Wild winter steelhead in the Willamette Valley are extremely rare. Due to the tireless work of The Conservation Angler and the Willamette River Keeper they may get added protection in the coming years. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife faces the elimination of it’s hatchery program on the North Santiam. You can read more about the situation in this article published in the Statesman Journal here.
We at OregonFlyFishingBlog applaud the Corps of Engineers who seem to be moving towards funding habitat restoration rather than hatchery programs that have proven to be unsuccessful and even harmful to wild fish for the last 50 years.