Upper Deschutes River updates

Columbia Steelhead in Crisis: Leadership & Loss on the Deschutes

NFS River Steward Jeff Hickman, the owner and head guide of Fish the Swing, a highly respected fly fishing outfitter based in Oregon, recently announced that he is canceling his entire season of...

Volunteer Opportunity – Rangewide Bull Trout eDNA Project and the Upper Deschutes River basin

This fall, 2021, there is an opportunity to take part in a cutting-edge project to determine if threatened Bull Trout still reside in the Upper Deschutes basin. The focus will be on Little...

Drift Boat for a Benjamin

Winner Winner! John Over Won our 2020 Drift Boat for a Benjamin Raffle! That’s right, a brand new Ray’s River Dories Rogue drift boat, complete with a Baker Trailer and a pair of Sawyer Lite...

River Steward Program Newsletter Winter 2018

We are starting to see rains show up earlier in southern Oregon than I can remember in the past couple of years, and I hope that this is the beginning to a long wet winter here in the Northwest. ...

A Long, Hot Summer for the Deschutes

It has been a hard year for the Deschutes River and its native fish. Below average snowpack in the higher elevations followed by an early, hot, and long summer drove water temperatures into lethal...

In Depth on the Deschutes - Part II: What now?

In the first part of our series, In Depth on the Deschutes, we explored the issues impacting the river and its fish today. In the second part of our series, we take a look at the goals Native Fish...

In Depth on the Deschutes—Part 1: Where We’re At

The Native Fish Society and its Lower Deschutes River Stewards get a lot of questions about what's going on with the Pelton Round Butte fish passage project. Some people are pretty...

What is a maxillary clip?

What is a Maxillary? We often get questions about what a maxillary clip represents. The maxillary is a bony structure, located on the upper jaw of a fish, circled in red on the photo above. When a fish has a maxillary...

Governor Brown Signs Suction Dredge Mining Reform Bill to Protect Oregon Rivers

Today, Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed the Suction Dredge Reform Bill (SB 3) legislation which establishes a permanent framework to manage in-stream motorized mining across Oregon. The bill...

Suction Dredge Mining Reform passes Oregon House of Representatives

May 31, 2017 Salem, OR – The Oregon House passed legislation today in a bipartisan vote to protect sensitive salmon and lamprey habitat from suction dredge mining. The Suction Dredge Reform bill...

Suction Dredge Mining Reform in Oregon moves ahead

Last month the Oregon State Senate passed the Suction Dredge Reform Bill (SB 3-A Engrossed) with a vote of 21-9 to send it over to the Oregon House of Representatives, a move that would establish...

Protect the Magic: Moving Forward on the Deschutes River

The Native Fish Society and our River Stewards have been advocating for the Deschutes River and its wild, native fish for over a decade. In 2016, we redoubled our efforts, intent on holding...

River Stewards to NOAA: Protect wild fish, not artificial production.

On December 20th, 2016 78 River Stewards from throughout the Northwest submitted the following letter to NOAA-National Marine... Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the proposal to include hatchery programs as part of Pacific salmon and steelhead species listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). As a diverse...