Dear Governor Newsom and State Water Board members

I’m writing to you to ask you to stop a repeat of the decimation of California’s native salmon we saw last year and are poised to see again. You have the authority to require protection of salmon below Shasta Dam. Only this can provide the water needed for salmon to reproduce this year, unlike last year.

I’m one of hundreds of thousands of Californians who either work in the salmon industry, fish salmon recreationally, or understand and appreciate the key role salmon play in California’s ecosystem. We can’t afford to lose them. You can’t afford to have that stain on your record.

We saw the State Water Board curtail diversions on the Russian, Scott, and Shasta rivers in 2021 in an effort to protect salmon. We know you have the authority to take similar action on the Sacramento River. We ask you to do so.

During past droughts, salmon fishing communities along the coast and inland, the salmon we fish on, and the rivers they come from, have suffered more than any other sector. In contrast, previous droughts have brought record agricultural employment, record harvests, and even more thirsty almond orchards.

Please use the authority of the State Water Board to make sure adequate water is preserved this year and going forward to keep the state’s salmon runs alive. It’s the right thing to do.