LA GRANGE – In an exciting and unexpected conservation success, 1,200 adult spring-run Chinook salmon—originally released as part of the San Joaquin River Restoration Program—made their way to the Tuolumne River, where they’ve found abundant habitat and cold, clean water in which to spend the summer prior to spawning in the fall.
This remarkable development represents an important milestone for the San Joaquin River Restoration Program and highlights the positive impact of the Tuolumne River Partners (Turlock and Modesto Irrigation Districts and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission) longstanding stewardship and science-based management of the Tuolumne River.
These spring-run Chinook salmon, part of a long-term experimental reintroduction effort on the San Joaquin River, were drawn to the Tuolumne due to its robust spring pulse flows, favorable temperature conditions, and higher water volumes—conditions created under the Tuolumne River Partners’ annual operations to support fall-run Chinook…