River Partners

10/15/2026

Sometimes, proof that restoration is working comes from a partner in the field.

This summer, Bureau of Land Management Wildlife Biologist Tobias Felbeck was surveying birds at our 300-acre Rancho Breisgau project along the Sacramento River north of Red Bluff. He found about a dozen breeding pairs of lazuli buntings nesting in willow habitat we planted just two years ago and snapped this photo of one proudly holding a white-lined sphinx moth caterpillar.

Insects make up more than half of a lazuli bunting's diet in breeding season, so this is a good sign that the habitat is doing its job for wildlife.

See more of what our staff are seeing in the field: https://riverpartners.org/news/eyes-in-the-wild-a-river-partners-wildlife-journal-september-edition-2/

📸 Bureau of Land Management

10/13/2026

One of our trail cameras captured a gray fox on its nightly stroll at our 350-acre Hidden Valley Ranch restoration project just west of Modesto along the San Joaquin River. And in the background, a great horned owl watches. Both notice and are wary of each other.

Some inter-species interactions are mutually beneficial, tolerated, or merely ignored—this is not one of them. The owl’s wide-eyed, fixed stare indicates it is fully locked onto the fox, seeing it as a potential threat or rival, not a friendly neighbor.

The gray fox finds its home across brushlands, chaparral, oak woodlands, and riparian corridors. In the Central Valley, they like dense brushy understories, dry creek beds, and agricultural or orchard edges with abundant cover and accessible prey. Their diet shifts with the seasons—primarily hunting small mammals like cottontail rabbits and rodents —and they also eat insects, birds, and all kinds of native fruits and berries. Meanwhile, the great horned owl, a powerful apex hunter, will occasionally prey on small mammals or kit foxes. A full-grown gray fox, however, is probably too large to be regular prey, so aggressive behavior toward each other when their paths cross is usually on the menu instead.

Read more about what our staff are seeing in the field here: https://riverpartners.org/news/eyes-in-the-wild-a-river-partners-wildlife-journal-september-edition-2/

10/09/2026

Members of our science team were collecting native seeds in the Amargosa Basin near Death Valley as part of routine fieldwork. The seeds collected on this day were given to Heritage Growers, our nonprofit native seed venture, to grow out for our Amargosa River restoration work. The team eventually found this patch of Screwbean Mesquite. Part of the legume family, this tree can grow up to 30 feet tall, features iconic, spiral seed pods, and is a critical piece of this delicate ecosystem. Its extensive root system helps stabilize stream banks and reduce erosion during seasonal flash floods. Screwbean Mesquite is also food for a wide range of desert wildlife. The foliage is an essential larval host plant for butterfly and moth species, pollinators are attracted to its nectar- and pollen-filled clusters of flowers, and its dense, twiggy canopy offers protective nesting, respite from the heat, and safety for desert birds and small mammals. Screwbean Mesquite has experienced significant die-off in the Amargosa watershed and is one of the native plants River Partners is bringing back to the region.

10/07/2026

Mason Shorts from our nonprofit native seed supply venture, Heritage Growers, was featured in a wonderfully rich alumni story by California State University, Chico!

10/05/2026

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation recently cut Colorado River allocations to Nevada, California, and Arizona for the next two years. While California receives the largest Colorado River allocation of any state, the Imperial Valley, where River Partners is restoring riparian habitats, receives our state’s largest share of its water allocation. Our work along the Alamo River, around the Salton Sea, and further upstream at the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona may feel impacts—and we could be moved to innovate even more in this region.

River Partners Director of Restoration Science Emma Havstad explains what less water could mean for Imperial Valley’s communities and wildlife, how restoration can adapt to our changing climate, and why the Salton Sea is worth fighting for.

“As Californians, we all carry a picture of Lake Tahoe, for example, as something we automatically value,” she said. “We haven’t told that same story about the Salton Sea.”

River Partners Director of Restoration Science explains what less water means for Imperial Valley’s communities and wildlife—and how restoration can adapt

10/02/2026

While checking out one of our future Central California restoration sites, our Science staff stopped long enough to admire this striking flame skimmer, a type of dragonfly, perched on a twig. Like many dragonfly species, flame skimmers possess brilliant coloring—this one has a glowing orange-red coloration across its body, wings, and veins.

And like all dragonflies, flame skimmers are voracious, opportunistic predators at each stage of their lifecycle. When they’re aquatic nymphs, they feast on aquatic prey, like mosquito larvae, small aquatic crustaceans, and tadpoles. As winged adults, they hunt a wide variety of flying insects, including mosquitoes, flies, gnats, and small moths.

We know this is a mature insect due to its fiery red coloration, and males frequently use prominent perches, exposed twigs, or reed tips as base camps, often returning to the same spot after darting out to chase off rival males or snap up passing flying insects. It’s a territory thing. Dragonflies will also assume this exact posture to either warm up their flight muscles on cool mornings or deflect intense midday heat by minimizing the surface area exposed to direct sunlight.

Read more about what our staff are seeing in the field here:

With every native plant we put in the ground and every acre of riverway we restore across the state, we know wildlife will come back

09/30/2026

A 2022 wildfire burned through a cottonwood forest along the Sacramento River. What grew back was worse: a dense tangle of Himalayan blackberry and grape vine, crowding out native plants and stacking up fuel for the next fire. The vegetation was so thick our scientists couldn't even walk in to assess the land.

So, this summer, we called in a different kind of crew.

Nearly 400 Boer goats spent weeks grazing 40 acres of invasive growth at the Sacramento River Wildlife Area’s Colusa South Unit, in partnership with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Goats clear fuel with far less ground disturbance than heavy equipment and without herbicides, which is better for water quality and wildlife in a sensitive river corridor. These goats removed a fire risk one chomp at a time. Next up for River Partners: replanting with native vegetation.

Read the full story:

Targeted grazing used to clear invasive vegetation while protecting sensitive riparian habitat

09/28/2026

If this fall and winter’s El Niño lives up to expectations, California is going to get A LOT of rain. In fact, it could be a historic amount of rain, which could lead to possible flooding. One powerful solution would be to capture that rain and could result in huge volumes of water across our landscape. Since 1998, River Partners has been restoring historic floodplains throughout California—turns out that while these can help bring wildlife back to their ancient habitats, they’re also a powerful solution to managing floods, giving water space to slow down, sit, and recharge underground aquifers.

The Los Angeles Times explores how restored floodplains like the ones River Partners has been bringing back since 1998 could be critical to capturing water from the upcoming El Niño.

https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2026-09-26/el-nino-upside

📸 Los Angeles Times

El Niño could unleash major storms and flooding. It also could bring precious water to drought-afflicted California.

09/24/2026

When our native seed non-profit Heritage Growers grew and cultivated 40,000 plants and 1,500 pounds of locally adapted seed to help restore the Klamath River habitat in 2024, they knew they were making history by being part of the largest dam removal project in American history. And now, more history is being made in those precious waters: Thousands of native Chinook salmon were recorded passing one of the former dam sites in 2024 and 2025. The species has now reoccupied nearly the full extent of its known historical range within the Klamath River.

Restoration works—this project is proof.

Read the story by The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/climate/klamath-salmon-recovery-dam-removal.html

📸 California Trout

The first fall runs of chinook salmon since the project in California and Oregon was completed have surpassed researchers’ expectations.

09/23/2026

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

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.