Dam Removal Brings Salmon Back to Cedar Creek

Removing an abandoned hatchery dam in Mendocino County reopened nine miles of creek to fish after nearly 60 years.

Updated on Nov. 6, 2026 in Fishing

Dam Removal Brings Salmon Back to Cedar Creek

Live Poll

Should the government spend money removing old dams to help fish populations?

California Trout and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife removed an abandoned eight-foot concrete dam on Cedar Creek in 2022. Coho salmon returned to the creek within a year of the removal.

Why it matters

The dam had cut off nearly the entire watershed from migrating fish except at perfect flows, so its removal restored access to habitat that had been largely closed for decades. Cedar Creek supplies a large share of the South Fork Eel River's summer flow, so the recovery bears on the wider river system.

Surveys found 34 juvenile coho in August 2023, after none had been detected in the creek for 15 years. Adult Chinook were spawning above the former dam site within three months of its removal in 2022.

The players

California Trout

California Trout is a nonprofit conservation organization that works to protect and restore wild trout and salmon habitat in California.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is the state agency responsible for managing and protecting the state's fish, wildlife, and their habitats.

The details

The dam, an eight-foot concrete wall located 700 feet above the creek's mouth, was left over from a hatchery decommissioned after the 1964 flood. California Trout and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife tore out the wall, reopening nine miles of creek to migrating fish.

After the 1964 flood, a hatchery was decommissioned and its dam was left in place.
In 2022, the abandoned dam was removed from Cedar Creek.
Within three months of the removal, adult Chinook were spawning above the former dam site.
In August 2023, a snorkel survey found 34 juvenile coho in the creek.

Season Trajectory

Removing the Cedar Creek dam follows a pattern of barrier removal on the South Fork Eel River, where two more dams remain targeted for removal. The recovery of coho in a creek that had gone 15 years without a detection marks a turning point for a river system that supplies summer flow to the broader watershed.

Anglers in California may find the reopened nine miles of Cedar Creek a new area for salmon fishing as coho and Chinook populations establish themselves. Restored access for migrating fish could change where and when salmon are available to anglers in the South Fork Eel watershed.

The takeaway

Dam removals can restore fish runs within a single season when the barrier was the main obstacle to migration. For anglers and river stewards, checking whether a historical blockage has been removed can reveal new habitat worth watching.