The San Joaquin River is closed to salmon fishing to protect the depleted population and support recovery. While the San Joaquin River is again seeing spring-run Chinook salmon after the species was extirpated from its waters in the 1950s, it’s just the beginning of population recovery efforts. Nearly 450 were counted this year but biologists hope to see thousands in years to come. In 2014 CDFW started releasing juvenile spring-run Chinook into the San Joaquin River as part of the San Joaquin Ri

The San Joaquin River runs through the center of California’s Central Valley, linking the snowfields of the Sierra Nevada to the tidal waters of the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. For thousands of years, seasonal floods spread nutrient-rich sediment across wide floodplains, supporting wetlands, wildlife, and early human settlement. The river’s natural rhythm once defined the valley’s ecology, with spring snowmelt expanding wetlands and summer flows sustaining fish and riparian forests. During the

California Biodiversity Week kicked off today at Effie Yeaw Nature Center near Sacramento. More than 40 people took part in the tour. Participants were led through trails observing and identifying plants and animals and documenting them on iNaturalist. The app identifies photos of plants and animals helping to create a database of flora and fauna in the state. California is one of the most biodiverse regions in the world and is one of 36 global biodiversity hotspots — areas containing exceptiona

The Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta sits at the heart of California’s water system, where the state’s two largest rivers merge before flowing into San Francisco Bay. This low-lying maze of channels, islands, and wetlands acts as the main transfer point between northern water sources and the farms and cities of central and southern California. Nearly two-thirds of the state’s population depends, directly or indirectly, on water that passes through this delta. Geographically, the delta is extre