, and research partners, whose efforts are underway to reintroduce the federally endangered winter-run Chinook Salmon to the McCloud River. Partners came together to place eggs in incubators, which then hatch as alevins and later make their way downriver as juveniles.

Winter-run Chinook Salmon, which thrive in cold, high-elevation waters, are blocked from large portions of their historic upstream habitats by dams. Reintroducing winter-run Chinook to their historic habitat is a crucial step toward advancing species resilience and rebuilding the stock.

Photo credit: Hannah Mone