On Saturday, Oct. 17, Coleman National Fish Hatchery holds its Return of the Salmon Festival from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 24411 Coleman Fish Hatchery Road. Admission and parking are free. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's event listing calls the festival a family tradition dating to 1991. Its most recent cancellation came during a federal government shutdown. Since then, the Sacramento River has reopened to salmon fishing for the first time in years, the preseason forecast for fall-run Chinook has more than doubled, and crews have started removing old dams on Battle Creek, the watershed the hatchery's salmon return to.
This Saturday's festival returns to a creek and a river that both look different than they did the last time the gates opened for it.
The festival that didn't happen
Action News Now reported that organizers canceled the festival because of an ongoing federal government shutdown. Hatchery staff announced the cancellation on social media and cited a lapse in federal appropriations.
The work kept going anyway. The same report noted that the hatchery stayed open to the public that Saturday and staff kept spawning fall Chinook. The fish came back on schedule, and only the party was missing.
The festival is the public face of a seasonal operation that happens with or without it. For 2026, the Fish and Wildlife Service lists live salmon viewing, spawning operations, interactive information booths and kids' activities. Visit Redding's listing names the hatchery as organizer and says the event will feature exhibitors from across the North State. The official listings don't name food vendors, a partner roster, shuttles or a pet policy. Earlier festivals have featured helicopters, fire trucks and smoked salmon samples, but none of that is confirmed for this year. The hatchery's events page points visitors to its social media for the latest details, and given the shutdown cancellation, that's worth checking Saturday morning.
The river reopened
The biggest change is on the main stem of the Sacramento. On May 12, 2026, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced that salmon fishing would return to the Sacramento River after three consecutive years of closure. In the Central Valley, the general fall-run season opened July 16 and closes Dec. 16, with some variation for the upper and lower stretches. Limits differ by reach, so anglers on the Anderson stretch should check CDFW's current rules.
The reopening matters to people who never pick up a rod, because it reflects how many fish regulators expected this year. Those expectations are where the numbers start to get mixed up.
Three numbers that measure three different things
Salmon headlines this year have quoted several big figures, and they don't all measure the same thing. The table separates them.
| Figure | What it measures | Value | Prior year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sacramento Index, 2026 preseason forecast | Projected ocean abundance of Sacramento fall-run adults | 392,349 | 165,655 in the 2025 forecast |
| Central Valley fall-run escapement, 2025 preliminary | Adults that actually returned to spawn | 256,880 | 161,604 in 2024 |
| 2025 escapement, hatchery share | Returning adults counted at hatcheries | 59,514 | Not broken out here |
The forecast comes from the Pacific Fishery Management Council's March 2026 preseason report, which put the Sacramento Index at 392.3 thousand adults, up from 165.7 thousand in 2025. A February 2026 report from Fishing the North Coast gave the more precise figures in the table. The forecast estimates how many fish are in the ocean. It doesn't count fish swimming up Battle Creek.
The escapement figures come from CDFW's GrandTab table, compiled June 22, 2026. It lists 2025's preliminary Central Valley fall-run return at 256,880, with 59,514 at hatcheries and 197,366 in-river, up from 161,604 in 2024. The table doesn't have a 2026 return total yet. That count builds over the coming weeks, at places like the weir you can walk up to at Coleman.
Put together, the record shows that last year's returns were up from the year before and that this year's ocean forecast was strong enough to reopen the river. How many fish actually reach Battle Creek this October is still an open question, and the hatchery is one of the few places where you can watch the answer come in.
Upstream, the dams are coming out
The second change is on Battle Creek itself, upstream of the hatchery. The Bureau of Reclamation's Battle Creek Salmon and Steelhead Restoration Project is in its Phase 2 dam and canal removals. Reclamation's project status page says the South Dam and Canal contract went to Forgen, LLC in late 2025. Full mobilization began in June 2026, and completion is expected in December 2026. The contract covers four structures:
- South Diversion Dam
- South Canal
- Soap Creek Feeder Dam
- Lower Ripley Creek Feeder Dam
So the salmon spawning at Coleman this fall are returning to a creek that's being physically reworked above them, and the season's spawning window overlaps with the last weeks of that contract.
The project also reaches the hatchery grounds. Reclamation lists a separate Coleman Dam Removal Contract. Procurement could start as soon as 2028, with construction planned for 2029, depending on the hatchery's water supply and modernization projects. The hatchery you visit this Saturday is part of the restoration schedule, and its own setup is expected to change before the decade is out.
Planning a visit, on festival day or any October morning
Saturday is the easy entry point, but the hatchery's regular hours give you more time with the fish than one festival day does. According to the Fish and Wildlife Service's Coleman page, here's how the season works:
- Hours. The hatchery is open every day, holidays included, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Self-guided tours are available the whole time.
- When the fish arrive. Adult Chinook gather at the barrier weir by late September or early October. October is typically the best month to see them.
- Spawning days. Staff spawn fall Chinook from early October through mid-November, typically on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. The service suggests contacting the hatchery to confirm a specific day.
- Groups. Hatchery tours generally happen during the October spawning season, and staff can arrange group tours on request.
The official materials don't verify public salmon viewing at other spots near Anderson. For a sure look at returning Chinook this fall, Coleman is the documented place to go.
The weir that holds the fish in October, the Battle Creek dams coming out by December, and the Coleman Dam slated for 2029 are all part of one creek's restoration timeline, and Coleman's 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. hours run every day of it.
If this fall on Battle Creek has you thinking about land along the creek or the river east of Anderson, Dustin Foster works with rural and acreage property across Shasta County and can talk through what's out there. Schedule a no-pressure consultation whenever it fits your calendar, salmon season included.
