Written by George E. Whitman

The 2025 Adaptive Management Forum brought together scientists, managers, and policy experts to talk about how to make smarter decisions for the Delta’s ecosystems. Missed it? The recording’s on YouTube. The keynote speaker, Karrigan Börk, UC Davis law professor and Director of the Center for Watershed Sciences, highlighted (1) how laws can help or get in the way, (2) how dealing with uncertainty and risks is important, and (3) what other areas of law have lessons we can use in adaptive management.

The recording of the recent Federalist Society discussion, led by CWS Director Karrigan Börk, “What’s the Harm? ESA Rulemaking After Loper Bright,” is now available online. In this talk, Börk examines how rescinding the regulatory definition of “harm” under the Endangered Species Act could reshape agency authority and environmental protections.

The International Fish Passage Conference will be hosted at UC Davis on May 4–8, 2026 at the UC Davis Conference Center. The conference dates back to 2011 and is intended to bring together engineers, biologists, and others with an interest in river restoration, particularly with respect to ecological connectivity and fish passage issues. The conference mission is to advance the science and practice of fish passage by providing a forum where researchers, managers, practitioners, and policy makers can share ideas, experiences, and advances.

Winter-run Chinook salmon populations in California have steeply dropped in recent years. Drought and modified river flows have contributed to high mortality rates. In 2021, state officials reported that nearly all juvenile salmon died before reaching the ocean. 

High school students in Northern California are helping real scientists study a mystery that’s killing baby salmon – and they’re doing it right from their classrooms.

"A vitamin deficiency likely killed as many as half of newly hatched fry of endangered winter-run Chinook salmon in the Sacramento River in 2020 and 2021. These new findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences [led by CWS Senior Researcher Rachel Johnson].

In this episode of the Fish Water People Podcast, Michael Rogner, Associate Director of Restoration Science at River Partners, discusses large-scale riparian habitat restoration in California's Central Valley. Rogner explains how his organization transforms former agricultural lands into native habitats, focusing on restoring the Sacramento River's ecosystem. By converting fallow fields into native landscapes, River Partners has restored 20,000 acres, creating multiple benefits including flood control, groundwater recharge, wildlife habitat, and community access to green spaces.