California Trout (CalTrout) is a San Francisco-based 501(c)(3) conservation nonprofit founded in 1971. Established by angler Richard May after a split from Trout Unlimited, the group focuses on restoring and protecting wild fisheries across California. Its work combines habitat restoration, policy advocacy, and regional initiatives in areas such as the North Coast, Central Valley, and Sierra Nevada headwaters. Documented projects include participation in dam removal on the Klamath River, a fish-passage bridge replacement on the Santa Margarita River within the Santa Margarita River Trail Preserve, and tidal-wetland restoration in the Eel River estuary.
California Trout was established in 1971 by angler and conservationist Richard May after splitting from Trout Unlimited to form an independent organization focused on California’s fisheries.[2][3]
Programs
California Trout organizes its work around statewide initiatives and regional offices. The group maintains offices in the North Coast, Central Valley, Sierra Headwaters, Bay Area, Mount Shasta–Klamath, South Coast, and Mount Lassen regions.[4]
CalTrout identifies five key initiatives: Protect the Best, Reconnect Habitat, Integrate Fish and Working Lands, Steward Source Water Areas, and Restore Estuaries.[5] Selected projects include:
Reconnect Habitat
Klamath River (North Coast): CalTrout was a partner in the removal of dams on the Klamath River, completed in 2024 in what has been described as the largest dam removal project in U.S. history. The multi-year effort also involved tribal nations, federal agencies, and conservation groups such as American Rivers.[6]
Santa Margarita River (South Coast): In San Diego County, CalTrout has led the Sandia Creek Drive Bridge Replacement Project on the Santa Margarita River, located within the Santa Margarita River Trail Preserve, which is owned and managed by The Wildlands Conservancy. The project, undertaken with partners including NOAA Fisheries and San Diego County, is designed to remove a long-standing barrier and reopen 12 miles of upstream habitat for endangered southern steelhead.[7][8][9]
Restore Estuaries
Eel River Estuary (North Coast): CalTrout is a partner in the Cannibal Island Restoration Project in Humboldt County, a 795-acre effort to reconnect tidal wetlands in the Eel River estuary. The project, approved in 2025 with support from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the State Coastal Conservancy, is designed to restore habitat for salmon, steelhead, and other native species while improving flood resilience.[10][11][12]
Advocacy
In addition to restoration projects, CalTrout has been active in policy advocacy. In 2018, it joined Restore Hetch Hetchy in proposing limited public boating access on the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir for the first time, arguing that San Francisco had long benefitted from the water system but the American public had not.[13]
Organization
The organization is headquartered in San Francisco. As of 2023 filings, it reported about 60 staff and 75 volunteers.[1] It has maintained regional offices and a full-time presence in Sacramento.[citation needed]
Tight Lines – A History of California Trout. California Trout, 2016. Online version
California Trout 50th Anniversary Timeline. California Trout, 2021. Online version
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