Conservationists restore river habitat in hopes of coho’s return

Note: Lana Cohen is a Report For America fellow covering the environment & natural resources for TMV & KZYX. Her position is funded by the Community Foundation of Mendocino, Report for America, & our readers. You can support Lana’s work here or email publisher@mendovoice.com. Contact Cohen at LCohen@mendovoice.com. TMV maintains editorial control.

IRMULCO, 1/23/21 — The Noyo River, Pudding Creek, the Navarro. These are just some of the rivers that flow through Mendocino County. Starting from their headwaters in the chaparral hills, they wind down valleys of redwoods and pour out into the Pacific ocean. The rivers running through our county are some of the last left that still host wild California Central Coast coho, a genetically distinct subset of coho salmon, that once flourished in the region, with returns reaching up to 400,000 fish, according to one scientist, and filling rivers from Aptos Creek in Santa Cruz up to the the mouth of the Eel River.