Join PARC, the Canyon Keepers, the Auburn State Recreation Area and your river friends for the American River Cleanup and enrichment activities, at the American River Confluence on Saturday, April 12th, 2025 from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm.
This year’s Cleanup will include invasive weed removal at the Confluence and along popular Confluence trails.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has released an important progress report on the California Salmon Strategy for a Hotter, Drier Future, outlining the state’s ongoing efforts to restore and protect salmon populations across California’s waterways.
Salmon populations are facing immense challenges due to climate change, drought, habitat loss, and human-made disruptions. Healthy salmon runs are vital not only for California’s ecosystems but also for the fishing industry, recreational economies, and the cultural traditions of Native American tribes. The 2024 Salmon Strategy laid out a bold plan to restore and rebuild salmon populations, and this latest progress report highlights the measurable steps being taken to achieve these goals.
The report provides an update on 71 action items designed to improve salmon migration, enhance spawning and hatchery operations, expand habitat restoration, and secure reliable water flows. Encouragingly:
This demonstrates a strong commitment by state agencies, tribal partners, and environmental groups to ensuring salmon populations remain resilient for generations to come.
Several major milestones have been reached over the past year, making significant strides in salmon recovery:
“California salmon are vital to our environment, economy, and heritage,” said California Natural Resources Agency Secretary Wade Crowfoot. “While we’ve made significant progress, there is still much work ahead to secure thriving salmon populations.”
The commitment to restoring salmon runs remains stronger than ever. With continued collaboration, investment, and scientific innovation, California is proving that a hotter, drier future does not have to mean a future without salmon.
Get Involved!
Protecting salmon requires community action and advocacy. Whether it’s supporting local restoration projects, engaging in conservation efforts, or staying informed, every effort helps ensure that salmon populations continue to recover and thrive.
Together, we can ensure a future where salmon remain a vital part of California’s waterways.
Nutria are rodents native to South America, but they are causing a headache for crews in California.
The group’s co-founders believe the problem stems from needle exchange programs that are giving away needles instead of requiring an exchange.
A volunteer organization is alerting people about the massive amount of needles they’re finding in and along Sacramento waterways.
The River City Waterway Alliance showed ABC10 a photo of more than 19,000 needles they’ve removed in the past two years.
California officials are debating whether to cancel the salmon fishing season for the third year in a row amid a concerningly low Chinook salmon population in the Sacramento Valley.
In the Sacramento Valley, an innovative collaboration between rice farmers and environmental scientists is transforming post-harvest rice fields into vital habitats for juvenile salmon. By intentionally flooding these fields during the off-season, they mimic natural floodplains, fostering the growth of nutrient-rich organisms essential for young salmon.
This approach, exemplified by initiatives like the Nigiri Project, involves submerging harvested rice fields to create a nurturing environment for juvenile salmon. Studies have shown that salmon reared in these managed floodplains exhibit accelerated growth rates compared to those in the river’s main channels.
The success of these projects highlights the potential of integrating agricultural practices with ecological restoration efforts. By leveraging existing farmland infrastructure, stakeholders aim to enhance salmon habitats without significantly disrupting rice production. This symbiotic relationship not only supports the recovery of endangered fish species but also contributes to the overall health of the riverine ecosystem.
As these collaborative efforts continue to evolve, they offer a scalable model for reconciling agricultural land use with wildlife conservation, providing hope for the revitalization of salmon runs in California’s waterways.
Guided Tour of the Nimbus Fish Hatchery, 11 a.m., Nimbus Fish Hatchery Visitor Center, 2001 Nimbus Road, Gold River (95670).
Join CDFW for a free, family-friendly guided tour to explore the Nimbus Fish Hatchery and neighboring American River on the second Saturday of each month!
Learn about the amazing life cycle of salmon and steelhead, walk along the American River and discuss hatchery operations.
Participants may see fish and other wildlife, such as migratory birds, signs of mammal activity and cool insects.
Tours are cancelled in heavy rain and the maximum group size is 25 people (first-come, first-served). The tour is ADA accessible and suitable for all ages.
For more information, call (916) 358-2884 or email molly.shea@wildlife.ca.gov.
In February 2025, Folsom unveiled an interactive scale model as part of its River District Master Plan, aiming to enhance public engagement and awareness. This model, measuring approximately 7 feet tall, 6 feet long, and 2.5 feet wide, was designed to familiarize residents with the development plans along the over six-mile stretch of the American River and Lake Natoma.
The River District Master Plan focuses on several key objectives: increasing public access to the river and lake, expanding recreational opportunities, fostering economic development, ensuring high-quality design, preserving Folsom’s heritage, protecting environmental, cultural, and historical resources, recognizing city gateway opportunities, and integrating both old and new areas of the city.
Rob Ross, a 20-year Folsom resident and member of the River District Organizing Committee, emphasized the importance of enhancing river access and enjoyment for the community. The portable model, equipped with lights and screens, serves as a tool to inform and involve residents in the city’s development plans, ensuring that Folsom maintains its small-town charm amidst growth.
This initiative reflects Folsom’s commitment to thoughtful urban planning and community involvement, aiming to balance development with the preservation of natural and cultural assets.
SACRAMENTO — A local nonprofit helped remove tens of thousands of pounds of trash from the Riverdale area along the American River.
A small army of volunteers rolled out into the area on a mission to make the area beautiful again after storms flooded out homeless encampments there weeks ago.
Mark Baker and volunteers with the River City Waterway Alliance cleared out 36,000 pounds of trash along with the help of folks like Randy Smith.
More >> https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/local-nonprofit-cleans-up-36000-pounds-of-trash-along-american-river/
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has become aware of a population of invasive nutria (Myocastor coypus) reproducing within the San Joaquin Valley. Given the severity of potential impacts and the impacts realized in other infested states, CDFW believes early intervention actions could be successful in eradicating nutria from the area and is asking the public’s help in looking for and reporting nutria sightings in order to determine the extent of the infestation.
To date, nutria have been found in wetlands, rivers, canals and other freshwater habitat in Merced, Fresno and Stanislaus counties. If allowed to establish, nutria will severely impact California’s resources, causing the loss of wetlands, severe soil erosion, damage to agricultural crops and levees and reduced stability of banks, dikes and roadbeds, as they have done in Louisiana, Chesapeake Bay and the Pacific Northwest. Nutria also degrade water quality and contaminate drinking supplies with parasites and diseases transmissible to humans, livestock and pets.
Native to South America, nutria are large, semi-aquatic rodents that reach up to 2.5 feet in body length, 12-inch tail length and 20 pounds in weight. Nutria strongly resemble native beaver and muskrat, but are distinguished by their round, sparsely haired tails and white whiskers (see CDFW’s Nutria Identification Guide). Both nutria and muskrat often have white muzzles, but muskrats have dark whiskers, nearly triangular (laterally compressed) tails and reach a maximum size of five pounds. Beavers have wide, flattened tails and dark whiskers and reach up to 60 pounds.
Female nutria are reproductive by six months of age, breed year-round, and can produce three litters in 13 months. Within approximately one year of reaching reproductive maturity, one female nutria can result in more than 200 offspring, which can disperse as far as 50 miles.
Nutria are destructive, wasteful feeders that destroy up to 10 times the vegetation they consume. Signs of presence typically include cut, emergent vegetation (e.g. cattails and bulrushes), with only the base portions eaten and the stems left floating. Nutria construct burrows with entrances typically below the water line, though changing water levels may reveal openings. Similar to other aquatic mammals, nutria often create runs, or paths in and out of the water or between aquatic sites. Nutria tracks have four visible front toes and, on their hind feet, webbing between four of five toes. Tracks are often accompanied by narrow tail drags.
Since March 30, 2017, more than 20 nutria, including males, pregnant females and juveniles, have been documented within private wetlands near Gustine, duck clubs, the Merced River near Cressey, adjacent to the San Joaquin River near Grayson, south of Dos Palos, the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, and Salt Slough on the San Joaquin River. The full extent of the infestation is not yet known.
A multiagency Nutria Response Team, which includes representatives from CDFW, the California Departments of Food and Agriculture, Parks and Recreation, and Water Resources, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and local county agricultural commissioner offices, has convened with the goal of eradicating nutria from the state. The response team is currently preparing an eradication plan, the first stage of which is determining the full extent of the infestation. Assistance from local landowners and the public throughout the Central Valley, Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and beyond is critical to successfully delineating the population.
Suspected observations or potential signs of nutria should be photographed and immediately reported to CDFW’s Invasive Species Program online, by e-mail to invasives@wildlife.ca.gov, or by phone at (866) 440-9530. Observations on state or federal lands should be immediately reported to local agency staff at that land. CDFW has a nutria webpage and a downloadable PDF with photos and detailed descriptions of these rodents, their preferred habitat and the environmental threats they present.