SALEM, Ore.—In a split 4-3 vote at their meeting in Astoria Friday, Commissioners decided to not release hatchery summer steelhead smolts into the North Umpqua this year and eliminate the Rock Creek summer steelhead hatchery program.
The vote ends this hatchery program as it will be the second year in a row of no hatchery summer steelhead smolts being released on the North Umpqua. None were released in 2021 due to wildfire impacts.
Commissioners heard testimony from two panels representing opposing views on hatchery summer steelhead releases on the North Umpqua, as well as the Coquille Indian Tribe, the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, Representative David Brock Smith, Representative Boomer Wright, Douglas County Commissioner Tom Kress and about a dozen members of the public who signed up to testify remotely.
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