Wildfires Burn and Endanger Oregon Fish Hatcheries

September 17, 2020

Wildfires Burn and Endanger Oregon Fish Hatcheries

Wildfires are tearing through the western United States, incinerating public lands, wildlife habitat, and towns in their path. Over 1.7 million acres have burned in Oregon and Washington alone, and while rain is predicted to bring some relief over the coming days, the fires have already destroyed critical infrastructure supporting our salmon and steelhead populations. Several Oregon fish hatcheries are in areas that were burned or evacuated. The Rock Creek Hatchery on the North Umpqua River sustained the most severe damage.

July 17, 2020

Kids Art Contest Winners Announced

Northwest Steelheaders hosted a kids art contest to engage students in thinking about salmon conservation while they're stuck at home this summer. The theme of the contest was "Crossing Boundaries into New Waters," which is our organization's theme for 2020. We sought artwork portraying our mission to dive headlong into new waters for salmon and steelhead conservation, and the pieces were judged based on their concept, composition, color, and expression. The competition was open to students in Oregon and Washington. "True Determination" by Audrey F. won the grand prize and first place in the grades 4-5 group, which includes a $100 check and a fishing trip for her and a parent/guardian with a Steelheaders volunteer.

July 7, 2020

Harnessing the Power of Community for the Common Good

As president of the Columbia River Chapter for 6 years, my members have never ceased to amaze me. Every event, community project, fish along—you name it—starts with an idea from one chapter member. From there, other members start adding their two cents and a tangible plan starts to form. A few phone calls are made to friends, family, and acquaintances and suddenly there’s a network made up of skilled individuals geared towards achieving one goal. All of the pieces fall into place and volunteers show up excited and ready to help accomplish the project.

June 30, 2020

Migration Through the Eyes of a Salmon

When I turned one year old, my parr marks began to disappear, alerting me to the fact that my first great journey would soon begin. I knew it was time to go to the ocean. Under natural conditions, it would be an arduous journey: over 450 miles of river fraught with predators, rapids, strong currents, and changing salinity that culminates in a rapid biological adaptation to the ocean. Unfortunately, man-made obstacles such as agricultural runoff, heat pollution, stagnant water and dams further complicated my voyage.

June 17, 2020

Northwest Steelheaders Stands in Solidarity

We recognize that ending racial discrimination in the U.S. begins with having discussions about it within our communities. Sixty years ago, our organization was built on the foundation of an active angling community, and we have thrived by fostering this community since. All of our programs are made possible by the strength of our community, by the thousands of hours our members volunteer each year. Through awareness, empathy, and compassion, we have the power to direct this strength toward making our community more inclusive and representative.

April 23, 2020

Keith Hyde’s Mission: Bring New Faces to Fishing

Hyde’s perspective on life and his passion for fishing changed after a long fight with stage four squamous cell cancer, which is a form of throat cancer. As a survivor, he began to more deeply consider his role in the world and the legacy he wants to leave behind. “I started thinking to myself, like, Why me? With this low survivability rate? I'm no one. I'm no one special. I'm no different than any other person. So why did God choose me to survive? I have no idea. But I felt like there has to be some reason.” He paused for a moment before continuing, “I truly believe now that the reason is to promote the outdoors, to take people fishing, to enhance fisheries to provide opportunities for people to fish down the road. So now that's what I tried to do. That's kind of my deal. And I try to drag as many people along with me as I can.”

March 31, 2020

A Unified Voice Facing COVID-19

As you are all aware, our communities, nation and the world face a public health emergency due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) closed recreational fishing statewide for two weeks to promote additional social distancing. Following WDFW’s announcement, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) closed salmon and steelhead fishing on the Columbia River because the two states jointly manage fisheries on the Columbia and seek to have concurrent regulations. This period may be extended if the risk of exposure to COVID-19 is still high. It is important that we rise to the challenge and support one another as a community during this time of uncertainty. Please do your part by following social distancing and stay at home/stay safe mandates from public officials. Please also support health care workers and first responders and their families who are on the front line of this battle by donating money, masks, gloves or other requested personal protective equipment.

March 20, 2020

Request for Call-in Comments on the Snake-Columbia River Salmon & Steelhead DEIS

The Feb. 2020 Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for Snake-Columbia River Salmon and Steelhead was produced by federal agencies under a 2016 court order and analyzes several options for the future management of federal dams in the Columbia Basin, including one option that would remove the four dams on the Lower Snake River. Unfortunately, despite the DEIS' recognition that restoring the lower Snake River would deliver the greatest survival benefits to Snake River fish compared to any of the other options, it instead recommends a Preferred Alternative with only minor modifications to a longstanding approach that has proven to be illegal, costly, and ineffective for over 25 years. You can contribute by contacting legislators!