Columbia Basin water temperatures are rising, and sockeye salmon are paying the price. Learn what local conservation groups are doing to protect endangered sockeye from rising temperatures.
Wild Fish Conservancy and local conservationist Mark Smith have sued the National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to protect wild salmon and steelhead from a project to raise the height of the Mount St. Helens Sediment Retention Structure’s spillway crest on the North Fork Toutle River.
Wild Fish Conservancy welcomes the Bonneville Power Administration’s decision to end funding for the Select Area Fisheries Enhancement (SAFE) hatchery program—which releases more than seven million hatchery Chinook and coho into the lower Columbia River each year—as an overdue shift away from hatchery-dependent harvest and toward the habitat restoration, fish passage, and harvest reform that wild salmon, steelhead, and Southern Resident killer whales need to recover.
Today, under the pressure of a federal court order, the National Marine Fisheries Service released its long-overdue 12-month finding on Wild Fish Conservancy’s petition to protect Gulf of Alaska Chinook under the Endangered Species Act. The finding concludes protections for Gulf of Alaska Chinook salmon are “not warranted” at this time despite documented widespread declines in Chinook abundance, size, and productivity throughout the region.
Contact:Emma Helverson, Wild Fish Conservancy, (484) 788-1174, emma@wildfishconservancy.orgBrian Knutsen, Kampmeier & Knutsen PLLC, (503) 841-6515, brian@kampmeierknutsen.com For Immediate ReleaseMarch 10, 2026PDF Version WASHINGTON, D.C.— The
Today, federal government issued its 12-month finding on the petition to list Olympic Peninsula steelhead under the Endangered Species Act. NOAA determined that Olympic Peninsula steelhead qualify as a distinct population segment under the ESA and acknowledged long-term population declines, reduced productivity, and substantial uncertainty, but concluded that listing is not warranted at this time.
Contacts: Emma Helverson, Wild Fish Conservancy, 484- 788-1174, emma@wildfishconservancy.orgJohn McMillan, The Conservation Angler, 360-797-3215, john.mcmillan@theconservationangler.orgBrian Knutsen, Kampmeier & Knutsen PLLC, 503-841-6515, brian@kampmeierknutsen.com For Immediate Release
After years of warnings and repeated Endangered Species Act violations, Wild Fish Conservancy and The Conservation Angler have filed a new federal lawsuit challenging NOAA Fisheries for once again failing to protect these species from ongoing harm caused by Columbia River hatcheries.
Contacts:Emma Helverson, Wild Fish Conservancy, 484-788-1174, emma@wildfishconservancy.orgJohn McMillan, The Conservation Angler, 360-797-3215, john.mcmillan@theconservationangler.orgBrian Knutsen, Kampmeier & Knutsen PLLC, 503-841-6515, brian@kampmeierknutsen.com For Immediate ReleaseSeptember 12, 2025PDF
Wild Fish Conservancy and The Conservation Angler reached a settlement agreement with NOAA Fisheries establishing a deadline requiring the agency to issue its long-overdue finding on whether Olympic Peninsula steelhead warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Wild Fish Conservancy filed suit against NOAA Fisheries for failing to meet essential legal deadlines under the Endangered Species Act and delaying federal protections to at-risk Alaskan Chinook salmon.
Through two significant legal actions, we are holding the federal government accountable for its responsibilities under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)— one of the most effective tools we have to prevent extinction, but it only works when it’s enforced..
Wild Fish Conservancy notified NOAA Fisheries of its intent to sue for failing to meet legal deadlines under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and delaying federal protections to at-risk Alaskan Chinook salmon.
The Conservation Angler and Wild Fish Conservancy filed suit against NOAA Fisheries for delaying Endangered Species Act protections for Olympic Peninsula steelhead.
The Conservation Angler and Wild Fish Conservancy recently notified the National Marine Fisheries Services of their intent to sue NMFS for failing to protect Olympic Peninsula steelhead under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Learn more about a new settlement agreement that is leading to more responsible, legally compliant, and transparent management practices at the hatcheries Washington State operates in the lower Columbia River.
WFC, The Conservation Angler, and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife agree to settlement in Endangered Species Act lawsuit over lower Columbia River hatchery programs that are harming wild fish recovery.
In a groundbreaking decision, Canadian seafood certifier Ocean Wise announced they can no longer recommend salmon caught in Southeast Alaska fisheries as ‘sustainable’. The delisting responds to concerns over the impact of the region’s fisheries on endangered Southern Resident orcas and at-risk salmon populations from rivers coastwide.
NOAA Fisheries announced a somber, yet significant milestone in the effort to protect dwindling Alaskan Chinook. After reviewing a formal petition to list Alaskan Chinook populations as ‘threatened’ or ‘endangered’, the federal agency has made the first ever positive finding for Alaskan-born salmon under the Endangered Species Act.
Wild Fish Conservancy and The Conservation Angler filed against federal, state, and local governments for their continued funding and operation of Mitchell Act and Select Area Fishery Enhancement (SAFE) program hatcheries that are far exceeding limits under the ESA designed to prevent extinction of imperiled wild salmon and steelhead.
Today, Wild Fish Conservancy and The Conservation Angler issued a 60-day Notice of Intent to sue federal, state, and local agencies for chronic and ongoing violations of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) resulting from the Mitchell Act and SAFE program hatcheries on the Columbia River.
Wild Fish Conservancy filed a petition today calling for federal protection of Alaskan Chinook under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. This emergency action is being taken in response to the severe decline and poor condition of Chinook populations throughout the state of Alaska.
