The Fish Problem

Habitat loss is the single most important factor contributing to salmon and steelhead declines, and restoring habitat function is critical to their recovery. Human actions over the past century have led to a progressive decline in the health and productivity of Oregon’s rivers, streams and lakes. Though the settlers made era-appropriate decisions while “taming” the land, their arrival in the West ushered in an unprecedented time of habitat impact. Harvest, hatchery impacts, hydroelectric facility operations and habitat degradation impair wild fish runs to sustain themselves. Today, more than 85 percent of historic salmon habitat has been lost or compromised throughout the region,  and Pacific salmonid populations flicker at less than 4 percent of their historic abundance. More than 30,000 miles of Oregon’s streams fail to fully support aquatic life due to water quality impairment. 

Through its Wild Fish work, The Freswater Trust identifies key salmon and steelhead habitats and works with numerous partners to carry out basin-scale, complex restoration and protection efforts. Our work is driven by the belief that native salmon and steelhead are central to the culture of the Pacific Northwest, and that the strength and depth of this culture can be positively tested by the challenge of restoring viability to these species as key, iconic threads in its overall cultural fabric. Hallmarks of our Wild Fish work include:

• wild fish recovery;
• basin-scale perspective;
• hiring contractors and puchasing supplies locally; and
• esearch-driven adaptive management, conservation planning and policy.