Spotted: Chinook Spawning in Redwood Creek Once Again

By Watershed Stewards Program Corpsmember Catherine Masatani, San Francisco Bay Area Network Salmonid Monitoring Program

February 2023 - During last year’s spawning season, 2021-2022, the San Francisco Bay Area Network fisheries crew observed an unusual event: Chinook—also known as king—salmon migrating into Redwood Creek to complete their life cycle and spawn. Now, for the second year in a row, we observed a female Chinook on her redd, or nest, in Redwood Creek.

Female Chinook salmon seen in Redwood Creek in January 2023. Note the white eroded caudal fin (tail) caused by digging in the stream gravel to make her redd (nest).

NPS / Point Reyes National Seashore Association / Brentley McNeill

National Park Service Fishery Biologist Mike Reichmuth examining a spawned-out female Chinook salmon in Redwood Creek, January 2023.

NPS / Matt Millado

Last year was considered an anomaly and was partially attributed to the atypical October storms coinciding with the fall Chinook spawning run. Without significant rainfall until December of this year, could the king salmon’s return to Redwood Creek signify the start of more Chinook utilizing this small coastal stream in the future?

Historically, only coho salmon and steelhead trout have been observed in Redwood, Pine Gulch, and Olema Creeks. With last year’s atmospheric river in late October, many Chinook salmon took advantage of the creek access and spawned in places they had never been seen before. In fact, we documented over 85 adult Chinook across the three streams, with the majority in Redwood Creek, puzzling the fisheries crew and leaving us questioning if this anomaly would continue.

This year after a series of atmospheric rivers, the crew saw steelhead returning to Olema and Redwood Creeks, but low numbers of coho in comparison to previous seasons. On Redwood Creek, the crew stumbled upon a lone salmon swimming a few meters upstream of her redd. At first glance, they thought the fish was a coho, but after further inspection, they realized it was a Chinook! This was determined from the size of the fish, mouth color, and the pattern and size of spots on the body.

As this spawning season winds down, this Chinook sighting in Redwood Creek will likely remain the season’s biggest surprise. We will soon be shifting gears to assess winter habitat for juvenile salmonids in the Muir Woods section of Redwood Creek, as we continue to evaluate the success of large-scale restoration projects. Since we are now out of the coho spawning window, our surveys will be less frequent but will continue through the spring in anticipation of more steelhead adults.

For more information

• San Francisco Bay Area Network Salmonid Monitoring webpage
• Pacific Coast Science & Learning Center Coho & Steelhead webpage
  • San Francisco Bay Area Coho and Steelhead Blog
• Contact Fishery Biologist Michael Reichmuth

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