[VIDEO] Salmon Return to Marin County Creeks

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, November 27, 2019

Contact: Todd Steiner, (415) 488-7652, tsteiner@seaturtles.org

The Salmon Protection And Watershed Network, or SPAWN, observed adult salmon this week in Marin County’s Samuel P. Taylor State Park, marking the start of the spawning season for California’s salmon that are listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

Following the first hard rainfall each winter, streams start to swell and wild salmon begin their homeward migration, swimming hundreds of miles from their ocean feeding grounds to return to their birthplace and continue the survival of their species. Last year, surveyors recorded around 750 adults returning to the watershed to spawn—the best it’s been in 12 years.

Video of threatened Chinook salmon in Lagunitas Creek is available for media to use. Video is by Harry McGrath, SPAWN. 

SPAWN invites the Bay Area community to join their biologists on a Creekwalk Tour this winter to explore the Lagunitas Creek Watershed—home to the largest remaining run of wild Central California Coast coho—to witness endangered coho salmon and threatened Chinook salmon at the peak of their spawning season, trying to revive their diminishing populations that are threatened by human activity.

“Spawning salmon are back in Lagunitas Creek,” said Todd Steiner, executive director of SPAWN. “This is one of Marin’s most amazing wildlife spectacles and no nature enthusiast should miss it!”

Information about upcoming naturalist-guided Creekwalk Tours can be found here: www.seaturtles.org/creekwalk. Private tours can also be arranged for families and groups.