What we are creating with Chinook is piscivorous Chum. They used to use big rivers because big fish could move big rocks. Now, with majority of them being large-end chum they can successfully spawn in small rivers and even large creeks. We may have, unwittingly, guaranteed Chinook's future by forcing them into smaller streams that we won't be damming for hydro.

Two Indian tribes in CA are trying to bring back some New Zealand Chinook to restore their local stock. Originally, those fish were sent to the Antipodes; now they represent the "purest" genes as hatcheries and a century of top-shelf management has mongrelized what's left in the upper Sacramento.