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Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page. Here are our latest stories:    After long absence, endangered winter-run Chinook salmon return to restored Battle Creek Jeff Freund at Coleman National Fish Hatchery scoops winter-run Chinook salmon on March 2 before they were trucked to Battle Creek later that morning. Approximately 29,000 salmon were released into the North Fork of Battle Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River where they once thrived. The fish are from the Livingston Stone National Fish Hatchery captive broodstock program. Credit: Steve Martarano/USFWS   By Steve Martarano March 28, 2018 Robert Barker, a fish culturist at the Coleman National Fish Hatchery, had just helped complete something historic and he knew it, spontaneously raising his arms in touchdown-like fashion. "I was thinking "yeaaaa! We did it!" Barker said. Barker's enthusiasm was shared by many. He was directing the release hoses that had just helped reintroduce 29,000 Sacramento River endangered winter-run Chinook salmon into a restored section of the Battle Creek tributary on the upper Sacramento River for the first time since the 1990s. The juveniles released the morning of March 2 were the first group from the approximately 215,000 fish that were the result of a captive broodstock program at Livingston Stone National Fish Hatchery managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The release, which has received national attention, reached a major milestone reached after years of rearing the fish and its listing as an endangered species under both federal and state law. The project was a multi-agency effort to plan and restore the Battle Creek salmon and steelhead habitat, marking a major step forward toward the species recovery. Continue to full story...   Meet the little flower adopted by a small town Pretty in pink — The endangered Yreka phlox (Phlox hirsuta) is the topic of a guided nature program on April 4 presented by the Yreka Fish and Wildlife Office. The program is open to the public and meets at the Chinese Cemetery kiosk east of Yreka on Highway 3. Credit: Serena Doose/USFWS   The Yreka phlox, a perennial shrub found in just five locations within Siskiyou County and nowhere else in the world By Susan Sawyer March 28, 2018 Each spring on the dry, rocky hills around Yreka, California, a small native plant comes to life with colorful flowers ranging from bright rose pink to white. The Yreka phlox (Phlox hirsuta) is a perennial shrub no more than six inches high, grows only on serpentine soils, and is found in just five locations within Siskiyou County and nowhere else in the world. China Hill, which overlooks Interstate 5, is one of the five known phlox locations, and where the Yreka Fish and Wildlife Office offers an annual guided 'phlox walk.' Nadine Kanim and Sheri Hagwood, biologists for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, lead the walk as part of the Yreka phlox recovery effort to educate the community about this delicate little plant. This year's walk is set for April 4 from noon until 2 p.m., and is open to all ages. Continue to full story...   Stay Connected with U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Pacific Southwest Region     This email was sent using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Pacific Southwest Region · 2800 Cottage Way · Suite W-2606 · Sacramento, CA 95825