A salmon haven that turned brown

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Butte Creek's spring Chinook salmon run is in threat after a PG&E canal burst turned habitat murky

Overview

On August 10, 2023, the once pristine and blue waters of Butte Creek turned brown. A canal burst at a hydroelectric project helmed by PG&E and caused sediment to flood the creek, potentially creating deadly conditions for native fish currently inhabiting the watershed. This article describes how the canal burst affected the critically endangered Chinook salmon that inhabit these waters.

Tools used

• Ai2html: A script plugin for Adobe Illustrator to convert images to SVG and then into HTML and CSS.
• Scrollama: A JavaScript library for scrollytelling.
• Juxtapose: A JavaScript library for showcasing before-and-after images.
• Datawrapper: An online tool to creats charts.
• RAWGraphs 2.0: An open-source data visualization framework to create web-based visual representations.
• d3.js: A JavaScript library to control scrollytelling.

Sources

Allen Harthorn, founder of Friends of Butte Creek, a non-profit that works on preserving the region and its wildlife. Data and information from National Marine Fisheries Service, The Nature Conservancy, California Dept of Fish and Wildlife, and Good Jobs First.

Contact

For questions, suggestions, or contributions, feel free to reach out at [email protected].