Steelhead numbers in the Carmel River are on a downward trend

 

Steelhead are a threatened species whose decline in the Carmel River became a driving catalyst behind the state’s cease-and-desist order against Cal Am for the utility’s decades-long overpumping.

Over the long term, steelhead numbers in the Carmel River are on a downward trend. That is expected to continue as climate change continues warming the ocean and, locally, leading to more extreme droughts – just around 1 to 2 percent of steelhead that make the trip out to sea successfully return to spawn.

Info from MCW

Image from MPWMD

Garzas Canyon

 

Garzas Canyon

Photo from: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CarmelValleyLocals

The Los Padres Dam Alternatives Study

https://www.mpwmd.net/wp-content/uploads/Los.Padres.Alts_.Final_.Report.v2-1.pdf

By the Carmel River, June 2023

Photo from: CarmelValleyLocals

Rana Creek Ranch Was Recently Acquired by the Wildlands Conservancy for $35 million

 

Photo by: Courtesy of Hall & Hall

From: SF Gate

A sprawling 14,000-acre property in the Carmel Valley will become a public nature preserve. Known as Rana Creek Ranch, the land is an important site for the Esselen Tribe, and the tribe will be able to access the land again after the sale. Wolves, tule elk, beavers and the California condor all roamed the land 200 years ago.

Carmel River, April 2023

 

Photo from Ohlone Sisters

Snow in Carmel Valley, February 2023

 

From Monterey Herald

Above Carmel Point

The South-Central Coast Steelhead Have Declined to the Low Hundreds

 From: Carmel River Watershead

 The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) published in 2013 a Recovery Program for our distinct population of steelhead trout named the South-Central Coast Steelhead (SCCS). 

The "grade" they gave the Carmel River steelhead recovery at that time was "Poor," as the numbers of adult steelhead in our river had declined to the low hundreds if even that many. 

NMFS stated that to delist (remove) our SCCS from the Threatened Species list a number of conditions would have to be met including: mean annual run size of 4,500 adults, adequate ocean conditions, density of spawning fish, and certain fish genetic histories in our river.

Carmel River Lagoon February 2023

 

Photo by Brian Mack from: Carmel Valley Locals

Carmel River January 2023

 

Carmel River November 2022