The coho salmon population of the wine country seems to be having a bit of a renaissance this winter, thanks in part to massive, multimillion-dollar efforts in recent years by government entities and environmental orgs to make the Russian River — and the streams that run into it — into viable spawning runs for the coho. A couple years back, the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service reportedly set a goal of attracting 10,100 adult coho back to the Russian to spawn — more than 60 times the final count of 165 coho last winter. But if the latest counts trickling in from local streams and hatcheries are any indication, we’ll get a little closer to goal this winter. At Lake Sonoma, officials have tallied 15 coho who made it back to the hatchery as of Jan. 24; at the same time last year, only one had made it back, out of three total for the whole season. And down at Olema Creek in Marin County — which runs into Lagunitas Creek and Tomales Bay, not the Russian, for what it’s worth — park rangers have been shocked by the amount of coho they’re seeing. “Some years, biologists are alarmed by the small numbers of coho salmon returning to spawn in Olema Creek,” Point Reyes National Seashore officials wrote on Facebook a few weeks ago. “This is NOT one of those years! Since late November, biologists have found over 200 adult coho and over 50 coho redds (nests). Fishery Biologist Mike Reichmuth won’t soon forget one day in late December: ‘We had an epic day on Olema, with a single day count of over 150 adult coho salmon. This is the highest single day count that we have [ever] recorded.‘ In other words, this season featured the best day for spawning coho in over two decades. And Reichmuth notes that it is on track to be the best spawning season overall in more than 15 years.” So there may be hope yet for these guys. (Source: Bay Nature Magazine & Smithsonian Magazine & Sierra Magazine & Sonoma County Gazette & U.S. Army Corps via Facebook & CA.gov & KRCB & Point Reyes National Seashore via Facebook)
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