Salmon resurgence in Butte County-"last best run of wild salmon in California" SFGate

Hats off to Allen (old neighbor and friend) for the tireless work he has done to save our local salmon runs!


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/25/MNTT10MAQ8.DTL&tsp=1

Salmon resurgence in Butte County
Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, May 25, 2008



(05-25) 04:00 PDT Butte Creek, --

..snip
"This is the last best run of wild salmon in California," said Allen Harthorn, 56, the executive director of Friends of Butte Creek, who has been fighting for more than a decade to save the historic - and once sacred - spring run of chinook in this untamed tributary of the Sacramento River.

The fast-flowing creek now holds the largest population of wild spring-run chinook, or king salmon, in the Sacramento River system.
"It's the only place that gives me hope," Harthorn said from an observation deck he built on a cliff-side five years ago.

It was clear from Harthorn's deck as the morning sun peaked over the volcanic cliffs surrounding Butte Creek Canyon that, despite the almost complete collapse of the salmon fishery in California, there are still healthy salmon where there is healthy habitat.
..

But the most dramatic resurgence occurred over the past 10 years, when an average of almost 10,000 salmon a year swam back up the creek, according to Harthorn, who co-founded Friends of Butte Creek in 1999 after years battling farming interests and Pacific Gas and Electric over its DeSabla-Centerville plant.

It is a minor miracle that there are any salmon at all wriggling their way up Butte Creek, given that only 14 fish returned to spawn in 1987.
The dismal return outraged environmentalists and prompted a desperate effort to save the fish. About $30 million was spent by the state on a variety of projects over the years, including the removal of six small dams, the building of fish ladders and the insertion of numerous screens to keep salmon out of water diversion pipes.
..snip



Allen's excellent website with photos, charts and timeline of restoration efforts.
http://www.buttecreek.org/