The San Joaquin River Restoration Program (SJRRP) is a long-term collaborative program to restore flows in the San Joaquin River, from Friant Dam to the confluence of the Merced River. It is a direct result of the San Joaquin River Restoration Settlement reached in 2006 by the U.S. Departments of the Interior and Commence, The Natural Resources Defense Council, et al., and the Friant Water Users Authority. Congress passed the San Joaquin River Restoration Settlement Act in 2009 authorizing Federal agencies to implement the Settlement. The Settlement has two primary goals: 1) To restore and maintain fish populations in the main stem of the San Joaquin River below Friant Dam to the confluence of the Merced River, including naturally reproducing and self-sustaining populations of salmon and other fish, and 2) To reduce or avoid adverse water supply impacts to all of the Friant Division long-term contractors (water users) that may result from the flows provided for in the Settlement.

Friant Dam was completed in 1942 and provides flood protection and water storage for irrigation in the San Joaquin Valley. Before the completion of Friant Dam, the San Joaquin River supported the southernmost populations of Central Valley spring-run Chinook salmon and fall-run Chinook salmon, where hundreds of thousands of Chinook salmon once returned from the ocean each year. After Friant Dam was completed, sections of the San Joaquin River were completely dewatered as the natural flow was stored and diverted into canals for agricultural and municipal use.

Under the SJRRP, Friant Dam releases more water to the San Joaquin River expressly for the restoration of fish. Restoration actions also include building new in-river structures downstream of Friant Dam designed to pass fish and flows around existing diversion structures and reintroduction of salmon back to the river to increase the population. The SJRRP is implemented by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (which serves as the lead agency), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, California Department of Water Resources, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.