New StoryMap Release: Connecting People and Fish in Urban and Rural Watersheds
Inspiring community-driven fish passage restoration across California
The California Fish Passage Forum is excited to announce the release of a new interactive StoryMap, Restoration Across California: Connecting People and Fish in Urban and Rural Watersheds, highlighting two powerful, community-centered restoration efforts—one in the urban East San Francisco Bay and one in the rural Klamath River Basin.
California’s nearly 190,000 miles of waterway are essential to communities, cultures, and aquatic species and ecosystems. Yet road crossings, flood control infrastructure, diversions, and dams have fragmented these systems. This StoryMap showcases how local partnerships, creative engagement, and hands-on restoration can transform both aquatic ecosystems and people’s relationship to their waterways and communities.
Two Diverse Restoration Projects
Wildcat Creek | East San Francisco Bay
In the highly urbanized watershed of Wildcat Creek, The Watershed Project is transforming a fragmented creek into a community-centered nature corridor. Through participatory design, environmental education, and community science, residents of North Richmond—working alongside tribal partners, municipalities, and designers—are shaping restoration solutions that improve fish passage, create mini-parks, and strengthen neighborhood connections to nature.
From multilingual interpretive signage and youth monitoring programs to innovative storytelling like Kiyana and the Wildcat Creek, this project shows how investing in arts, culture, and community voice can build lasting support for restoration.
Salmon & Mid-Klamath Rivers | Northern California
In rural northern California, the Salmon River Restoration Council and Mid Klamath Watershed Council demonstrate an “all-hands-on-deck” approach to fish passage in one of California’s most intact salmon strongholds. Youth crews manually improve seasonal fish passage at tributary mouths, monitor fish populations, and gain real-world experience as river stewards.
In the wake of the historic removal of four Klamath River dams, young people in these rural communities are bearing witness to the return of salmon—building pride, healing, and a new generation of restoration professionals.
Tools, Resources, and Takeaways for Practitioners
The StoryMap highlights a suite of practitioner-ready resources that can be directly incorporated into project planning, implementation, and funding applications. Highlighted resources include
- The Passage Assessment Database (PAD) and rapid fish passage assessment tools
- Community-based restoration and stakeholder engagement guides
- Monitoring methods for assessing restoration effectiveness
- Funding pathways through the California Fish Passage Forum and other NFHP partnerships
Whether you work in dense urban neighborhoods or remote rural watersheds, these stories highlight the diversity of skills, partnerships, and creativity needed to make restoration possible.
This StoryMap was produced by the California Fish Passage Forum, with support from the National Fish Habitat Partnership and the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, in partnership with The Watershed Project and the Salmon River Restoration Council.
