Give the Gift of Native Fish

Thanks to your generous support, Native Fish Society River Stewards and staff secured key victories in 2018 across the Pacific Northwest as we worked to fix the habitat, hatchery, hydro, and harvest challenges that hold back the revival of abundant wild fish in our homewaters. We’re asking for your continued support to make 2019 our most ambitious and impactful year yet. Together, we can cultivate the groundswell of public support needed to restore abundant wild fish, free-flowing rivers, and thriving local communities across our region.

(Not All Landslides are Create Equal: Oregon’s out-of-date logging regulations are in dire need of change. Together, we can protect habitat and natural processes that will revive Oregon’s wild salmon and steelhead across nearly 8 million acres of forestlands.) PHOTO: Conrad Gowell

SAFEGUARDING CRITICAL HABITAT—In 2018, River Stewards brought a legal challenge to protect steep slopes from clear cutting in Oregon’s Tillamook and Clatsop state forests and undertook grassroots organizing to focus the passion of coastal communities on the decision makers who can reform Oregon’s out-of-date forest practices impacting nearly 8 million acres of coastal forestlands. In 2019, in addition to advancing logging reforms, River Stewards will work to secure 150 miles of the Molalla and Rogue rivers as Wild & Scenic Rivers, 27 miles of the South Umpqua River as a State Scenic Waterway, and over 50,000 acres of new wilderness along the Rogue River to safeguard native salmon, trout, and steelhead habitats.

(Set the Klamath & Its Wild Fish Free: It’s time to get dam removal and hatchery reform right. In 2021, we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to remove the four lower Klamath River dams and decommission Iron Gate Hatchery to make the wild revival of this storied river a reality.) PHOTO: Jason Hartwick

CURBING HATCHERIES—Benefitting from River Steward led hatchery reforms, the Sandy, the upper Clackamas, and the Rogue rivers bucked regional downward trends, returning some of the highest runs of wild spring chinook, coho, and fall chinook numbers in decades. With little competition from hatchery fall chinook, the Rogue witnessed wild abundance with a forecast of nearly 500,000 wild fall chinook! In Washington, River Stewards advocated to permanently end steelhead hatcheries in the entire Skagit watershed and remove all non-native Columbia hatchery steelhead from Puget Sound. In 2019, River Stewards and staff will wage targeted conservation campaigns to decommission the most obsolete hatchery programs across the Northwest, including Iron Gate hatchery on the Klamath River.

(Sustainable Wild Steelhead Fisheries: Unchecked harvest of wild steelhead in southwest Oregon threatens these fish and the rural communities they support. In 2019, you can help us build local grassroots support for a new conservation plan and catch and release angling opportunities.) PHOTO: Conrad Gowell

Reforming Wild Fish Harvest—In 2018, River Stewards protected recovering wild spring chinook in the Rogue River from overharvest, secured a 40% reduction in harvest limits for wild steelhead in southwest Oregon, protected sensitive populations like B-run steelhead from overharvest in cold water refuges in the Columbia River, and built province-wide support for Keep ‘Em Wet angling regulations in British Columbia. In 2019, River Stewards will protect wild steelhead, bringing fishery reforms in the Columbia River and its tributaries, like the John Day River, and work to address the root cause of illegal harvest that threatens wild, native fish across the Olympic Peninsula.

(ReWild the Willamette: Oregon’s largest watershed needs our help! We’re working across the Willamette to improve water quality, volitional fish passage, and create more natural river conditions vital to reviving wild fish and supporting communities.) PHOTO: Arlen Thomason

HOLDING HYDRO ACCOUNTABLE—In 2018, River Stewards squared off against hydro challenges impacting wild, native fish in the Willamette, Deschutes, Snake, Yuba, and Eel rivers. In the Willamette, we founded the Willamette Salmon & Steelhead Recovery Coalition to increase the impact of our wild fish advocacy and advanced a legal challenge that already scored its first big victory against federal hydro operators. On the Deschutes, we’re holding Portland General Electric’s feet to the fire by conducting an independent review of their basinwide water quality study—the utility must improve conditions for native fish or invest in actions that prepare this important watershed for dam removal.

More than 85% of our funding comes from individuals like you. Together, we are keepers of the wild. We are everyday people taking action on behalf of fish, our homewaters, and local communities. With your continued support we will forge lasting relationships to educate, inspire, and mobilize everyone committed to keeping fish and rivers forever wild. To see the entire breadth of our work for the coming year check out NFS Conservation Campaign map below!

Please support native fish with a year-end gift today, and join us in making 2019 a year of revival!