Laura Chariton, (click here) director of the Watershed Alliance of Marin, visits Redwood Creek, where the coho didn’t spawn this year.

November 29, 2017
By Peter Fimright

The cherished coho salmon that historically wriggled their way past beachgoers up Redwood Creek into Muir Woods vanished this year and are now on the verge of extinction, prompting a last-ditch attempt by fisheries biologists to save the genetically unique species.

No salmon eggs were spotted in the shade of the world-famous redwood grove this past winter, and not a single baby coho could be found in the summer. The situation was so bad in August that 105 juvenile salmon had to be removed from the creek and brought to a hatchery....

The Coho Salmon tend to be pretty fish with all their coloring.

AB 1961, (click here) the Coho Salmon Habitat Enhancement Leading to Preservation Act (Coho HELP Act) was recently passed by the California State Assembly. According to Assemblyman Jared Huffman, this law will help provide habitat improvements to the Coho species. “AB 1961 could be a vital step towards arresting that slide. It empowers the California Department of Fish and Game to use a one-stop process for approving immediate on-the-ground habitat restoration projects proposed by governmental and non-governmental partners to aid California’s struggling Coho salmon populations” (The Coho Salmon Help Act Passes California Assembly, Aug. 2012).