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As the annual salmon migration reaches its peak
in streams through the northern part of the state, those in
Redwood Creek, the southernmost home for returning coho salmon,
are on the verge of local extinction, officials said. About 100
juvenile salmon found trapped in the drought-lowered creek are
now being raised at a local hatchery.
“We just have to wait and see how the fish mature in the
hatchery and what the environmental conditions look like next
winter,” said Manfred Kittel, the California Department of Fish
and Wildlife’s regional coho salmon recovery coordinator. “The
plan theoretically is to put them back in the creek hoping there
is enough water to support them.”
The coho, also called silver salmon, once thrived in Redwood
Creek in Marin County and provided sustenance for both the Miwok
Indians and grizzly bears.
But a search last winter found no coho salmon eggs and there was
no sign of any baby salmon over the summer, Kittel said. The
young salmon sent to the hatchery will stay there for the next
15 months.
Each winter, 3-year-old fish swim from the ocean to their
birthplace in Muir Woods, a protected area that includes many
redwoods, along with other stream systems in the state to lay
their eggs.
Last month, the state said salmon migration in the American
River watershed near Sacramento was slower than usual amid dry
weather and warmer temperatures.
The threat to the Redwood Creek coho mirrors problems for salmon
throughout the Western United States, where their numbers have
dropped dramatically.
The Redwood Creek salmon also face the problem of the popularity
of Muir Woods National Monument, established in 1908 by
President Theodore Roosevelt. Traffic jams are common on the
small road leading to the monument.
"This is a very important signal and we can’t afford to ignore
it,” said Kristin Shannon, chair of a local watchdog group. “The
Park Service needs to follow their higher mission, which is to
protect the woods and the salmon for the next generation.”
(Reporting by Michael Fleeman in Los Angeles; Editing by Sharon
Bernstein and Peter Cooney)
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