The first of about 3 million young salmon were released into the American River Thursday, and California Department of Fish and Game officials said they will finish the job Friday. They hope those fish will return to spawn within two to five years. “They were spawned, hatched and partially raised at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery in Rancho Cordova,” said Dana Michaels, information officer for the Department of Fish and Game. About 25 percent of them have coded wire tags in their noses so Fish and Game staff will be able to track how many of them are returning to their native grounds to spawn. The goal, Michaels said, is to return the number of fish to their natural levels – levels that have d

We call it the Crown Jewel of Sacramento and are stingy about keeping it polished and protected. It generates an estimated $365,000,000 annually and more visits than Yosemite, yet it is underfunded and undervalued as a regional asset. The American River Parkway provides our water, improves our air quality and supports diverse wildlife, including some of the last West Coast salmon runs. We go there to rest, recreate and reflect. The 23 mile stretch from Nimbus Dam to the confluence with the Sacramento River is officially designated as a Wild and Scenic River. It is the most heavily used recreation river in California.  TV news crews try to scare us silly when the river rises "near Flood S

60 years ago, Land Park resident Walt Bennett, was a die-hard steelhead fly fisherman, something that doesn’t sound very impressive until you’ve seen the new documentary film Rivers of a Lost Coast. From the 1940s to the early 80s California’s remote north coast was host to a culture of consumed anglers that mirrored the dedication and passion of Hawaii’s earliest big wave surfing pioneers. Complete with a cast of superbly talented anglers, egos-to-boot and a camaraderie that resembles an armed forces unit, Walt Bennett will tell you California’s north coast fly fishing community was something else in its day. Local filmmakers Justin Coupe and Palmer Taylor spent 4-years producing a docume