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Smith said he hopes to see “responsible water management” where state officials prioritize river flows for fish, as well as efforts to restore floodplains and improve hatchery operations.

But experts say it's human actions that have made things much worse: cutting down mangroves, which normally act like natural barriers against floods, and building on floodplains where water is supposed to drain.

Changes that would help salmon include having larger flows in rivers at the right times to support fish, and opening up more floodplain habitats to support their recovery, Rypel said.

Parts of Mandalay and its buildings also lie along the floodplain of the Ayerwaddy River.

It’s three miles from there to State Route 92, a trek through mesquite and grassland, floodplains and furrows that serve as a rough-hewn pathway to the two-lane blacktop and the interior that lies beyond.