Salmon restoration depends on improved habitat

The streams and rivers that California's salmon and trout call home during the freshwater portion of their life cycle have deteriorated over the past 50 years, resulting in decreases in the populations of these salmonids. Habitat deterioration and population changes are caused by natural occurrences (floods, fires, El Niños, drought, predators and changing ocean conditions); land-use practices (mining, timber harvest, highway construction, agriculture, grazing and urban development); increases in fishing effort; and major diversions of water resources and the damming of rivers.