Our mission is to protect and restore anadromous fish populations in California by restoring connectivity across their historic range.
The California Fish Passage Forum is a collaborative partnership of the hardworking researchers, engineers, and restoration practitioners within CA state agencies, federal agencies, and nonprofits, working together to restore California migratory fishes.
Our Impact
Supporting Diverse Migratory Fish
The Forum supports migratory fish in the historically anadromous waters of California, the Klamath Basin of southern Oregon. These migratory species include salmon and steelhead, Pacific Lamprey, white and green sturgeon, and the endemic potadromous Clear Lake Hitch, all of which rely on aquatic connectivity and functional riparian and riverine habitat to survive and thrive.
The Power of Partnership
The California Fish Passage Forum provides a dedicated space for our 14 member organizations to share the efforts of their fish passage projects and programs, and bring their collective expertise to guide investment in assessment, implementation and monitoring of fish passage improvement.
Supporting On-the-Ground Restoration
So far, the Forum has invested almost $2 million, helping to leverage an additional $350 million from agency partners including NOAA, DWR, CDFW and many others. The Forum funding opportunity represents a comparatively small but important contribution for helping projects reach their cost share needs.
From 2012-2025, the California Fish Passage Forum has supported 53 projects across California, collectively representing a significant investment in the recovery of anadromous fish populations statewide. These projects include 36 projects removing one or more fish passage barriers, six habitat enhancement projects, four research and two monitoring projects, and two fish passage assessment projects. These have lead to 70+ barrier removals, opening 300 miles of habitat, and engaging 2,249 partner organizations.
Fish Passage Assessment Training
The Forum offers workshops in assessing natural and man-made barriers for their ability to assess fish passage. Look for our next workshop, and sign up to get our online fish passage training course when it is released.
Get Involved!
Join the Forum
Organizations working to restore fish passage for migratory fish can inquire about membership
Assess Barriers
Assess possible fish passage barriers and add your data to the Passage Assessment Database.
Apply for Funding
Apply for funding for restoration, assessment, implementation, monitoring and outreach.
Restoration Across California StoryMap
This StoryMap showcases partnerships, creative engagement, and hands-on restoration by telling the story of two community focused restoration projects, one in urban East San Francisco Bay and another on the rural Salmon river.
Part of the National Fish Habitat Partnership
The California Fish Passage Forum is one of 20 Fish Habitat partnerships recognized under the National Fish Habitat Partnership. The mission of the National Fish Habitat Partnership is to protect, restore, and enhance the nation’s fish and aquatic communities through partnerships that foster fish habitat conservation and improve the quality of life for the American people. NFHP supports the work of the diverse network of fish habitat partnerships, and produces independent data products to assess the state of Americas freshwater and marine fish populations and habitats through the National Assessment.
Fish Habitat Partnerships operating in California include the California Fish Passage Forum, Pacific Lamprey Conservation Initiative (PLCI), the Pacific Marine and Estuarine Partnership (PMEP), and the Western Native Trout Initiative (WNTI). Read more about each partnership on the National Fish Habitat Partnership Page