News Room

California’s severe climate-driven drought is having a significant impact on the state’s water supply, but it’s also putting the state’s salmon population at serious risk. Managing California’s water needs during this water supply crisis means minimizing the impacts of drought and water management on the environment while meeting the health and safety needs of communities and supporting the economy and agriculture. DWR and CDFW are actively working to respond to drought and climate change impacts on native species and ecosystems.

State and federal biologists have begun moving endangered adult winter-run Chinook salmon to the upper reaches of Battle Creek and threatened spring-run Chinook salmon to Clear Creek in northern California, where colder water temperatures will better support spawning and help their eggs survive the continuing drought.

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.