After ten years of rapidly intensifying drought and extreme weather, California Governor Gavin Newsom has launched the state’s first strategy to restore and protect populations of salmon for generations to come. Salmon are described as being central to religions, creation stories, the health and subsistence of California’s Native Tribes, plus a multi-million-dollar fishing industry. However, historic crashing salmon populations led to the Newsom Administration requesting a Federal Fishery Disaster to support impacted communities at the end of 2023, with Tribes having to cancel their religious and cultural harvests for the first time ever.