The Salmon at Big Springs Creek
Coho salmon have a place to call home again in northern California, thanks to the Nature Conservancy. The Conservancy recently shelled out $14.2 million for the 4,136 acre Shasta Big Springs Ranch, including the entire length of Big Springs Creek. Big Springs Creek sits in the shadow of snow covered Mount Shasta, which feeds icy cold runoff into the stream all summer long. The cool water is an ideal environment for frisky young salmon.
Coho are more sensitive to water temperature than other salmon species, and are listed as an endangered species in California. In fact salmon populations have dwindled so severely that ocean fishing for salmon was prohibited in California and Oregon last year and will probably be banned again this year.
The Nature Conservancy’s restoration project also protects the habitat of chinook salmon, steelhead trout, Pacific and Klamath River lamprey, Western pond turtles, greater sandhill cranes, bank swallows, neo-tropical migratory birds and bald eagles. Score another one for nature lovers.
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