River Partners

The Sacramento River has been too warm for Chinook salmon eggs to survive—state biologists estimate 20% mortality so far, with potentially more expected if water releases from Shasta Dam are not sufficient. It's exactly why floodplain restoration along the Sacramento River and throughout the Central Valley matters. The rearing habitat River Partners restores along historic river floodplains gives juvenile salmon food and cold-water refuge once they hatch, helping fish make their long migration to the Pacific.

📸Los Angeles Times

This major California river has gotten too warm for its salmon The Sacramento River has gotten too warm for salmon eggs. Environmental advocates blame the Trump administration for taking too much water out of Shasta Lake.

California Governor Newsom declared a state of emergency this week ahead of what could be one of the strongest El Niños on record. The Sacramento Bee published a great piece about River Partners’ and our allies’ Dos Rios Norte project just north of Sacramento, at the confluence of the Sacramento and Feather rivers and Butte Creek. The article explores what the alternative to walling off the Sacramento River looks like in practice.

The idea is simple: instead of squeezing a river between levees and hoping they hold, give floodwater a place to spread out. Dos Rios Norte floods on purpose, and that takes pressure off the flood system downstream. There are other benefits, too, like improved habitat for imperiled salmon and other wildlife and groundwater supplies.

It's not a fix on its own — no single property is. But multiply it across the valley, and giving rivers room becomes a major strategy for thriving communities and ecosystems in a changing climate.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/weather-news/article316941663.html

Huge thanks to The Sacramento Bee meteorologist Sean Macaday for his in-depth, expertly written story about how restored floodplains, in this case, Dos Rios Norte, just north of Sacramento, could be a tremendous help with seasonal flooding and heavier rain events. The El Niño that's churning in the Pacific Ocean and set to impact California this fall and winter will be the latest test.

El Niño could usher Central Valley floods. One strategy: let it flood like it used to

Central Valley groundwater has been drawn down faster than it’s been replenished for decades. Water tables have dropped, the ground has sunk significantly in places, and expensive infrastructure like roads and bridges has suffered damage. The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, a 2014 state law requiring local water managers to bring over-drafted groundwater basins back into balance by the early 2040s, sets out to fix that. Doing so means more water needs to go into the ground than comes out of it.

River Partners has long known our statewide restoration work supports that goal. Through a unique partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Stanford University, and Stanislaus State, we now have a new body of research that refines that picture, showing with much more precision how much groundwater our projects recharge, and where.

Armed with this information, River Partners now has a powerful new tool to target restoration where it can deliver the greatest groundwater benefits.

Read more about this groundbreaking groundwater research:

Beneath the Floodplain: How Restored Riverways Are Recharging Central Valley Aquifers - River Partners New study with leading researchers confirms restored floodplains put water back into the ground

Want to learn more about bats, one of the most important and misunderstood mammals in our state? Check out a screening of “The Invisible Mammal,” a documentary exploring bats, biodiversity, and the beauty of the natural world. The screening will take place on Thursday, October 15 at 6:30 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Theater in Davis. Prepare to be educated and inspired by this documentary about this critical species.

River Partners is proud to be a screening partner for this documentary. If you’re interested, please learn more about River Partners’ research last year into bats living in the Central Valley: https://riverpartners.org/news/what-bats-are-telling-us-about-life-in-the-central-valley/

California’s Tribes and water issues are coming together like never before in our state’s modern history. From California’s commitment to returning millions of acres of land to Tribes and a lack of funding for Tribes to maintain, conserve, or repair these natural landscapes, it will take bold leadership to meet this critical moment. Austin Stevenot, Northern Sierra Miwok and River Partners’ Director of Tribal Engagement, explores endowments for Tribes, collaborating with other groups to help build Tribal capacity to accomplish these goals, and what it means to him to represent River Partners in rejuvenating California’s riparian habitats.

“It’s more than just sharing the landscape; it’s sharing culture again,” Austin said. “It’s reawakening something that was put to sleep, not because we wanted to, but because it was forced upon us, to assimilate, to be separated from these places.”

To read the entire Q&A with Austin, we invite you to go here:

The Leadership a Resilient California Needs Right Now - River Partners A conversation with Director of Tribal Engagement Austin Stevenot on land return, Tribal Beneficial Uses, and what a healthy ecosystem really means

River Partners is hiring! 🎉🦋🌳

We’re looking for a New Business Administrator to work with the organization’s President, New Business Team, and Finance and Administration Teams to help structure and facilitate the delivery of River Partners’ primary lines of business. To learn more about this position, head over to the job announcement here:https://riverpartners.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/2026-New-Business-Administrator.pdf

And to see all of River Partners’ job openings and to apply:
https://riverpartners.org/about-us/careers/

The next generation of conservation leaders is needed now more than ever.

This is why River Partners is working to close that gap with our Restoration Fellows Program, an eight-week paid internship alongside River Partners biologists, ecologists, and project managers working across the North State and Central Valley. This program gives college students from across the state a sense of what on-the-ground restoration work is like, while working with innovative research tools like GIS mapping, remote sensing, automated acoustic monitoring, data collection technologies, and advanced vegetation monitoring.

Want to read more about our Restoration Fellows' experiences this summer at River Partners?

Future Restoration Leaders Take Root - River Partners Through summer fellowship program, students discover science, teamwork, and purpose through river restoration

If you’re like us, you’re probably seeing lots of news recently about a developing El Niño that could be one for the ages this fall and winter. Impacts, flooding, damage—but what about natural solutions to increasing flood safety?

Two years ago, with help from project partners at The Nature Conservancy and the Wildlife Conservation Board, River Partners completed a floodplain restoration project in Hamilton City along the Sacramento River. Nearly 465 acres of former farmland were transformed back to native habitat with 67,000 native trees and plants, creating space for water to flow and pool when the Sacramento River overflows. This is water that can seep into the ground instead of rushing into town, recharging aquifers and giving juvenile salmon a place to rest and feed before returning to the river. A 6.8-mile setback levee has also helped increase flood safety for this town of about 2,200 people.

The restored floodplain has worked perfectly several times since the project’s completion—now, it may face its biggest test yet this fall, with growing signs that California could see a significant El Niño.

To read more about how the restored floodplain and setback levee have increased flood safety for Hamilton City residents:

Celebrating Restoration Built to Protect a Flood-Prone Town - River Partners A restored floodplain gives Hamilton City along the Sacramento River a sense of relief as a potentially powerful El Niño approaches

Come out to celebrate the grand opening of the 67-acre restoration area at Ensen Community Park on Sunday, September 20, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.! The River Partners team will be there, along with project partners Big Sur Land Trust, City of Salinas, Habitat Stewardship Project Monterey Bay, and Center for Community Advocacy, to talk about the restoration project. The day will be filled with activities to explore the new restoration area and opportunities to learn more about how to help steward the land.