The Current Magazine Summer 2017 | Page 14

RETURN TO RESILIENCE

We must protect the best of what habitats are left. Few fully functioning river ecosystems, with relatively intact watersheds and high-quality habitat, exist today in California, such as the Smith River, Blue Creek, the Eel River (pictured here) and Butte Creek, among others. This is reason enough to make managing systems like these in perpetuity the highest priority, to protect salmonid diversity and production.