Regional Resources

Regional Wild Steelhead Resources

In North America, wild steelhead are found in Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California. The challenges facing wild steelhead involve many environmental and political factors and manifest in specific, nuanced ways within specific geographic regions, watersheds, and constituencies. With that in mind, we have compiled lists of regional resources and organizations working on behalf of wild steelhead restoration in their home waters.

 Alaska Wild Steelhead

The last frontier still holds some of the strongest wild steelhead populations on the globe, but the state’s steelhead are starting to experience some of the same challenges facing those in the lower 48.

Although not without its challenges, Alaska is still home to more healthy populations of wild fish than Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California combined. Owing largely to the state’s low population density, largely intact habitat, and some enlightened resource management, Alaska supports a commercial, sport, and subsistence fishing sector valued at billions of dollars annually.

Steelhead in the state are limited to areas south of the Aleutian Peninsula, with the majority of fish returning during late spring. There are a few summer run populations in Southeast Alaska. A few of the larger river systems, not unlike those in Kamchatka, also support fall runs of fish which over-winter in freshwater prior to spawning in the following spring.

Alaska has statewide catch-and-release regulations in place for wild steelhead and there are relatively few dams or hatchery steelhead to impede spawning success. With much of the state’s habitat in relatively good condition and with very little steelhead harvest, Alaska’s wild steelhead populations are arguably the healthiest in the world outside of Kamchatka. But that is not to say everything is perfect as irresponsible logging, destructive extraction projects, increasing sport and commercial fishing pressure, and climate change are all looming threats to the Alaskan wild steelhead populations.

For Alaska to maintain its status as the preeminent American wild fish producer, they must learn from the historic and on-going management mistakes in the Lower 48 and choose a more sustainable path forward. With steelhead and salmon runs declining around the world, it has never been more important to protect Alaska as a stronghold for wild salmon and steelhead.

British Columbia Wild Steelhead

British Columbia has long been the holy land for steelhead anglers and Despite facing many threats, the province is still home to some of the largest remaining populations of wild steelhead in the world.

Blessed with more than 600 miles of coastline, it is easy to imagine British Columbia’s wealth of wild steelhead and salmon bearing watersheds as inexhaustible. Unfortunately, this notion is far from reality as steelhead and salmon numbers have declined significantly across the province.

Relatively healthy populations in the Skeena River system and Central Coast face a litany of threats including bycatch in commercial salmon fisheries, coal bed methane extraction in its headwaters, and a litany of dangerous mines. Further south, Vancouver Island has been devastated by logging, and the rivers that were home to legendary anglers such as Roderick Haig-Brown are mere shadows of their former glory. In the Lower Mainland, logging, overharvest, and urbanization have contributed to the decline of countless salmon and steelhead populations.

British Columbia’s salmonids have also declined due to the province’s abundance of open containment salmon farms, which cause myriad problems such as spreading parasites and imported diseases to wild fish populations. With the government’s support, this destructive industry has grown significantly over the last two decades and is operating with little transparency about its impacts on wild fish. However, it is abundantly clear that wherever these fish farms operate, there have been conspicuous declines in steelhead and salmon populations.

Perhaps no wild steelhead river in British Columbia has struggled as much as the mighty Thompson, which had fewer than 200 wild steelhead return to its waters in 2017 - a far cry from the estimated 7,000 steelhead that returned each year in the 1980s. Despite these abysmal returns, the Canadian government refuses to protect these fish under the Species At Risk Act and is still permitting commercial and First Nations gillnet chum salmon fisheries during peak steelhead migration, which impact these imperiled fish due to destructive bycatch rates.

With the many challenges facing British Columbia’s wild steelhead, the next few years will decide the future of steelhead in the province. Fortunately, BC’s citizens are increasingly telling their government that they will not stand by and allow wild steelhead, one of their most economically, historically, and culturally important natural resources, to disappear from the province.

California Wild Steelhead

California’s once prolific steelhead and salmon rivers have suffered tremendous losses in abundance but are still fighting for survival and provide key signs of hope.

California contains the southernmost extent of salmon and steelhead anywhere in the world. While the northern portion of the state remains fairly unpopulated and still supports some relatively stable populations of salmon and steelhead, salmon and steelhead populations south of the San Francisco Bay Area are in dire straits. Regrettably, the Southern California populations are listed as Endangered and the South Central, Central, and Northern California coast distinct populations are all listed as Threatened.

These populations are depressed due to many of the usual culprits such as logging, dewatering of rivers, historic overharvest, and loss of habitat. However, perhaps the greatest threat to steelhead’s future in California is an increasingly inhospitable ocean. In many instances along the California Coast, freshwater habitat is recovering from decades of abuse, yet salmon and steelhead populations have been slow to respond. A growing body of research is demonstrating that this failed recovery is due to limited ocean survival, which is depressing the rate of recovery.

Historically, the Sacramento and Klamath were the second and third most productive Chinook rivers on the planet, but dams have dramatically altered both watersheds and reduced these crown jewels to a fraction of their historic abundance. Now Sacramento River steelhead and Chinook populations are listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act and are supplemented by large, counterproductive hatchery stocking efforts.

Despite these tremendous losses, there are signs of hope and progress in California. Most notably is on the Klamath River, where agreements are in place to remove the river’s four dams, which would be the largest dam-removal and salmon/steelhead restoration project in history. Additionally, Northern California’s Eel River continues to boast large runs of wild steelhead and salmon and remains perhaps the best chance to restore Pacific steelhead and salmon populations in the entire West.

Idaho Wild Steelhead

Steelhead in Idaho have been victims of some of the most shortsighted, ecologically destructive dam projects in American history.

You cannot tell the story of steelhead in Idaho without telling the story of the state’s fraught history with dams. Once boasting robust runs of steelhead and salmon, Idaho is now home to struggling wild steelhead and salmon populations that are threatened with extinction, thanks to a series of destructive dams that block and degrade fish passage. Native Chinook and steelhead are both listed as threatened and coho are technically extinct in the Snake River. In 1992, returns of endangered sockeye were so critically low that only a single salmon returned to Idaho’s Redfish Lake, a sad distinction that earned him the nickname Lonesome Larry.

The bitter irony though is that Idaho is still home to some of the most pristine habitat remaining in the Lower 48 states and if these dams are removed, the chance for fish recovery is tremendous. The Middle Fork of the Salmon River and the Selway River, a major tributary of the Clearwater, are both protected in wilderness areas and have the potential to be incredibly productive habitat for wild fish. Additionally, other tributaries lead salmon and steelhead home to thousands of miles of spawning habitat in places like Idaho’s Frank Church - River of No Return Wilderness. These tributaries flow through high, cool country and could act as crucial coldwater refuges as the climate warms.

When salmon and steelhead leave Idaho and return years later, they must pass eight mainstem dams along the Columbia and Snake Rivers during their epic migration to and from the Pacific Ocean. The four dams on the lower Snake River - Lower Granite, Little Goose, Lower Monumental and Ice Harbor - take a heavy toll on out-migrating juvenile salmonids and returning adult fish. Perhaps the most heartbreaking part of this story is that all of this damage is caused without much return in benefits as these dams produce relatively little energy and irrigation benefits. In fact, these dams exist largely as a means for providing federally subsidized barging for wheat growers in Idaho, but this grain could be easily moved by railway or trucks, and already often does.

Throughout Idaho, state and federal hatcheries have sought to replace lost wild runs, and today less than a quarter of the fish returning to the Snake system are of wild origin. As a result, in many parts of the basin wild fish are now vastly outnumbered by their hatchery counterparts. This imbalance is a major cause for concern as recent studies have cited high numbers of hatchery co-spawners, which is leading to wild gene degradation and poor ocean survival for the offspring generated by these introgressions.

Removing the lower four Snake River dams is widely regarded as the only way to recover wild steelhead and salmon in the Snake River watershed. For years the conservation community has been fighting tirelessly to make that happen, but thus far the federal government has refused to budge on this issue, despite the mounting science, public pressure, and judgment of federal courts. However, in recent years, the effort to remove these dams is gaining momentum as a slew of former dam removal opponents join the fight to breach these four dams.

Time is ticking for Snake River steelhead and salmon. With a wave of successful dam removals sweeping the region as well as better options for power generation and irrigation coming online, we can only hope that the four lower Snake dams will be breached before it is too late for Idaho’s remaining salmon and steelhead.

Oregon Wild Steelhead

Oregon boasts a tremendous diversity of steelhead habitat, from the arid, high desert tributaries of the Snake and Columbia t0 the wet, Coastal Rainforest.

From arid, high desert rivers such as the Deschutes to rain-soaked, coastal streams like the Wilson and Trask, Oregon is blessed with a remarkably diverse collection of steelhead and salmon rivers. However, as is the case across Steelhead Country, Oregon’s steelhead numbers have experienced a dramatic decline over the last century due to a series of threats that are as diverse as the state’s rivers. Despite this loss of abundance, the state still boasts many of the steelhead world’s most iconic rivers.

Oregon’s Umpqua and Rogue rivers loom large in the history and mythology of steelhead angling, and both rivers still support strong populations of winter and summer steelhead. The North Umpqua’s famous “fly water,” a thirty mile stretch of river concentrated around the mouth of Steamboat Creek, has nurtured steelhead fly fishing traditions for more than a century. Since 1945, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) has been counting returning adult steelhead in the North Umpqua, and remarkably wild winter steelhead in the river have not declined significantly in the last 75 years. While summer steelhead numbers have declined some, populations remain relatively robust. Meanwhile, the Rogue River, which has experienced more acute declines, is experiencing a resurgence in its wild steelhead populations since the removal and modification of eight obsolete dams in recent years.

On the Oregon Coast, wild steelhead populations are relatively stable and are benefitting from restrictive harvest regulations as well as an increased focus on managing forests to support healthy watersheds along with timber production. That said, challenges still exist with Oregon’s management of clear-cutting and subsequent use of herbicides on logged tracts of land.

Unfortunately on the east side of the state, things are going less well on the Deschutes, John Day, Umatilla, Grande Ronde, and Imnaha Rivers, which are all major tributaries to the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Like their neighbors in Idaho and Washington, steelhead in these rivers must navigate a number of dams, which are causing substantial juvenile and adult mortality, and they must also deal with a large influx of hatchery fish that limit the productivity of wild stocks. One bright spot, however, is the John Day River, which supports arguably the healthiest population of summer steelhead in the state. This robust run of summer fish is due to the fact that the river has no dams, does not receive hatchery plants, and has healthy upstream spawning habitat thanks to decades of habitat rehabilitation efforts.

The state of steelhead is also concerning on the Lower Columbia and Willamette Rivers, which are both home to Endangered Species Act listed populations of steelhead and Chinook. On the Willamette, dam construction has blocked roughly half of the historic spawning habitat for native spring Chinook and winter steelhead, but plans are in the works to provide fish passage at dams on the North and South Santiam, McKenzie and Middle Fork Willamette Rivers.

In the coming decades, Oregonians have a great deal of hard work ahead of them to ensure that wild steelhead and salmon can thrive in coastal watersheds and in the tributaries to the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Additionally, wild fish advocates must work to recover and maintain strong habitat and encourage ODFW to reform hatchery programs to reduce their impact on wild fish populations. While there is much work to be done, there remains great confidence in Oregon’s ability to thoughtfully manage its wild steelhead populations and ensure these watersheds recover and thrive for years to come.

Washington Wild Steelhead

Washington’s rivers are a far cry from what they once were, but they still support summer and winter steelhead.

From the glacial rivers of the Olympic and Cascade mountains to the tributaries of the Upper Columbia and Snake, the rivers of Washington state were historically unrivaled in the abundance and diversity of steelhead and salmon they supported. However, the last century has not been kind to Washington’s salmonids as many stocks of salmon and steelhead throughout the state are now listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Washington’s salmon and steelhead have died a death of a thousand cuts. Dam building in Puget Sound and on the Columbia River has contributed to the decline of many populations. Habitat destruction has been rampant throughout the state due to clear cutting of timber, poorly designed culverts, as well as urbanization and development in estuaries and prime rearing habitat. Massive hatchery programs that for decades relied on out-of-basin hatchery fish have impaired wild genetics and posed immense ecological threats. Additionally, decades of intense commercial and recreational harvest pressure has also played a significant role in the dramatic decline of steelhead and salmon in Washington.

For millions of Washingtonians, nowhere is the loss of wild steelhead more painful than in the Puget Sound watershed, which was once one of the most productive steelhead ecosystems in the world. Based on commercial catch records, steelhead abundance in Puget Sound at the turn of the 20th Century has been estimated at more than 1,000,000 fish returning annually. The Snohomish River system alone is thought to have been home to as many as 224,000 steelhead in some years. These days Puget Sound steelhead, which are listed as a Threatened population under the Endangered Species Act, are returning in numbers around 14,000 fish, less than 1.5 percent of their historic size.

Unfortunately, the decline of Puget Sound’s steelhead is not an aberration in Washington, as populations of steelhead are listed as Threatened in the Lower Columbia, Middle Columbia, Upper Columbia, and Snake Rivers. For many years, the Olympic Peninsula and Southwest Washington were thought to be some of the healthiest remaining runs of steelhead in the state, but they too have suffered from decades of destructive logging, overharvest (including commercial fisheries targeting steelhead), and massive hatchery programs. Despite containing some of the most pristine remaining habitat in Washington, many of these rivers have missed steelhead spawning escapement goals in recent years.

A bright spot for wild steelhead in Washington is the Elwha River, where two illegal, fish-blocking dams were recently breached in what was the largest dam removal project in American history. Already this effort has allowed steelhead and salmon to reach spawning habitat that had been blocked to them for over 100 years, and nearly extirpated summer steelhead have staged an amazing comeback. Wild fish advocates are watching this recovery closely for insights and lessons that could be applied to other damaged river systems, such as the Snake River.

After more than a century of precipitous decline, Washington’s wild steelhead have a long and arduous road to recovery. However, the resurgence of summer steelhead on the Elwha and winter steelhead in the Skagit demonstrates that when good management practices are paired with quality habitat, Washington’s wild steelhead populations can recover.