A new plan released by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife for managing wild steelhead fisheries on Oregon’s southern coastal streams has generated strong reactions from wild steelhead anglers and advocates.
The River Democracy Act brings crucial protections for the overall health of watersheds
The River Democracy Act safeguards some of Oregon’s most famous steelhead and salmon rivers, as well as headwater streams that are crucial to the overall health of watersheds.
Rogue-South Coast Management Plan: Public Comment
After more than two years of development, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) recently released its Rogue-South Coast Multi-Species Conservation and Management Plan (RSP) for public comment. We have the scoop on what’s in it and how you you can speak up on behalf of wild steelhead.
Voices from the River: Welcome to Winter Steelhead Fishing
Dean hollered from upstream as a steelhead took his fly, then hollered again a moment later as the fish released it. At another spot Dean had a nice fish on for perhaps a minute, his rod bowed and bobbing. But that steelhead, too, practiced detachment. Welcome to winter steelhead fishing.
Salmon SuperHwy logs 95 miles … and counting
The Salmon SuperHwy’s Annual Report highlights the power of conservation partnerships to deliver real benefits for coldwater fish and local communities, even in troubled times.
Wild, scenic, and fishable
Today, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon introduced the River Democracy Act of 2021, which would create new Wild and Scenic River designations for a number of stream segments in Oregon where TU is working to protect and restore habitat, water sources and fishing opportunities. TU supports this legislation, which is based on more than 15,000 recommendations submitted by Oregon residents.
The case for better data on Oregon’s South Coast
A fishery management plan being developed for southwest Oregon coastal rivers has generated some debate over whether to temporarily reduce or prohibit harvest of wild steelhead.
It’s time for the lower Snake River dams to go
“It is our collective opinion, based on overwhelming scientific evidence, that restoration of a free-flowing lower Snake River is essential to recovering wild Pacific salmon and steelhead in the basin.”
So reads a remarkable letter recently sent to the governors of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana by 10 of the finest and most-respected salmon and steelhead scientists in the world.
Dean of the Umpqua
The steelhead community is filled with amazingly humble and generous people. We are lucky to have many of those people working here at Wild Steelheaders United. Our fearless leader Dean Finnerty is certainly one of them. Read about our own Sam Davidson’s recent adventure with him on the famous North Umpqua.
Our failure to remember affects salmon and steelhead conservation
We’ve all heard stories from our grandparents of unbelievable abundance and sizes in their fishing forays — the salmon so numerous it boggled the mind, and those Lahontan cutthroat trout so big you couldn’t wrap your arms around them. Yet even with these anecdotes it’s still hard to internalize just how different our experience of today is from way back when. That’s just human nature: memory is hard to maintain, especially across generations.