News Room

As California’s 2021-22 waterfowl hunting season approaches, hunters may find that wildlife areas have limited space, particularly early in the season.

Due to drought and poor water conditions at Lake Sonoma, thousands of juvenile coho salmon have been relocated from the Warm Springs Fish Hatchery in Geyserville. The fish were trucked to a conservation facility at a high school in Petaluma where they will be reared until conditions improve.

CDFW and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries announced a Voluntary Drought Initiative today designed to protect populations of salmon, steelhead, and sturgeon from the effects of the current unprecedented drought.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is asking recreational anglers to voluntarily change how, when and where they fish to minimize stress and mortality among fish populations suffering from drought conditions.

Due to drought and poor water conditions in the Klamath River, CDFW successfully relocated 1.1 million juvenile, fall-run Chinook salmon from its Iron Gate Fish Hatchery in Siskiyou County. The fish were trucked to a nearby satellite facility and to the Trinity River Hatchery 122 miles away where the fish will remain until conditions in the Klamath River improve.