September 18, 2026.
A federal judge has ordered the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to immediately stop releasing hatchery-raised summer steelhead into Oregon’s North Santiam River, finding that continued releases are likely to cause irreparable harm to the river’s declining population of federally protected winter steelhead.
United States District Judge Ann L. Aiken issued the order September 14, 2026, in a lawsuit brought by Willamette Riverkeeper and Conservation Angler against the National Marine Fisheries Service. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife intervened in the case and is bound by the injunction.
Court Finds Problems With Federal Fisheries Review.
The dispute centers on a 2019 biological opinion issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service concerning hatchery summer steelhead releases into the North and South Santiam rivers.
The 2019 opinion concluded that the program would not jeopardize threatened Upper Willamette River winter steelhead if Oregon implemented specified hatchery reforms and maintained genetic flow from hatchery summer steelhead into protected winter steelhead populations below 2 percent.
Judge Aiken subsequently found deficiencies in that federal analysis and ordered the National Marine Fisheries Service to revisit its conclusions.
In the September 14 ruling, the judge determined that the plaintiffs had demonstrated a sufficient connection between continued summer steelhead releases and potential harm to North Santiam winter steelhead.
The court identified three principal concerns: competition for resources, displacement of winter steelhead from higher-quality habitat and genetic introgression, meaning the incorporation of hatchery-fish genes into the native population.
North Santiam Winter Steelhead Remain at Low Numbers.
The court cited evidence that only approximately 8 percent of North Santiam winter steelhead are considered pure native steelhead.
The population has also declined to an estimated 9 percent to 21 percent of its recovery target, according to evidence reviewed by the court.
The court cited the National Marine Fisheries Service's most recent status review, which found Upper Willamette River steelhead populations at moderate-to-high risk of extinction with a declining viability trend.
The court concluded that the depleted condition of the North Santiam population makes additional survival particularly important.
Summer Steelhead Were Introduced for Sport Fishing.
The hatchery summer steelhead program has a different history from the native winter steelhead population.
Summer steelhead were introduced into the Upper Willamette Basin decades ago as a recreational fishery. The hatchery program subsequently became an important source of summer fishing opportunities in the Santiam Basin.
The court's ruling does not conclude that every hatchery fish in the basin is harmful. Rather, it addresses whether continued releases into the North Santiam can continue while the federal government prepares a new biological opinion.
The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Have a Direct Connection to the River.
The ruling also involves a river with substantial cultural, natural-resource and restoration significance for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.
The North Santiam is within the Tribe's ancestral homeland, and the Tribe has developed an extensive conservation presence along the river.
The Tribe owns and manages conservation property along the North Santiam and has worked with federal and state agencies to restore habitat for threatened salmon and steelhead.
In 2024, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde $710,000 for a project on Tribal property along the North Santiam. The project involves replacing culverts and removing earthen barriers to reconnect portions of the river with its floodplain, allowing threatened salmon and steelhead to reach side-channel habitat. The restoration also benefits Oregon chub, Pacific lamprey and Northwestern pond turtles.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration describes the North Santiam as a high-priority river for recovery of Upper Willamette River spring Chinook salmon and winter steelhead.
The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde natural-resources program is working to make habitat improvements to enhance native trout and steelhead.
Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde have an established cooperative relationship concerning fish and wildlife management. In 2023, the two governments entered a memorandum of agreement establishing cooperation on protecting, restoring and enhancing fish and wildlife populations and habitat. The agreement established a framework for Tribal subsistence and ceremonial harvest. A ceremonial fishery on Tribal property along the North Santiam was established under that agreement.
Tribal Restoration Efforts Focus on Native Fish Habitat.
The Tribe's North Santiam restoration work is significant because the projects are aimed at restoring habitat rather than increasing hatchery production.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has described the Tribe's Chankawan Side Channel Restoration Project as an effort to reopen historic habitat that salmon and steelhead currently cannot reach.
Side channels provide important rearing habitat for juvenile fish and refuge for adult fish during high flows.
The Tribe's broader natural-resources work also includes Pacific lamprey, a culturally significant species that the Tribe says is declining in abundance.
Recreational Fishing Groups Oppose the Halt.
The court's ruling affects a recreational fishery that has existed for decades.
Fishing interests that have supported maintaining the hatchery summer steelhead program have criticized the decision.
The Coastal Conservation Association's Oregon executive director, Pat Hoglund, told Oregon Public Broadcasting that the organization was disappointed by the ruling and argued that hatchery fish are an important part of the North Santiam fishing experience.
The dispute therefore involves competing resource-management objectives: maintaining recreational fishing opportunities while protecting a federally threatened native steelhead population.
Court Orders Releases to Stop Immediately.
Judge Aiken ultimately concluded that the plaintiffs had established the required connection between the hatchery releases and the potential harm to North Santiam winter steelhead.
The court therefore ordered the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to immediately stop all summer steelhead releases into the North Santiam River.
The court retained jurisdiction over the case to ensure that the injunction is implemented and that the National Marine Fisheries Service issues a revised biological opinion addressing the deficiencies identified by the court.
The parties must submit recommendations for a schedule of periodic status reports by October 14, 2026.
The ruling does not permanently end summer steelhead releases in the North Santiam. Instead, the releases are halted while federal fisheries officials conduct a new analysis under the Endangered Species Act.
For the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, the decision concerns a river where the Tribe is simultaneously working to restore habitat and improve conditions for native fish.
As of the latest publicly available information reviewed for this story, the Tribe has not announced whether it supports or opposes Judge Aiken's September 14 injunction.
