While strolling near a stream in the winter of 1999, Todd Steiner came across a worrying site. Trapped in the shallow water, adult coho salmon were frantically trying to navigate a golf course’s dilapidated dam. “The fish kept slamming into the dam, then falling back down only to try and jump up again,” he said.
Shaken by the experience, Steiner worked with the National Marine Fisheries Service to get the fish moved over the barrier. And he didn’t stop there. Steiner also engaged the community in converting the broken down dam into a series of jump pools that allowed the fish to continue their upstream migration. From this project, a conservation organization called the Salmon Protection and Watershed Network—or SPAWN—was born.…

Leatherback sea turtles connect cultures, seas and continents on their epic trans-ocean migrations. For 100 million years they have populated the world’s oceans. Societies around the planet revere them as symbols of good luck, prosperity and fecundity. Yet, these timeless and unique animals are in danger of extinction.
Now, a conservation organization called the Turtle Island Restoration Network hopes to make this iconic animal California’s official state marine reptile in a push to raise awareness about the leatherback’s plight.
“People protect what they love,” said Chris Pincetich, a marine biologist at Turtle Island’s Sea Turtle Restoration Project. He said he was surprised to find how few Californians know that leatherbacks occupy waters just off their coast. Elevating them to the status of state marine reptile will draw attention to their presence, Pincetich hopes, and raise interest in protecting them.…