Wild Salmon Center

From the Columbia River to the California border, Oregon’s coastal strongholds maintain the most productive wild fish runs in the contiguous United States. However, many wild fish populations have seen steady and sometimes critical declines in the past two decades due to the impacts of industrial timber and agriculture, failing dams and culverts, the loss of floodplain habitat, and low instream flow.With the support of donors like you, Wild Salmon Center’s work in Oregon is generating unprecedented improvements to forest and water policies that benefit wild fish and the local communities.After close to a decade of work, WSC successfully led an effort to overhaul how private forestlands are managed across the state through the Private Forest Accord (PFA). The historic agreement between conservationists and the timber industry resulted in the passage of three bipartisan bills through the Oregon State Legislature. The PFA substantially improves protections across 60,000 river miles and 10 million acres of private forestland.Starting in 2024, these rules will improve logging practices along streams and steep slopes across Oregon. “It’s time we managed Oregon’s forests for their full value, including fish, wildlife, and all of us who rely on their many benefits,” says WSC Oregon Policy Senior Program Manager Stacey Detwiler.With your 2023 CFC pledge, WSC will be able to continue our work to ensure a robust federal Habitat Conservation Plan is approved, locking these new protections in place for decades to come.