Then she moved to Seattle for a job with NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center. Orienting herself in the Salish Sea’s complex network of bays, lakes and fjords was a very different challenge. For help, she turned to salmon.

“Tracking where the salmon were helped me to figure out where I was in these strange new landscapes,” says Dr. Sullaway. “Salmon really helped me get to know both the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.”

Photo Credit: Photo courtesy Dr. Genoa Sullaway.

Wild Salmon Center Fisheries Analyst Dr. Genoa Sullaway.

As Wild Salmon Center’s new Fisheries Analyst, Dr. Sullaway leverages data to help us see where salmon are today—both physically, in oceans and rivers, as well as how they’re faring in a changing world. 

Below, Dr. Sullaway shares why she doesn’t take a “winner-takes-all” approach to salmon conservation, the big questions her research can answer, and why her home river gives her hope. 

“Tracking where the salmon were really helped me get to know both the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.”

Wild Salmon Center Fisheries Analyst Dr. Genoa Sullaway

Wild Salmon Center: Were salmon part of your early life? 

Dr. Genoa Sullaway: They weren’t, not really. Around San Diego, rivers are different. They’re pretty dirty, with lots of concrete. My first connection came from eating salmon, as food. But perhaps even more, from loving the ocean.

My family are water people. Driving down the hill from my parent’s house, you can see tidepools and kelp forests. I grew up surfing and sailing. It’s remained a big force in my life. In my spare time now, in Port Angeles where I live, I spend a lot of my time connecting with the ocean. I free dive for sea urchins, forage for shellfish, recreate on or near the water.

Do you have a favorite salmon memory?

Maybe the first time I went to Lake Iliamna, in Alaska. It was 2023. I was completing my PhD in Fisheries with the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. My research focused on both Bristol Bay sockeye and chum populations in the Yukon River. 

We came into the inlet of Knutson Bay, and the water was so blue, so clear. That year, Bristol Bay recorded the biggest run of sockeye it had ever seen, and before me stretched what seemed like walls of red fish. From the boat it seemed like it went on forever. I think sockeye are still my favorite fish.

Photo Credit: Photo courtesy Dr. Genoa Sullaway.

Dr. Genoa Sullaway with a sockeye salmon in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region.

What was the focus of your doctoral research?

Broadly speaking, I used models to understand how both climate change and anthropogenic factors impact salmon. 

For Lake Iliamna sockeye, for example, I was looking at how changes in climate impact when sockeye come back from the ocean. One of the things we found is that in warm years both in the lake and in the ocean, sockeye runs were returning younger. 

For Yukon chum, we looked at both climate and human factors, and how they impacted return numbers overall. It was clear from the data that these runs were struggling.

Zooming out: what would you say was your big takeaway? 

In salmon conservation, sometimes people try to pick winners and losers. It’s true that sockeye in Bristol Bay so far seem to be doing really well at adapting to climate change—especially as compared with Yukon chum, who we’ve seen to be feeling negative impacts from climate change at all stages of their life cycle. By the data, some might say that these runs are losing in the race to adapt.

But conversations like that can leave out a huge lever, which is fisheries management. Every year, we change how we manage different fisheries. These decisions are actually right in the middle of the winners and losers narrative. So what we do, as humans, can be huge in nudging even a so-called loser toward more successful adaptation.

“In salmon conservation, sometimes people try to pick winners and losers. But that can leave out a huge lever. What we do, as humans, can be huge.”

Wild Salmon Center Fisheries Analyst Dr. Genoa Sullaway

You joined the Wild Salmon Center team in late 2025. What convinced you?

The stronghold approach is pretty exciting to me. It’s relatively unique in the conservation space. It brings a more positive lens to salmon conservation, in protecting these ecosystems that really do give us so much, rather than focusing on direness and decline.

I’m also excited to have a seat at the table between many groups. Inside the agencies that manage fisheries, folks are really busy day in and day out. It can be hard for our partners to find time to develop new tools, or move toward more sustainable fishing practices. In this role, I can zoom out, look at the bigger needs.

What kinds of needs are you seeing?

There are a lot of questions that we can answer to help our partners be more strategic with their resources. For me, I can thread a lot of salmon ecology data that’s out there—like the genetics work of my colleague Dr. Tasha Thompson—with other datasets to help with these decisions.

“It can be hard for our partners to find time to develop new tools, or move toward more sustainable fishing practices. In this role, I can look at the bigger needs.”

Wild Salmon Center Fisheries Analyst Dr. Genoa Sullaway

Photo Credit: Photo courtesy Dr. Genoa Sullaway.

Dr. Genoa Sullaway, center right, with colleagues sampling salmon carcasses for research.

Take spring Chinook: we’re looking at questions like whether access to exclusive habitat is make-or-break for the persistence of these populations. When spring Chinook can access places that fall Chinook can’t reach, what magnitude of benefit do we see? These are insights that could be really useful.

There are many questions right now about marine salmon fisheries—particularly around stock interception in the ocean. Where specific stocks are, for example, and how many are being caught at sea? 

Answers are critical for fisheries to be able to adapt to climate change and the dynamics we’re seeing in salmon. With the Wild Salmon Center Science team, I’m working to pull together and synthesize data so that communities and fisheries can pursue more informed and equitable approaches to salmon management in a changing ocean.

Issues around salmon fisheries can be pretty fraught, especially between different nations and regions. How do you see your role?

Good science, in my view, can really help more people engage in processes like these. Conversations about salmon fisheries can be difficult and emotional. At Wild Salmon Center. I’m part of a team that’s deeply committed to sharing data in a fair way and helping people follow the science.

“Conversations about salmon fisheries can be difficult. I’m part of a team that’s committed to sharing data in a fair way and helping people follow the science.”

Wild Salmon Center Fisheries Analyst Dr. Genoa Sullaway

What kind of impact would you like to make with your research, in the coming years?

Ultimately, my hope is that my work can help drive change in fisheries management. For example, many managers today base escapement goals on the reproductive ability of an average salmon, salmon of a certain size. That average salmon size might be from the 1990s. And yet we know that fish are returning to rivers smaller and smaller. Smaller fish have fewer eggs. So these escapement goals might need to shift.

Since your boat trip to Knutson Bay, you’ve spent a lot more time in salmon rivers. What do these places mean to you today?

 

Photo Credit: Photo courtesy Dr. Genoa Sullaway.

Dr. Genoa Sullaway gets a little too close to a bed of mussels. Ouch! (Photo courtesy Dr. Genoa Sullaway.)

I live about 10 miles away from the Elwha River. I see it every day. I walk my dog there, gather there with friends, camp and backpack along the stretch of the watershed. There’s an encouraging story there, with the return of ceremonial fisheries to the river.

I think about what salmon represent outside of ecology, or science. I think of them as part of my community. I think about hosting a potluck, having a bunch of people over where we’re all eating salmon. And I want to be able to keep doing that. 

“I think about what salmon represent outside of ecology, or science. I think of them as part of my community.”

Wild Salmon Center Fisheries Analyst Dr. Genoa Sullaway

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Spring Chinook in particular, love this big, emerald blue pool just yards from the sea. Many linger here in summer and early fall: a reason why it’s long been an important fishing area for members of the Hoh Tribe. 

And yet, in both 2020 and 2022, the Hoh Tribe largely closed its spring Chinook fishery, concerned by forecasts predicting poor returns of salmon to this 56-mile system. The Tribe’s closures aimed to help the run rebound. And in 2024, Tribal experts noted that escapement numbers—adult fish that pass upriver before harvest begins—were the highest since 2002. 

Photo Credit: Luke Kelly, Trout Unlimited

Just inside the sheltered elbow of the Hoh River estuary, hundreds of spring Chinook salmon have been obsered. The mystery is where do they go next—further upriver to spawn, or back out to sea, aiming for other rivers?

The Tribe has long focused on making sure escapement goals are met upriver. But what of the large numbers of spring Chinook pooling in the estuary?

“Even in years when we expected low numbers of Chinook and the fishery was closed, we still observed many Chinook hanging out in the lower river,” says James Losee, Wild Salmon Center’s Senior Wild Fish Manager for Washington State. “It didn’t always make sense with what we were seeing upriver.”

“Even in years when we expected low numbers of Chinook, we still observed many hanging out in the lower river. It didn’t always make sense.”

Wild Salmon Center Washington Senior Wild Fish Manager James Losee

For Tribal fishery managers and research partners like Losee, that potential disconnect raised a question: what if these fish in the estuary aren’t actually Hoh River salmon? 

“Salmon migrating along ocean coastlines have been known to take breaks on their way home,” Losee says. “They’re called “dip-ins.” 

Every year, large numbers of spring Chinook salmon hang out in the Hoh River estuary. A new fish tracking project aims to find out if these are temporary visitors from other rivers, or fish that eventually will head further upriver to spawn.

With its cold, glacial waters, Losee says, the Hoh estuary would be a fantastic place to slow down for a bit on the long journey back to other home rivers.  

“If these fish lingering in the estuary are tourists, just stopping by to visit, the next thing we’d want to know is if they’re from large healthy populations,” Losee says. “If that’s the case, that might reopen some fishing options for Tribal fishers while we work to figure out what’s really going on with the Hoh’s native wild fish.”

To solve these interlocking mysteries, the Hoh Tribe invited Wild Salmon Center and other partners to join forces to genetically identify these fish and acoustically track them, potentially across oceans.

“Our first duty is to protect the fish in our home rivers,” says Bernard Afterbuffalo, a Hoh Tribal member and the Tribe’s Natural Resources Technician. “But fishing is also our way of life. That’s why we’re very interested to see what we can learn from our fish tracking project.”

“Fishing is our way of life. That’s why we’re very interested to see what we can learn from our fish tracking project.”

Hoh Tribe Natural Resources Technician Bernard Afterbuffalo

Over summer 2025, Hoh Tribe natural resource experts and other partners accompanied Wild Salmon’s Center’s James Losee on many field trips throughout the Hoh River Basin to tag wild fish and install telemetry devices along riverbanks.

The project began in earnest in spring and summer 2025, as Losee and Tribal fishery staff spent days in the Hoh River estuary simulating the traditional Tribal fishery to catch adult spring Chinook.

Moving quickly between live wells of river water, the team safely sedated each fish and performed a three-minute surgery to attach what Losee calls a “backpack”—an acoustically-tagged saddle to broadcast the fish’s location. Then, the team carefully released each fish back into the water.

The team also spent time bushwhacking throughout the watershed. Near the edges of the Hoh mainstem and several tributaries, they installed more than a dozen telemetry devices—each resembling a two-liter bottle of soda pop—to listen for fish with acoustic tags and report back.

Now, the tracking project enters data collection. For the next two years, the Hoh’s listening devices will record any passing spring Chinook wearing a backpack (along with additional fish species tagged from this and other projects).

Combined with genetic analysis, this information can help solve the mystery of whether any of the estuary springers are native to the Hoh. 

To track the movements of the rest—potential dip-ins from other rivers—the team is tapping into a growing network of similar telemetry devices up and down the Pacific Coast.

Photo Credit: Wild Salmon Center

Hoh Tribal member Phil Riebe holds up an acoustic tracking device, referred to as a “backpack.” Surgically attached to dozens of spring Chinook in the Hoh River, these devices can help us track where they go next—whether farther upriver to spawn, or back out to sea, heading for other rivers.

“This is an exciting time to be a salmon tracker,” Losee says. “Pretty much anywhere from Alaska to California, we can see almost in real-time where these salmon go. We can basically follow them to their home rivers.”

“This is an exciting time to be a salmon tracker. Anywhere from Alaska to California, we can see almost in real-time where these salmon go.”

Wild Salmon Center Washington Senior Wild Fish Manager James Losee

Photo Credit: © Atlas of Pacific Salmon (X. Augerot) 2005

The full range of Chinook salmon across the Pacific Rim. While most adult Chinook find their way back to the river of their birth after their ocean life stage, a percentage of every population strays. With our partners, we aim to find out whether the Hoh’s mysterious estuary springers are native fish, strays, or temporary dip-ins from other rivers.

If Chinook salmon caught in the Hoh ultimately travel on to other home rivers, it could mean that some could be harvested without impacting Hoh spring Chinook. This ambitious project could also shed light on questions that go well beyond the Hoh—such as how best to balance fishing and conservation efforts up and down the West Coast.

“When we decide whether to fish or not, these are decisions we can make here as a Tribe, within our community,” Afterbuffalo says. “But if we do our part in the Hoh to recover salmon and yet fish keep suffering, then the solutions need to be bigger as well.”

Data collection like this is a big step in the right direction, Losee says. The more we know about how Hoh salmon move in ocean and freshwater, the more options the Hoh Tribe has to steward its fishery and advance international salmon science.

Across the Pacific, fish tracking projects like this are on the rise—starting with work by Wild Salmon Center and our partners to bring this novel science to other river systems across the Pacific Rim.

Photo Credit: Wild Salmon Center

Wild Salmon Center’s James Losee with a telemetry device ready to be installed on the Hoh River mainstem.

“What we learn in the Hoh could support Tribal fishers to get back on the water sooner,” Losee says. “But this project is also a perfect example of the nexus between salmon science, fish management, and treaty rights. Big picture science like this really does show what could be possible in other salmon rivers.”

“Big picture science like this really does show what could be possible in other salmon rivers.”

Wild Salmon Center Washington Senior Wild Fish Manager James Losee

Photo Credit: Wild Salmon Center

Project partners out in the field. Pictured: Hoh Tribe natural resource experts, Wild Salmon Center staff, and other partners including colleagues at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

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It’s a blistering August afternoon in the hills above Oregon’s North Umpqua River. Dr. Tasha Thompson’s family is out getting ice cream. She’s at home on her laptop, sitting as close as possible to the A/C unit.

Dr. Thompson, a world-renowned salmon geneticist with Wild Salmon Center, has updates to share—and in the world of conservation science, they’re pretty much as cool as it gets.

“The tools that we’re developing are helping us unlock some fascinating insights about salmon,” she says. “But whether you’re looking at brook trout, or tigers, or spider monkeys, you can also use these tools.”

“The tools that we’re developing are helping us unlock some fascinating insights about salmon. But whether you’re looking at brook trout, or tigers, or spider monkeys, you can also use these tools.”

Wild Salmon Center Salmon Geneticist Dr. Tasha Thompson

These advances come courtesy of three soon-to-be-published studies coauthored by Dr. Thompson. One of these groundbreaking new studies suggests future possibilities for spring Chinook across their range. Another presents a new genetic approach designed to improve salmon analysis—but that’s equally applicable to any species. And the third, focused tightly on North Umpqua summer steelhead, could help this world-famous wild run regain its long-term competitive advantage. 

Below, we ask Dr. Thompson to share early takeaways from this new research.

Wild Salmon Center: For several years, you’ve been mapping wild Chinook salmon genetics across the North Pacific. Where are we with that project?

Dr. Tasha Thompson: We’ve completed data collection, now that we have final sample sets in from places like the Taku and Karluk. Now, we’re incorporating all the data into our wider analysis. We’re also refining our main case study, which centers on Dean River Chinook run timing and demographics, and also presents our new genetic method. Because this new method is so cool and potentially useful on its own, we’ve already submitted that as a separate paper for publication. For the larger analysis on range-wide Chinook genetics, we aim to submit that study for publication within the next couple of months.

I should note that even as we wait for the first paper to go through peer review, it is already out in the world and publicly available on a preprint server. We thought these tools could help other conservation genetics researchers. And indeed, we’ve already been contacted by folks who want to know more—an East Coast researcher, for example, working on brook trout conservation.

“We thought these tools could help other conservation genetics researchers. And indeed, we’ve already been contacted by folks who want to know more.”

Wild Salmon Center Salmon Geneticist Dr. Tasha Thompson

Why do we need a range-wide genetic map for Chinook salmon?

Dr. Thompson: Chinook salmon are perhaps the most culturally and commercially prized of all salmon species. They range from the Central Valley in California to Alaska and across to Kamchatka, and each of these runs is adapted to unique environments. The problem is that many of those environments are changing rapidly, due to climate change and other factors.

Genetics help us see the adaptive potential that already exists within these populations. A population might carry a genetic variation that could help it adapt to new conditions. Some studies on adaptive variation already exist, but most to date have focused on southern Chinook runs. If we want to focus on overall strategies for Chinook conservation, however, we need big picture data.

There are a lot of benefits to a publicly-available, range-wide genomic dataset like this. It can dramatically reduce the cost of applying discoveries made in one population to other parts of the range. And it makes it possible to test things that we need to know about Chinook on a broad scale. An example of this is the genetic marker, Greb1L, that dictates the very different run timing of spring Chinook versus fall Chinook.

We wanted to know if in northern rivers like the Dean, where these runs converge more closely—they can be more like one extended summer run—that variation in Greb1L is still present. And we found that yes, variation in Greb1L is both present and continuing to play a key role in run timing. That matters because climate change is now rapidly altering northern salmon watersheds like the Dean. 

“There are a lot of benefits to a publicly-available, range-wide genomic dataset like this.”

Wild Salmon Center Salmon Geneticist Dr. Tasha Thompson

Eventually, watersheds like the Dean might be more like southern salmon rivers, where the environment tends to select for more clearly defined spring and fall runs. If these northern rivers harbor some of the same early and late migration alleles—or versions—of GREB1L that southern rivers do, that’s a good sign for the adaptive potential of those populations.  

What do you hope will be the long-term impact of your research, and the public database you’re making available?

Dr. Thompson: I have three main hopes. The first is that once this range-wide database is out in the world, these prove to be tools that we can use for a long time—and by many different researchers.

Second, I’m excited that we’re learning more about the fine-tuning of the Greb1L genetic markers, which has been core to my research for years now. I think what we learn from this marker now that we have a range-wide map could help unlock some really prescient conservation strategies for salmon.

A third big hope that I have is that this marks the start of more research on adaptive variation in northern Chinook salmon runs, which, as I’ve noted, has been understudied in comparison with southern runs.

Okay, let’s shift to your work with North Umpqua summer steelhead. Can you describe this project for us?

Dr. Thompson: This is a project that I’ve been moving forward that expands on the research of Michelle Pepping, a UC-Davis graduate student. It’s personal for me in that this work focuses on my home river here in Oregon, the North Umpqua. It also expands on my research on the Greb1L genetic marker, which dictates run timing for summer steelhead, much like it does for spring Chinook salmon.  

What’s the problem here that this research could help resolve?

Dr. Thompson: Well, the North Umpqua is known all over the world for its summer steelhead run. It drives a robust recreational fishing economy. The fact that we have historically had such a strong summer steelhead run means that our steelheading season goes for many months longer than it otherwise would. The problem is that North Umpqua summer steelhead have seen steep declines in the last ten years, and answers have been hard to find. 

We have a core hypothesis about why summer run steelhead exist in the first place: they can access habitat that winter steelhead can’t. It’s really hard to be a summer steelhead. They stop eating once they enter freshwater, and they can be in freshwater for up to 10 months before they spawn. That’s a long time to go without eating! And they also have to sexually develop during that time, which takes a lot of energy. Because of the challenges they already face, summers are at a serious disadvantage when they have to compete directly with winter steelhead for spawning habitat. But low river flows in the summer allow summer steelhead to get up over steep cascades and waterfalls that become impassable barriers in the winter when flows are much higher. That means the summer run can access exclusive habitat where they don’t have to compete with winter steelhead.  

 To test this, we wanted to know where summer steelhead were showing up in the North Umpqua, where winter steelhead were, and what, if any, true flow dependent barriers were keeping them separate. To create our map, we sampled extensively throughout the basin for the and tested the samples at GREB1L. 

“We have a core hypothesis about why summer run steelhead exist in the first place.  To test this, we wanted to know where summer steelhead were showing up in the North Umpqua, where winter steelhead were, and what, if any, true flow dependent barriers were keeping them separate.”

Wild Salmon Center Salmon Geneticist Dr. Tasha Thompson

And what did you find?

Dr. Thompson: We found that Steamboat Creek may actually be one of the only truly exclusive summer steelhead habitats in the North Umpqua. In some years, other creeks might have semi-exclusive habitat, but the barriers on Steamboat Creek were the only ones we found that had exclusively summer run steelhead above them. So this one creek is critical for the North Umpqua’s summer steelhead run. That puts a lot of pressure on Steamboat Creek. 

This paper might be out in the world even sooner than your range-wide Chinook study. What could be some applications for this research that you’d like to see? 

Dr. Thompson: Well, I think that for a salmon conservationist interested in protecting North Umpqua summer steelhead, one obvious takeaway from our work is that this run needs as many opportunities as possible to make use of its genetic advantage. 

Certainly work to make sure Steamboat Creek continues to provide viable habitat for steelhead generally will benefit the summer run. But there may be additional opportunities to help the summer run specifically. 

For example, a dam on the upper mainstem North Umpqua blocked steelhead from passing between 1952 and 2012 when a fish ladder was installed. Now steelhead are beginning to recolonize habitat above the dam. There’s a tributary up there with 30-40 miles of great habitat, and it has a barrier on it that we’re sure is impassable in the winter. We’re currently working to understand whether summer steelhead are recolonizing that tributary, and evaluating potential management approaches that might help that upper basin area harbor some exclusive summer steelhead habitat.

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Recent political shifts in the United States are creating new headwinds for wild salmon, steelhead, and trout. Wild Salmon Center’s federal affairs team is closely tracking these challenges for wild fish conservation—along with a few new opportunities—in the 119th U.S. Congress and second Trump Administration.

“Wild Salmon Center has successfully worked with every U.S. administration in our history,” says Wild Salmon Center President & CEO Guido Rahr.  “That’s because our wild places and public lands heritage transcend politics. They matter to every American.”

That said, Rahr notes, the Trump Administration has been clear that it wants to dramatically reshape the federal workforce and budgeting landscape. 

“We have hard work ahead of us, to fit salmon and river conservation into this Administration’s agenda,” he says. “We know this will take strategy, credibility, and trust.”

Below we share some recent wins on the national stage, even as we note setbacks. We also spotlight critical conversations taking place right now in Washington, D.C.—ones that could swing several ways for salmon and their home rivers.

“Wild Salmon Center has successfully worked with every U.S. administration in our history. We have hard work ahead of us, to fit salmon and river conservation into this Administration’s agenda.”

Wild Salmon Center President and CEO Guido Rahr

Progress we’re making

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION WILL DEFEND BRISTOL BAY

In July, we received good news from the U.S. Department of Justice, when the agency announced that it would uphold and defend federal decisions that effectively block the Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska, home to one of the world’s greatest wild salmon fisheries. 

The two decisions—a 2020 U.S. Army Corps rejection of a key mine permit and the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2023 decision to invoke the Clean Water Act to protect Bristol Bay’s headwaters from future versions of Pebble—are both being challenged in federal court by Pebble backer Northern Dynasty Minerals. 

Now, as the litigation moves forward in court, Wild Salmon Center and our partners in the Bristol Bay Defense Fund will fight alongside the full force of the U.S. government to ensure that mining threats never again put this irreplaceable salmon stronghold at risk. 

BIPARTISAN LEGISLATION INTRODUCED TO SAFEGUARD FLOODPLAINS

In May, Senators Patti Murray (D-WA) and Steve Daines (R-MT) introduced the Floodplain Enhancement and Recovery Act: bipartisan legislation that Wild Salmon Center worked closely with Congressional leaders to shape. 

The bill aims to accelerate permitting processes for ecosystem restoration in regulated floodplains: federally-managed floodplains within salmon watersheds that dot the coastal Pacific Northwest.

“Permitting reform is a goal of this Congress,” says Wild Salmon Center Government Affairs Director Jess Helsley. “We agree that there are places where streamlining processes are necessary.”

A place to start, Helsley says, is in floodplains regulated by FEMA, where cost-effective, nature-based solutions that aim to improve infrastructure and aquatic resources are currently held up by burdensome federal red tape. The Floodplain Enhancement and Recovery Act, she says, is a commonsense fix to this problem. 

“Accelerating permitting for low-risk projects in low-risk areas means we can speed and scale the habitat restoration projects that salmon need,” Helsley says. “It also means our friends and neighbors can access more solutions to decrease the risk of flood damage in their communities.” 

“Permitting reform is a goal of this Congress. Accelerating permitting for low-risk projects in low-risk areas means we can speed and scale projects that salmon need.”

Wild Salmon Center Government Affairs Director Jess Helsley

Issues we’re tracking

Beyond these bright spots, however, looms a wave of potentially damaging executive orders, policy changes, and unprecedented budget cuts. Collectively, they could reverse decades of progress for the conservation and management of America’s wild fish and wild places—at a moment when, after decades of investment, we’re starting to make real progress for wild salmon and their rivers. 

PUBLIC LAND SALES

Case in point: millions of acres of American public lands were nearly sold off in June, as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Brought by Utah Senator Mike Lee, these land sale provisions were ultimately defeated, thanks in part to strong advocacy from key Wild Salmon Center board members and other partners in our conservation network. For the moment, these lands are safe from further development and resource extraction, but Rahr notes that Senator Lee and his allies continue to push for public land sales through other avenues.

“Wild Salmon Center and our partners are closely tracking these developments and remain engaged with political and agency leaders,” Rahr says. “We’re going to work every angle to keep these special places whole.” 

“Wild Salmon Center and our partners are going to work every angle to keep these special places whole.” 

Wild Salmon Center President and CEO Guido Rahr

MAINTAINING CORE FEDERAL CONSERVATION AND SCIENCE PROGRAMS

Right now, core functions in many federal agencies are challenged by workforce reductions and budget cuts—from fish monitoring at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to the National Resources Conservation Service’s popular conservation grant programs for farmers.

With our partners, we’re working to ensure that NOAA and other natural resource agencies get the funding they need to manage salmon fisheries, restore critical habitats, and perform other essential functions necessary to safeguard wild salmon. This includes funding support for the scientific research that drives the productivity of America’s fisheries. 

“Every year, salmon fishers rely on federal scientists to provide high quality harvest forecasts, identify where and when to fish, and help keep watersheds healthy,” says Wild Salmon Center Science Director Dr. Matthew Sloat. “Without skilled federal scientists and managers, American fisheries would be less prepared and less productive. We must hold on to this talent.”

As of this summer, our federal affairs team is in full court press to ensure that Congressional appropriations include funding for these core salmon programs and others. Congress faces an end-of September deadline for these decisions—after which we’ll aim to ensure that the Administration spends these funds as directed by Congress.

“Without skilled federal scientists and managers, American fisheries would be less prepared and less productive. We must hold on to this talent.”

Wild Salmon Center Science Director Dr. Matthew Sloat

ADVANCING THE PARTNERSHIPS THAT ARE REBUILDING AMERICAN RIVERS

Conservation nonprofits like Wild Salmon Center have been essential partners of the U.S. government for decades. In many cases, we coordinate—and quite literally are—the shovels and boots that put federal investments to work. 

Wild Salmon Center has a long history of working with federal agencies to advance science, coastal restoration, and fisheries management. And these agencies have noted the efficiency and effectiveness of these partnerships. In 2024, NOAA cited the ongoing river restoration work of the Wild Salmon Center-led Coast Coho Partnership as key to recovery trends for Oregon Coast coho salmon.

“Right now, we’ve increased coho salmon abundance to the point where we have a real shot at delisting the first salmon species ever under the Endangered Species Act,” Rahr says. “But it’s happening at a moment when the federal partnerships that drive this work are deeply at risk. We’re working with leaders from both parties to protect the funds needed to complete the recovery of wild coho.”

“Right now, we have a real shot at delisting the first salmon species ever under the Endangered Species Act. We’re working with leaders from both parties to complete the recovery of wild coho.”

Wild Salmon Center President and CEO Guido Rahr

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See what’s possible when people across the North Pacific work together to protect the world’s last, best salmon rivers. “Strongholds for the future,” our 2024 Impact Report, tells the story of Wild Salmon Center’s stronghold strategy in action.

The stronghold strategy has been our guide for 25 years. We built this strategy to ensure that salmon can continue to thrive for generations, and us alongside them. By proactively protecting our greatest salmon rivers, we also protect global food security, biodiversity, and climate resilience.

The stronghold strategy rests on three pillars: protections for land and water, wild salmon diversity, and local stewards. In our new report, we show how this unique approach is making an impact across the planet.

Report Highlights

In Alaska, long-standing federal law protects millions of public acres from mineral, oil, and gas development—including in iconic salmon watersheds like the Copper and Bristol Bay. We’re defending these land and water protections alongside business owners, Tribes, hunters, anglers, mushers, and outdoor enthusiasts.

In British Columbia, we’re advancing the science to better understand—and protect—wild fish diversity through technologies both new and ancient. Projects like Salmon Vision are now expanding to rivers across the province and accelerating the transition to data-rich, selective fisheries.

In Oregon and Washington, a growing network of local stewards share our vision of salmon rivers fully restored. With these partners, we’re scaling our whole-watershed restoration plans to 21 river systems in the next five years.

This past winter, in the scientific journal Fisheries, we published insights from decades of practical application of the stronghold strategy, so that conservationists and fisheries managers around the world can build on our experience, successes, and lessons learned.

Now, we share these powerful stories with you: from the sweeping land protections our coalition helped to secure in Alaska to our painstaking coho recovery campaign in Oregon.

Wild salmon and steelhead represent endurance, interconnection, and hope. We need the story of salmon more than ever. As you read through our new Impact Report, we hope you share our pride in how far we’ve come together, along with a renewed sense of resolve for the work ahead.

If you’re inspired, please make a gift today to help protect the wild salmon rivers of the North Pacific. Together we can ensure they endure for generations to come.

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4 a.m. on August 2, 2025. Neap tides on the Oregon Coast are at their lowest ebb in months when excavators breach the levee. 

Illuminated by floodlights, the heavy machines begin in the middle of the levee and work backward, scooping away the line of compacted fill above the subsided waters. For at least 75 years, this earthen wall on the Coos River has blocked tidewater from seeping into a triangle of pastureland—historically wetlands—just beyond. 

Ed Cope could hardly believe that he was finally here, witnessing the start of a new chapter for the Coos Basin and its wild salmon. As the onsite project manager for the Millicoma Confluence Project—named for its location right below the merger of the South Fork Coos and Millicoma Rivers—this moment caps years of work by Cope and his colleagues at the Coos Watershed Association, a key partner in the Wild Salmon Center-led Coast Coho Partnership.

“This site is at what we refer to as an epicenter,” Cope says. “In winter, with coastal storms and king tides, a lot of water pumps through here. That’s why it’s really important that young fish can find calmer places like these wetlands to find food and refuge before heading out to sea.”

“In winter, with coastal storms and king tides, a lot of water pumps through here. That’s why it’s really important that young fish can find calmer places like these wetlands.”

Ed Cope, Plants Program Manager, Coos Watershed Association

Across the Oregon Coast, restoration projects like this are picking up steam, accelerated in part by recent federal investments in the Coast Coho Partnership’s science-based action plans for salmon recovery. Each of these plans (nine and counting) target a key Oregon watershed, ranking projects within each that can deliver the greatest return on investment for wild salmon.

In the case of the Millicoma project, that investment starts with unlocking the nearly 11 acres of high quality habitat behind the excavators. Wetlands can be robust nurseries for young fish. Juvenile salmon who spend time rearing in these tidally-influenced coastal habitats grow larger and healthier before their ocean adventures. As a result, they enjoy higher survival rates into adulthood—all the way through to their later return to spawn in home streams. 

By blocking off this haven next to a turbulent mainstem, the levee has made life harder for Coos Basin salmon for decades. It wasn’t built with fish in mind.

Decades ago, this property was purchased by timber company Weyerhauser to serve one purpose: to corral the massive logs that upland forestry workers once shunted down the South Fork Coos and Millicoma. From this staging area, logs were lashed into larger rafts and floated down to Coos Bay. As forestry practices shifted, the levee was built to convert the land into potential pasture—although this land was rarely, if ever, farmed.

“This is a parcel of property that Weyerhauser didn’t even know we still owned until about 2016,” says Jason Richardson, Weyerhauser’s area manager and the company engineer advising on the project. “It’s been so long since we did log drives.”

When this 10.8 acre parcel came to the attention of Richardson and his colleagues, they quickly saw it wasn’t an asset for Weyerhauser. Railroads and other forms of transport had of course replaced log drives long ago. But there was a further issue. In their assessment, Richardson’s team realized that the levee’s aging tidegate was failing, putting nearby homes at risk.

“Our number one goal was to work with our neighbors to save these homes from flooding,” Richardson says. “And we also saw the opportunity to restore the pasture to its former glory.”

“Our number one goal was to work with our neighbors to save these homes from flooding. We also saw the opportunity to restore the pasture to its former glory.”

Jason Richardson, Area Manager, Weyerhauser

Weyerhauser, a member of the Coos Basin Coho Partnership (a local chapter of our Coast Coho Partnership), contacted the Coos Watershed Association. The association, in turn, reached out to Wild Salmon Center—which secured critical funds for the project from the NOAA Restoration Center and other funders—as well as the Wild Rivers Land Trust and the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians. 

This level of collaboration makes sense, given the partnership’s ultimate vision for this once-forgotten pastureland. Even now, with the Millicoma wetlands still on the path to recovery, the partners are looking beyond—to a future in which this property is formally transferred to the Tribes, the original stewards of these lands and waters. That’s the larger story, says Wild Salmon Center Oregon Senior Habitat Restoration Manager Dr. Tim Elder—and one that’s been quietly unfolding here for some time.

“The Millicoma Confluence Project is a perfect example of what’s going right for coho recovery in Oregon,” Dr. Elder says. “It’s the story of private companies, Tribes, and local conservation groups seeing opportunities, having conversations, and making big things happen. It’s a story we’re seeing more and more across the coast, because there are just so many great reasons to restore our salmon rivers back to health.”

Cope agrees. He’s ready for this tale to start taking shape—and he won’t have long to wait. The excavators have just hours to scoop their way back before rising tidewater begins to seep, for the first time in decades, back into this new, old wetland. And with it, the promise of coho salmon, a stronger community, and a landscape restored.

“The Millicoma Confluence Project is a perfect example of what’s going right for coho recovery in Oregon. It’s the story of private companies, Tribes, and local conservation groups making big things happen.”

Dr. Tim Elder, Senior Habitat Restoration Manager, Wild Salmon Center

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In the closing days of Alaska’s 2025 legislative session, state lawmakers introduced the Bristol Bay Forever Act. This bill aims to safeguard the entire, 36,000-square-mile Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve from all large-scale metallic sulfide mining: the type of mining most harmful to salmon. 

These state-level protections would further advance a decades-long campaign—led by the United Tribes of Bristol Bay and the Bristol Bay Defense Fund coalition—to keep Bristol Bay’s priceless salmon fishery safe from the very real threat of massive mineral exploitation, as embodied by our fight against the Pebble Mine.

“Bristol Bay’s salmon fishery is irreplaceable,” Wild Salmon Center Alaska Director Emily Anderson. “And yet, for decades, Pebble Mine has cast a shadow of uncertainty over the region, affecting Tribes, communities, small businesses, and a $2.2 billion regional economy.”

“Bristol Bay’s salmon fishery is irreplaceable. And yet, for decades, Pebble Mine has cast a shadow of uncertainty over the region.”

Wild Salmon Center Alaska Director Emily Anderson

Thanks to tireless advocacy by these communities—and the support of millions of people across the globe—federal decisions in recent years have blocked the advancement of the Pebble Mine project. In 2020, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rejected a key permit for the mine, and in 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency invoked Clean Water Act protections to make the headwaters of Bristol Bay’s Kvichak and Nushagak Rivers off limits to hardrock mining. But the threat is not over.  Northern Dynasty Minerals, the principal backer of the Pebble project, has challenged both decisions in court and is aggressively trying to overturn them. 

Alaska legislators are now stepping up to add another layer of protection for Bristol Bay. If enacted, the Bristol Bay Forever Act would protect the entire Bristol Bay Fisheries Reserve from the Pebble Mine and mining operations in 20 additional known mineral deposits in the region. This law would not only help ensure the future of the largest salmon fishery on Earth and the communities that depend on it, but also 15,000 jobs and hundreds of small businesses.

“Alaskans have demanded stronger protections for Bristol Bay for years,” Anderson says. “Now Alaska’s leaders are meeting the challenge head on with a state-based solution to safeguard our largest and most sustainable salmon fishery.” 

House Speaker Bryce Edgmon (I-Dillingham), Representative Andy Josephson (D-Anchorage), and Representative Sara Hannan (D-Juneau) introduced the Bristol Bay Forever Act in the 2025 session’s closing days in late May. Wild Salmon Center and our coalition will now build momentum for this important bill by raising awareness and support across Alaska. Join us in supporting the Bristol Bay Forever Act.

“Alaskans have demanded stronger protections for Bristol Bay for years. Now Alaska’s leaders are meeting the challenge head on.” 

Wild Salmon Center Alaska Director Emily Anderson

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The U.S. federal government is standing up for America’s greatest salmon fishery and against a foreign mining company. On July 17, the Trump Administration’s Department of Justice announced that it will defend both a 2020 decision by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reject a key Pebble Mine permit and the Environmental Protection Agency’s subsequent decision to protect Alaska’s Bristol Bay from future versions of Pebble Mine under the Clean Water Act.

“President Trump stands with Alaskans and with fishing communities nationwide today,” says Wild Salmon Center President and CEO Guido Rahr. “We applaud this decision to protect America’s greatest salmon stronghold, a place that supports tens of thousands of American fishing jobs and is revered by sportsmen and women across the nation.”

“We applaud this decision to protect America’s greatest salmon stronghold, a place that supports tens of thousands of American fishing jobs across the nation.”

Wild Salmon Center President and CEO Guido Rahr

Alaska’s Bristol Bay is the most productive salmon stronghold on Earth, returning an average  of 40 million wild sockeye salmon every year and driving a $2.2 billion salmon fishery that supports tens of thousands of jobs. But in 2024, Pebble Mine backer Northern Dynasty moved to sue the U.S. government over its earlier decisions—decisions that reflected public opposition to mining in Bristol Bay from 63 percent of Alaskans and millions of Americans. 

“We need to take care of our wild places and public lands heritage, for us and for future generations,” Rahr says. “President Trump has shown major leadership on this issue today.”

Now, with the power of the U.S. government backing Bristol Bay, Northern Dynasty’s lawsuit enters a new phase. Wild Salmon Center has joined the government’s case to defend both decisions and ensure that the toxic Pebble Mine project never again puts Bristol Bay at risk. 

You know, as we do, that once we lose special places like Bristol Bay, we never get them back. That’s why we’re working on multiple fronts to keep Bristol Bay off-limits to any large toxic mine. Your support ensures that we can stay in this fight, protect past gains, and pursue even stronger safeguards for Bristol Bay. Join us today to help defend America’s greatest fishery for generations.

“We need to take care of our wild places and public lands heritage, for us and for future generations. President Trump has shown major leadership on this issue today.”

Wild Salmon Center President and CEO Guido Rahr

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How did forests, fish, and freshwater fare in Oregon’s recently wrapped 2025 legislative session? According to Wild Salmon Center Oregon Policy Director Stacey Detwiler, this one was a slog right up to June 27, as legislators ground through a record number of bills in the shadow of unprecedented federal funding uncertainties. 

“This session was about as challenging as any I’ve ever experienced,” Detwiler says. “In the end, no major conservation legislation made it over the finish line this year, despite our best efforts.”

Major legislation disappointments aside, this session did offer smaller wins. With our partners, we pushed hard to secure funding for key research and grant programs, advance dialogue on stream flow protections, and stop bills that undermined state forest and wild fish protections. Read on for where we saw progress this session.

“This session was about as challenging as any I’ve ever experienced.”

Wild Salmon Center Oregon Policy Director Stacey Detwiler

Funds for core Private Forest Accord programs

A priority for Detwiler this session was to ensure the survival of grant and research programs core to the Private Forest Accord. This includes two grant programs that have been driving meaningful investments into Oregon habitat restoration, at a time when federal funding for this work is increasingly uncertain. PFA’s grant and research programs are also critical to formalizing a federally-approved Habitat Conservation Plan by a 2027 deadline. 

Wild Salmon Center worked with both conservation and timber industry partners to secure basic funding for these programs—albeit just $24.2 million of the $36 million needed.

“Working together, we secured a partial win in a tough budget climate,” Detwiler says. “This funding isn’t enough to deliver on the full promise of the Private Forest Accord, but it does keep some of its most popular programs alive for now.” 

“Working together, we secured a partial win in a tough budget climate. This funding isn’t enough, but it does keep popular programs alive for now.” 

Wild Salmon Center Oregon Policy Director Stacey Detwiler

Momentum for Oregon stream flow protections

Across the state, water shortages and low river flows are straining Oregon’s outdated and overallocated water rights system. This session, Wild Salmon Center and Oregon Water Partnership aimed to close a loophole that allows Oregon to approve applications to change existing water rights without considering environmental harm. 

After months of intense dialogue, legislators ultimately punted on both our bill (SB 427) and the Governor’s related bill (SB 1153). But Detwiler notes that the bills received robust debate and 700+ letters of public support—elevating the issue and building momentum for future sessions.  

Oregon state forest protections still on track

This session, Wild Salmon Center joined many Oregon conservation groups to actively oppose HB 3103, a bill that would have significantly undermined the state forest Habitat Conservation Plan that Wild Salmon Center and our partners have championed for years.

We worked directly with bill sponsors Representatives Mark Owens (R) and Ken Helm (D) and negotiators with the timber industry, counties, and the Oregon Department of Forestry to advocate for substantial amendments to HB 3103.

Ultimately—and thankfully—this problematic bill died in the Ways and Means Committee. 

New fish monitoring funds—and hatchery expansions deterred

Last fall, Wild Salmon Center participated in the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s hatchery resilience process, with results presented to state legislators in April. This work was key to important conversations this session around wild fish legislation. 

One example is HB 2345. This bill—one of 2025’s few bills to survive and pass—shifts $1.1 million from Oregon’s Hatchery Research Center to salmon and steelhead monitoring as well as projects to begin chipping away at the $220 million in deferred maintenance needs at state hatchery facilities. 

“In a session filled with tough decisions,” Detwiler says, “we were happy that legislators agreed to redirect these funds to where they’re most needed.”

“In a session filled with tough decisions, we were happy that legislators agreed to redirect funds to where they’re most needed.”

Wild Salmon Center Oregon Policy Director Stacey Detwiler

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Kirk Blaine’s home river system is the Umpqua, on Oregon’s South Coast. This is where, years ago, he fell in love with fly fishing for steelhead. But his relationship with fall Chinook—another wild fish prized by anglers—started two watersheds south.

“My first time fishing for fall Chinook was running flashers and plug cut herring on the Coquille River,” remembers Blaine, Wild Salmon Center’s Oregon Senior Wild Fish Manager. “Sadly, that’s no longer an option.”

For the past three years, fall Chinook fishing on the Coquille has been closed due to its low wild Chinook abundance. Now, Blaine fears that the Umpqua Basin is on a similar trajectory. On the Coquille, fall Chinook decline is linked to multiple limiting factors. Many of these factors, including encroachment by invasive smallmouth and striped bass, also impact the Umpqua. And its fall Chinook runs are showing the strain.

“Some years, we still might see more than 11,000 fall Chinook in the Umpqua,” Blaine says. “But then there are also years like last year, where the warning signs are just flashing red.”

“Some years, we still might see more than 11,000 fall Chinook in the Umpqua. Then there are years where the warning signs are just flashing red.”

WSC Oregon Senior Wild Fish Manager Kirk Blaine

In 2024, fall Chinook returning to the Umpqua numbered just 1,318, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife: an all-time low for the basin since ODFW started monitoring Chinook populations in 1980.

In rivers across Oregon, native wild fish runs face mounting challenges: from the rise of nonnative predator species like smallmouth bass to the harmful effects of climate change and commercial fishing pressure on Chinook from fleets off the coasts of Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington. On the Umpqua, Blaine says, last year’s startling numbers mean we can’t keep fishing as usual—not if we want to protect future fishing opportunities in this river system.

On June 13, the ODFW Commissioners responded with a decision to cap 2025’s fall Chinook harvest on the Umpqua at 500 fish, and limit fishing days to Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. While ODFW is largely maintaining regular season regulations for most other coastal watersheds—in hopes that returns will be more robust than forecasted for the Umpqua—other exceptions include the Nehalem River, where commissioners are reducing harvest to one fall Chinook a day and two a year.

“Fall Chinook harvest opportunities will be limited this year, and that comes with costs to fishing guides and other local businesses,” Blaine says. “But ultimately, the state is taking steps for a more resilient future for these fish and the communities that rely on them.”

Targeted escapement goals set by fisheries managers walk a delicate line: aiming to provide fishing opportunities now while also ensuring that enough adult fish reach spawning grounds to sustain future generations. ODFW forecasts for 2025 predict that just under 5,000 fall Chinook will return to the Umpqua Basin. But Blaine notes that these forecasts can overshoot the numbers that actually return later in summer and early fall—as was the case in 2024. ODFW’s more precautionary escapement goals for 2025, he says, aim to head off the kind of catastrophic decline in abundance from which these wild fish can’t recover.

“Fall Chinook have long been one of the strongest wild salmon populations on the Oregon Coast,” Blaine says. “But until we return to abundance levels on par with even the last decade, they remain vulnerable.”

“Fall Chinook have long been one of the strongest wild salmon populations on the Oregon Coast. But until we return to abundance levels on par with even the last decade, they remain vulnerable.”

WSC Oregon Senior Wild Fish Manager Kirk Blaine

According to Blaine, the most immediate lever we can pull is to let more wild fish return to spawning grounds to boost future generations—as ODFW’s new rules aim to do. We can also support ongoing efforts to restore salmon habitat, reduce encroachment by nonnative invasive species, and improve freshwater quality and quantity in coastal watersheds from the South Umpqua to the North Coast: work that is boosting Oregon Coast coho salmon populations. And we can do more to balance recreational fishing opportunities for fall Chinook with commercial harvest.

Ultimately, Blaine says, what’s needed is a shift away from emergency rules and towards the kind of proactive, long-term planning that can finally move the needle for these struggling wild fish runs. By collaborating with ODFW staff, the ODFW Commission, Tribal nations, and other local stakeholders, he’s confident that we can build solutions that work both for fish and for the coastal communities and anglers who cherish them.

“Now is the time to invest in the future of vulnerable Oregon salmon rivers like the Umpqua, the Elk, and the Sixes,” Blaine says. “What we do now can help ensure that decades from now, these salmon rivers, and the communities that rely upon them, will still be thriving.”

“What we do now can help ensure that decades from now, salmon rivers and the communities that rely upon them will still be thriving.”

WSC Oregon Senior Wild Fish Manager Kirk Blaine

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