Win by Losing

The document details a legal effort led by attorney Mike Sherwood and the American Fisheries Society to protect the Sacramento River winter-run chinook salmon. Although the initial lawsuit and subsequent appeal did not result in a court order for listing, the legal pressure prompted the National Marine Fisheries Service to voluntarily use emergency powers to list the species. This listing led to critical environmental interventions, including retrofitting the Shasta Dam for colder water releases, opening the Red Bluff diversion dam during migration, cleaning up the Iron Mountain Mine, and installing fish screens in irrigation districts. Consequently, the salmon population increased from a low of 190 fish during the appeal to more than 15,000 by 2004.

• The Sacramento River winter-run chinook salmon population suffered a severe decline from hundreds of thousands to a few thousand due to the construction of Shasta Dam, which blocked access to spawning grounds and released water that was too warm for eggs and larvae.
• A lawsuit filed by the Northern California-Nevada chapter of the American Fisheries Society was the first of its kind to ask a court to order the listing of a species under the Endangered Species Act; while the judge initially turned them down, the legal action prompted the National Marine Fisheries Service to voluntarily list the species using emergency powers after the population dropped to 190 fish.
• The listing of the winter-run chinook salmon as endangered triggered several environmental remediation efforts: Shasta Dam was retrofitted for cold water release, the Red Bluff diversion dam was kept open during critical migration periods, the Iron Mountain Mine was cleaned of acid and lethal pollution, and two irrigation districts installed fish screens.
• Following these interventions, the winter-run chinook salmon population began to recover, increasing to more than 15,000 by 2004.

APA

Sherwood, M. (1993). Win by Losing. Earthjustice. https://earthjustice.org/feature/win-by-losing

Chicago

Sherwood, Mike. Win by Losing. Earthjustice, 1993. https://earthjustice.org/feature/win-by-losing.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Sherwood |first1=Mike |title=Win by Losing |publisher=Earthjustice |date=12 May 1993 |url=https://earthjustice.org/feature/win-by-losing |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{sherwood1993win, author = {Sherwood, Mike}, title = {{Win by Losing}}, institution = {Earthjustice}, year = {1993}, month = may, url = {https://earthjustice.org/feature/win-by-losing}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }