How can conservation groups, Tribes, and ranchers come together to create healthier watersheds? Hear from CalTrout Mt. Shasta/Klamath Regional Director Damon Goodman, Yurok Tribe Senior Fisheries Biologist Mike Belchik, and Farmers Ditch Company member Gareth Plank on how the three groups work together to realize a better future for the Scott River Valley.

The Scott River, one of the largest Klamath River tributaries, is a crucial source of water for farms and ranches. The river also provides unique and highly productive habitat for fish including Chinook salmon, federally threatened coho salmon, steelhead, and Pacific lamprey, all of which the Yurok Tribe depends on for sustenance and ceremony. In recent years, fish numbers have declined on the Scott, due in large part to the extended drought, legacy environmental damage from the gold mining era, and disease outbreaks in the main-stem Klamath.

In 2023, CalTrout, the Yurok Tribe, and Farmers Ditch Company signed a Memorandum of Understanding for collaborative work that envisions a future where salmon populations and family farms both flourish. The primary objectives of the partnership are to restore salmon habitat and improve on-farm water use efficiency on the main-stem Scott River.

Learn more about the partnership and the exciting projects it has spawned in the latest episode of Fish Water People!

Water touches all of us in both practical and magical ways. What's your relationship with water? What makes California’s rivers and waterways special to you? Let us know!

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