UPDATED 4:23 P.M., THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2026, WITH BRIEF UPDATED COMMENTS FROM ODFW IN THE SEVENTH PARAGRAPH
ODFW was ordered to stop releasing summer steelhead into the North Santiam by a federal judge earlier this week, putting the future of a Willamette Valley fishery that saw nearly 19,000 fish return just two years ago in jeopardy.
According to a report today in the Salem Statesman Journal, US District Court Judge Ann Aiken granted a preliminary injunction from two environmental organizations after they showed wild winter steelhead numbers are less than recovery goals and that the hatchery summer-runs impact the Endangered Species Act-listed stock.
Outdoor reporter Zach Urness wrote that Aiken said in her ruling “ODFW fails to rebut plaintiffs’ evidence that the further release of hatchery steelhead … will likely cause irreparable harm to the North Santiam winter steelhead population.”
The judge’s decision didn’t sit well with Liz Hamilton, policy director for the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association in Oregon City.
“The large and impassible flood control dams on the Willamette are the irreparable harm to fish and fisheries in the basin,” Hamilton shot back with. “The summer steelhead program is an important mitigation program bringing much needed economic activities to rural communities. We will encourage ODFW to challenge this decision.”
Northwest steelhead hatcheries typically release smolts in the spring – this year’s young North Santiam summer-runs went out in April – which potentially gives ODFW several months to submit arguments in the case brought by Willamette Riverkeeper and The Conservation Angler.
“ODFW is reviewing both the decision and our options moving forward,” said an agency spokeswoman this afternoon.
If young fish aren’t released in spring 2027, the impact on fisheries wouldn’t occur until 2029, given summer-run lifecycles.
This is not the first time summer steelhead in the Willamette Valley have been threatened. Just two years ago the Army Corps of Engineers planned to completely defund their production, and in 2018 Leaburg Hatchery stood to be mothballed.
Summer steelhead are not native to the upper Willamette. It’s believed that only spring Chinook and winter steelhead could climb Willamette Falls thanks to high runoff during their upriver migration.
Fish runs go up and down, but 2024 set recent high marks for both winter – 8,908 – and summer – 18,941 – steelhead at the falls. Five-year averages are 4,265 and 6,661; 10-year 3,746 and 7,576; and 20-year 4,786 and 13,121. Winter-runs have benefited from sea lion control at Willamette Falls, along with better ocean conditions.
