2026 Plenary Session

43rd Annual Salmonid Restoration Conference

30 April 2026

9:00am - 12:00pm

The exciting annual Plenary Session showcases the state of salmonid recovery in California and features distinguished keynote speakers including legislators, renowned academics, watershed visionaries, and scientists at the forefront of the restoration movement in California.

Welcome with Dana Stolzman, SRF Executive Director

Emcee: Thomas Williams, Ph.D., NOAA Fisheries

Following the Stars: Restoring Nur to the Winnemem Waywaket, Chief Caleen Sisk, Winnemem Wintu Tribe

Caleen Sisk is the Spiritual Leader and Tribal Chief of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe.

For more than 30 years, Chief Sisk was mentored and taught in traditional healing and Winnemem Wintu Culture by her late great-aunt Florence Jones, who was the Winnemem Wintu Tribe’s spiritual leader for 68 years. Chief Sisk's traditional teachings and training come from an unbroken line of leadership of the Winnemem Wintu Tribe.

Since assuming leadership responsibilities in 2000, Chief Sisk has focused on maintaining the cultural and religious traditions of the Tribe, as well as advocating for California salmon restoration, the human right to water, and the protection of indigenous sacred sites. She is also currently leading her Tribe's efforts to work with Maori in New Zealand and federal and state fish biologists to return Nur (Chinook Salmon) to the Winnemem Waywaket.

People of Place: Restoring Not Only Rivers but Communities, Brook Thompson, Interim Executive Director, Save California Salmon

Brook Thompson is from the Yurok and Karuk Tribes of Northern California. Brook is a Ph.D. student, scientist, engineer, author, activist, and artist. Growing up Brook spent her time fishing for salmon on the Klamath River like her ancestors before her when she witnessing the heart-breaking 2002 fish kill, the largest fish kill in West Coast history. The death of tens of thousand salmon is what has motivated her career in water engineering and activism. In 2020 Brook graduated Portland State University's Honors College with a bachelor of science in civil engineering with a minor in political science, in 2022 she received a master’s in environmental engineering from Stanford University with a focus in water resources and hydrology. Brook now attends UC Santa Cruz working on her Ph.D. in environmental studies with a designated emphasis in Coastal Science and Policy where she researches Spring Chinook Salmon and Restoration in the Klamath River with interdisciplinary social science, natural science, and policy methodology. While attending university full time over the last decade she has also interned at the Yurok Tribe, the City of Portland, the United States Senate, the California State Water Resource Control Board, a current board member of Save California Salmon, and is an international public speaker. Among other accolades Brook is a 2024 NDN Collective Change Maker, a 2023 Ford Foundation Fellow, a 2022 Native Journalism Award Winner, a 2020 United National Indian Tribal Youth 25 Under 25 Recipient, was the 2017 Undergraduate American Indian Graduate Center Student of the Year, and a Gates Millennium Scholar. In 2025 her Children's Book about her life titled, "I Love Salmon and Lampreys" was published. Thompson’s goal is to uplift the nexus of Native American knowledge, engineering, public policy, and social action to transform how water rights, restoration, education, and climate change are approached at the local and international levels.

Listening to the Salmon: Life History Diversity as Our Blueprint for Recovery, Rachel Johnson, PhD, Central Valley Recovery Leader, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Fisheries

Rachel Johnson is a Research Fisheries Biologist with NOAA Fisheries, Fisheries Ecology Division specializing in applied ecology of freshwater, anadromous and marine fishes. She has 26 + years of experience filling critical data gaps that have been used to better manage water and fisheries resources in California. Rachel has pioneered isotope tools to better understand migration, habitat use, contaminant exposure, and connectivity in fish populations. Her work focuses on understanding mechanisms of population viability and aids in determining critical habitats for reproduction, survival, and growth of endangered species and those targeted by fisheries. She is a translational ecologist dedicated to communicating and synthesizing science to ensure that scientific information is available to resource managers, decision-makers, and the public.

Letting Fire Flow: Restoring Ecology, Culture, and Connection, Lenya Quinn-Davidson, Director, UC ANR Fire Network and Director, Women-in-Fire Training Exchange (WTREX) Program

Lenya Quinn-Davidson is the Fire Network Director for the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, where she leads a statewide team working on various facets of fire resiliency, from wildland fire management and the built environment to workforce development and community capacity. Over the last 15 years, Lenya’s work has focused in large part on the human connection with fire, and breaking down social, political, and cultural barriers to beneficial fire. Lenya has worked at various scales, including locally with private landowners and community members; at the state level, where she collaborates on policy, research, and training; and nationally/internationally, through her leadership on the Women-in-Fire Training Exchange (WTREX) Program. Lenya is passionate about using fire to inspire and empower people, from ranchers and scientists to agency leaders and young women, and everyone in between.

Redding Civic Auditorium Redding

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