Author: Josh Newcom

For over 60 years, the San Joaquin River saw no adult spring-run Chinook salmon make their annual migration from the ocean to spawn – the fish had been cut-off from their native spawning grounds by Friant Dam and the population died out. But all of that changed in 2019 when the San Joaquin River Restoration […]

In another step forward for the Program, the upper weir on the Merced National Wildlife Refuge has been successfully removed to aid with fish passage in the Eastside Bypass. The weir is the second such diversion weir removed by the Program for fish passage improvements in the Eastside Bypass. The weirs, which were constructed to […]

San Joaquin River Restoration Program Postpones Restart of Restoration Flows This notice serves to inform the public that the Restoration Administrator, a court-appointed position selected by the Friant Defendants and Plaintiffs in the Settlement, has postponed the resumption of Restoration Flows. Restoration Flows will resume no earlier than October 1. Restoration Flows were ceased on […]

Fire created unknowns, many are hopeful new data will benefit San Joaquin River management After a record-setting season of catastrophic wildfires in California, no single fire in 2020 burned more than the Creek Fire in the Upper San Joaquin River watershed east of Fresno. The Creek Fire, the largest single-source fire in California history, ravaged […]

2020 Virtual Science Meeting Videos Now Live! Click Here! Don’t worry if you missed the 2020 SJRRP Virtual Science Meeting! All of the sessions are free and available in their entirety. If you have you have any questions or are unable to access the videos, please contact snewcom@usbr.gov.

Spring-run Chinook Return to San Joaquin River Despite Low Water Year 2020 Brings Generational Variety, New Information If there’s one certainty in these uncertain times, it’s that nature is resilient, and one needn’t look further than the San Joaquin River as an example.  For a second year in a row, and for only the second […]

In April 2020, the Department of Water Resources, a partnering agency of the San Joaquin River Restoration Program, began work on approximately two miles of levee along the Eastside Bypass. The project purpose was to improve seepage and stability requirements to allow for higher Restoration Flows. Prior to construction, the levee was constructed of sand […]

Reclamation seeks public input on proposed repairs to fix capacity of the Friant-Kern Canal SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Bureau of Reclamation and Friant Water Authority seek public input on alternatives to repair a 33-mile stretch of the Friant-Kern Canal in California’s eastern San Joaquin Valley. This stretch of canal has lost over half of its […]

For the second year in a row, spring-run Chinook salmon have returned to the San Joaquin River. “The capture of returning spring-run adults indicates that the return of the spring-run Chinook last year was no anomaly,” said Don Portz, San Joaquin River Restoration Program, Program Manager. “All of the hard work from Program staff is […]

Read all about Program accomplishments for the 2017-2018 years here!