A tributary to the Russian River, Parson's Creek provides habitat to several species of native fish. These include Sacramento Sucker, Pike Minnow, Riffle Sculpin, California Roach, and Steelhead Trout (Northern California Coast population). Parson's Creek, as it flows through the UC Hopland Research & Extension Center in southeast Mendocino County, can be referred to as a "anadromous fishery" stream ... in that it provides spawning and rearing habitat for steelhead trout which happen to live several years in the Pacific Ocean but return to fresh water streams for reproduction.
For the most part, Parson's Creek dries up in the summer months, but short stretches of the drainage provide perennial pools that are cool enough, and have enough dissolved oxygen, to provide suitable nursery habitat for the zero-to-three year old juvenile steelhead. It is critical that anadromous creeks in the interior, hot and dry region of the Russian River drainage, maintain good quality nursery habitat in at least a portion of the stream. Due to a more complex life cycle, steelhead trout face a wider array of threats than salmon.
The wild Northern California Steelhead population has an ESA listing status of "threatened" in the Federal Register. The Russian River steelhead population is "supplemented" with hatchery-raised fish. These hatchery-raised fish have their adipose fin clipped when released which allows them to be identified when they return to spawn as adults. This photo shows three adult "hatchery" steelhead recently harvested from the Russian River .... wild steelhead trout must be released by law.
