Flying fish

A rare Chinook salmon species in California has been given a chance to survive drought conditions thanks to a helicopter airlift, as Julia Hollister reports.

An innovative programme to save endangered, winter-run Chinook salmon to the McCloud River in northern California sees fish eggs making the journey by first class helicopter.

“This pilot project was initiated in July 2022 in partnership with the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, NOAA Fisheries, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and California Department of Fish and Wildlife,” says Kaitlin Dunham, Livingston Stone National Fish Hatchery Manager.

“Eggs were taken from this fish hatchery and incubated in the McCloud River. The baby salmon were released to grow naturally in the river and were later caught and transported to the Sacramento River below Shasta Reservoir so the fish could resume their journey to the Pacific Ocean.”

Helicopter, McCloud River

The hatchery is the only one in the world that raises listed winter-run Chinook salmon, which is federally listed as an endangered species. It is also the site of one of two captive broodstock programmes for threatened delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus) in the state of California.

Livingston Stone National Fish Hatchery, a substation of Coleman National Fish Hatchery, was constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation in late 1997. It is one of the newest hatcheries in the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Fish Hatchery System.

The facility was constructed for the purpose of propagating endangered Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon (SRWCS) to assist in the recovery efforts for this species.

Found only in the Sacramento River, the SRWCS is listed as endangered by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the National Marine Fisheries Service.

Construction of a hatchery facility on the Sacramento River was deemed the most appropriate method to ensure hatchery-origin SRWCS would imprint on and return to spawning habitats used by natural spawning fish.

Shasta Dam

A group of California’s fish and wildlife leading experts met recently to celebrate the return of Chinook salmon eggs to the McCloud River.

The group included: Caleen Sisk, Chief and Spiritual Leader of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe, a Native American band of the Wintu tribe originally located along the lower McCloud River, above Shasta Dam near Redding, California; the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW); the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries; and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).

They were able to celebrate the return of endangered winter-run Chinook salmon eggs to the McCloud River upstream of Shasta Reservoir for the first time since the construction of the Shasta Dam in the 1940s.

The eggs were placed into specialised incubators alongside the McCloud River’s cold waters where the species once spawned.

“The historic return of winter-run Chinook salmon eggs to the mountains upstream of Shasta Reservoir is in urgent response to reduce the extinction risk during a third year of severe drought,” says Peter Tira, Information Officer, California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “It is not a species reintroduction programme. The drought action, however, is expected to inform future long-term recovery and reintroduction efforts as biologists learn how the species uses its historical habitat.”

Once the eggs hatch later this year, salmon fry will swim into the McCloud River for the first time since construction of the Shasta Dam in the 1940s blocked the migration of adult salmon back to these same mountain waters. Rotary screw traps in the river will collect the salmon fry, which will then be transported downstream of Shasta Dam and released to the Sacramento River to migrate to the Pacific Ocean.

The return of winter-run Chinook salmon eggs to the McCloud River was accompanied by a tribal celebration by the Winnemem Wintu, who have long advocated for the return of salmon to their ancestral homeland. Staff from CDFW and tribal representatives will camp alongside the incubators, monitoring the eggs and the young salmon as they develop and disperse into the river over the next few months.

Salmon eggs

“We are asking that the river receive these eggs. We are asking that the old-time ways continue and that they grow in that way,” Sisk says, in explaining the native words, songs and ceremony immediately preceding the eggs’ return to the McCloud River. “We put down that song so they have a fighting chance.”

CDFW Director Charlton H Bonham says: “While we have carried out a number of different actions to see this iconic species through another year of drought, there’s no denying that Monday’s work [when the egg transport started] just feels huge. It’s historic and healing and incredibly hopeful for the future.“

Scott Rumsey, Acting Regional Administrator for NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast Region, says, “Given the drought and the harsh reality of climate change, these endangered fish face the longest odds they ever have. The Winnemem Wintu Tribe has long sought to return them to the McCloud. This crucial collaboration with the tribe, state, and other agencies now reflects more support for the species than ever before and is finally taking an important step toward making that happen.”

Paul Souza, Regional Director of the USFWS’ Pacific Southwest Region, says: “We know the impacts of drought can have devastating impacts on some of our most precious aquatic species, but it is heartening to know that when we come together with our partners.”

The eggs are transported by helicopter. As CDFW’s Matt Johnson explains: “Approximately 60,000 eggs were transported to the McCloud River this year for the project. The eggs are sourced from Livingston Stone Nation Fish Hatchery. The eggs (winter-run Chinook salmon) are taken from the hatchery’s annual production of winter-run Chinook which are used to supplement a natural-spawning population of winter-run Chinook in the Sacramento River.

“The eggs are delivered to the McCloud River at the ‘eyed’ stage, or approximately 30 days old following fertilisation. The eggs are transported in an insulated, five-gallon round cooler. The eggs are placed in a mesh bag inside the cooler and the cooler is filled with water supplied by the hatchery.”

Last year, the Winnemem Wintu, CDFW and the federal government all signed an agreement to co-manage the return of these fish to the McCloud River. The aim for the hatchery is to provide fertilised winter-run Chinook eggs to the Winnemem Wintu tribe so they can rear them in the McCloud River.

Returning salmon to their historic watersheds behind dams is seen as a crucial step needed to help these fish survive a warming climate. These waters provide some of the best, cool-water habitat for spawning and rearing fish and efforts are underway elsewhere in California to help other salmon runs get past dams.