Salmon living in a river near Christchurch, New Zealand, are the descendants of winter-run Chinook salmon whose eggs were shipped to different places around the world more than a century ago – and they offer hope that the salmon can be restored to their traditional spawning grounds in California’s McCloud River.

Ironically, that happened because during the 1870’s, when railroad construction and hydraulic gold mining was devastating many salmon runs,  the federal government established the first U.S. fish hatchery along the McCloud River, and later shipped some salmon eggs to New Zealand. When the hatchery was established, the tribe pledged to the salmon that they would always be able to return home.