On October 30, 2024, a Marion County Circuit Court judge denied a motion for an injunction, requesting that the court order the continued release of hatchery summer steelhead into Oregon’s famed North Umpqua River.
The Conservation Angler’s work to protect the North Umpqua River’s legendary wild summer steelhead took a major step forward yesterday, when a Marion County Circuit Court judge denied a motion for an injunction, requesting that the court order the continued release of hatchery summer steelhead into the river. A copy of the Court’s Opinion is available
here.
As a result, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission’s historic decision to terminate the Rock Creek Hatchery summer steelhead program, which TCA and its allies (the “North Umpqua Coalition”) secured through effective legal, scientific, and grassroots advocacy, will finally be implemented.
TCA’s Legal and Policy Director, Rob Kirschner, Science Director, John McMillan, and Executive Director, Dave Moskowitz, have played key roles in ensuring these fish are protected from hatchery threats. Specifically, Rob uncovered the Rock Creek Hatchery summer steelhead program’s legal violations, drafted a Petition for Declaratory Ruling regarding those violations, and co-wrote legal briefs with the Coalition’s attorney, Karl G. Anuta, to defend the Commission’s decision and defeat the motion for preliminary injunction.
John provided expert scientific support, including a convincing report on the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department’s flawed analysis of the hatchery program and compelling testimony to the Commission about the hatchery program’s negative effects on wild summer steelhead.
Read John’s declaration here. Dave repeatedly testified to the Commission about their importance to anglers, conservationists, and others.
TCA is proud to partner with the Steamboaters, The North Umpqua Foundation, Umpqua Watersheds, Native Fish Society, and Pacific Rivers in yet another chapter in the story of wild fish advocates protecting the North Umpqua River’s extraordinary steelhead. TCA’s partners have stopped dams and dynamite from extirpating wild North Umpqua River steelhead and gained significant habitat protections for the river.
TCA will continue to fight in this case to ensure that the Commission’s decision to protect these extraordinary fish is ultimately upheld.