The glassy, cold Carmel River surged through the Santa Lucia Mountains

The glassy, cold Carmel River surged through a little valley in the Santa Lucia Mountains. The Carmel was diverted around the former San Clemente Dam site into a channel fashioned out of a historic creek bed. The $83 million dam removal and river restoration project was the most ambitious in California history.
Map From: Nature Conservancy
From SFChronicle

The State Water Board ordered an additional decrease in water pumped from the Carmel River.

Cal Am Water has now delayed their testing another year because they held back the EIR schedule, potentially resulting in water rationing even under a modified Carmel River cutback order. The State Water Board has ordered an additional decrease in the amount of water that can be pumped from the Carmel River.

From: Monterey Herald
Picture from: Tales From Carmel 

Carmel River State Beach in March 2016

"The Carmel River was running at 1,150 cubic feet per second, the highest it has reached since March 2011, before the statewide drought set in."
Photo by Vern Fisher
From: The Monterey Herald

The Carmel River Hasn't Been This Healthy in Four Years

 

"The Carmel River has been able to flow constantly into the ocean like it normally should be, but because of California’s drought, it hasn't been this healthy in four years. And since it is healthy, it’s helping struggling Steelhead fish rebound."

From: KION

From: I Love Carmel Valley

For the first time in decades, the odds are looking more in the California Condors’ favor

After more than 35 years of flirting with extinction, the California Condor is finally due for a success story.
 2015 was the first year in decades in which the number of chicks hatched and raised in the wild outweighed the number of wild condor deaths—14 births to 12 deaths: a sign that these pink-faced beauties are on a steady track to recovery.
From: Audubon