Three Winnemem Wintu fishery staff pose by the Nur Nature-Based incubation system. The setting is a damp wet forest beside a creek, mist is low. All three gesture towards the boxes while in the rain but the boxes under a rain cover.
Winnemem Wintu fishery staff pose by the Nur Nature-Based incubation system. Sticks and leaves cover the hatching boxes, offering shade for the fish and deterring birds and other predators. Photos by Marc Dadigan.

Rewilding juvenile salmon with indigenous knowledge

  • by Christine A Parisek

In an attempt to rescue California's winter-run Chinook salmon from threat of extinction, an innovative salmon egg incubator has been collaboratively developed by the Winnemem Wintu Tribe and a team of expert fish biologists. The incubator has been engineered to mimic conditions of the McCloud River in California and thus provides a refuge for winter-run salmon eggs while expanding the opportunity for the juvenile fish to refine and navigate swimming in the turbulent artificial currents. Learn about this new design and how UC Davis fish biologists, including Staff Research Associate, Dennis Cocherell, and Senior Researcher at CWS, Rachel Johnson, were able to bring this vision from aspiration to reality. View the article here.