For Solano County Water Agency (SCWA), supporting Healthy Rivers and Landscapes (HRL) comes from decades of firsthand experience managing water for farms, cities and the environment, and seeing what it takes to support healthy fish populations.
In a new video, Alex Rabidoux and Max Stevenson of SCWA share lessons from Putah Creek, where the agency began releasing additional water for salmon 25 years ago. While those flows were important, salmon did not immediately return.
It took another 14 years and $20 million in habitat restoration before salmon returned to the creek. Those efforts included improving fish passage, restoring spawning gravels, reconnecting floodplains to provide food for juvenile salmon, and creating better rearing habitat along the creek.
The results have been remarkable. Just eight adult salmon were counted in Putah Creek in 2013, followed by more than 500 in 2015. In fall 2025, a record 2,150 spawning adult salmon returned to the creek.
That experience demonstrated an important lesson: water alone is not enough, which is why unimpaired flows does not work in Solano County or anywhere else in California.
Learn more about the successful return of salmon to Putah Creek here.
Healthy Rivers and Landscapes builds on this same approach at a much larger scale.
The program combines increased flows with extensive habitat restoration from the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers through the Delta and into San Francisco Bay. Rather than relying on any single action, HRL brings together water, habitat, science and adaptive management to improve conditions for fish and wildlife while supporting California’s communities, farms and water supply reliability.
For SCWA, the experience on Putah Creek offers a clear example of why this approach matters. As Rabidoux and Stevenson explain in the video, water must be paired with vital habitat improvements to restore native salmon runs. It is a lesson learned over decades on the ground, and one that Healthy Rivers and Landscapes can put to work across California.
Watch the video to hear directly from Solano County Water Agency about why they believe Healthy Rivers and Landscapes is the best path forward for California.
SCWA is one of many leaders from across California who have shared why they support Healthy Rivers and Landscapes. We invite you to explore additional perspectives by clicking on the video map below.
