The Nature Conservancy in Oregon - Oregon: Pacific salmon

Explore Oregon's Sandy River and the annual Oxbow Salmon Festival.

Watch a video highlighting the partnership between the Conservancy and US Army Corps of Engineers to help balance dam flows for both nature and people.

"Through doing these kinds of projects we hope to get to a condition that will create and sustain a viable population of salmon."

—Leslie Bach, freshwater director for the Conservancy in Oregon

GO DEEPER:

Salmon Country:
Learn more about the Conservancy's regional efforts to restore salmon runs.

Dive in!

Watch a showcase of videos
featuring Conservancy work
from Alaska to California
to revive threatened salmon.

Freshwater: How We Work
Learn more about how The Nature Conservancy is protecting our freshwater for people and nature.

The power to save salmon:

Did you know your electric bill can help protect and restore salmon habitats in Oregon? Contributions go into the Salmon Habitat Fund, which The Nature Conservancy distributes to cost-effective on-the-ground projects. Sign up today, and help save Oregon’s salmon!

Once common from California to Alaska and from the Russian Far East to Japan, the wild Pacific salmon are in sharp decline throughout most of their historic range.

In Oregon, our freshwater team is working with partners to protect and restore habitat for salmon.

Willamette flow management

The Willamette River, Oregon’s largest river system, and its tributaries support important migratory runs of coho and Chinook salmon, trout and other fish. But 13 dams control how water flows through the system, impacting their life cycles and habitats.

The Nature Conservancy has partnered with the US Army Corps of Engineers to establish more natural flows through dams operating in the Willamette Basin. Often the storage and diversion of water alters seasonal flow patterns, stressing fish and wildlife adapted to natural rhythms. More natural flows of river and streams are critical to the health and viability of freshwater systems while also providing vital water for human communities.

(See a video of the work!)

Sandy River restoration

At Sandy River Gorge, six miles of untamed river with upland terraces and canyons provide excellent habitat for native fish, wildlife and an old-growth forest, all within 20 miles of Oregon's largest urban area.

The Conservancy is working with over 250 private landowners, schools, agencies and service groups to improve habitat and remove invasive species like Japanese knotweed, an aggressive invasive plant that threatens fish habitat up and down the West Coast.

Protecting the Sandy River is critical to threatened lower Columbia River fall Chinook and winter steelhead as well as spring coho, Chinook and steelhead. The fall Chinook run represents one of only two viable populations in the entire lower Columbia River system.

(Watch a slideshow of the Sandy River and the annual Salmon festival there!)

Get Involved

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Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photos © Michael Durham (salmon); © Bridget Besaw (Oxbow salmon festival); © Harold E. Malde (Sandy River Gorge, slideshow); © Bridget Besaw (Lookout Point dam, video)