Recovery plan for Central Valley winter-run chinook salmon, spring-run chinook salmon, and steelhead

Recovery is the process by which listed species and their ecosystems are restored and their future is safeguarded to the point that protections under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) are no longer needed. The goal of this Recovery Plan is to recover the endangered Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU), the threatened Central Valley spring-run Chinook salmon ESU, and the threatened California Central Valley steelhead Distinct Population Segment (DPS).

Recovering these species and the Central Valley, San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary, and Pacific Ocean ecosystems that support them will be challenging and will require shifts in societal values. Californians must work together towards a conservation ethic and practice that ensures wild salmon and steelhead are an important part of coastal California and Central Valley culture for many generations to come.