Silver-salmon spawnin’ season

Biologists released a record number of captive-bred, juvenile Coho salmon into the Russian River in Mendocino and Sonoma counties this fall, in an effort to return a healthy, wild-breeding population of the endangered fish to the river, according to a Department of Fish & Game press release.

More than 100,000 Coho salmon—also called “silver salmon”—have been released into the river, and approximately 60,000 additional fish will be released before the spawning season ends. The DFG’s Warm Springs Hatchery in Geyersville has been working to return the fish to the river since 2001, after launching a two-year effort to collect the last remaining wild Coho salmon in the river.