Trout Unlimited is working to restore wild fish to Washington's Cowlitz River. These wild fish will, in turn, restore the ecosystem and the economy.
Once one of the largest salmon-producing rivers in the Lower Columbia River, over 200 miles of habitat on the Cowlitz is now blocked by three dams (collectively known as the Cowlitz Project). Fishermen, landowners, dam owners, and local, state and federal managers need to work together to reduce hatchery plants and harvest on the Upper River in the short term, while concentrating hatchery production and harvest with lesser impact in the Lower Cowlitz River, with a long-term goal of establishing harvest opportunity throughout the river.
With these efforts the Cowlitz can become a 300-mile river that is fully accessible to teeming populations of wild fish supporting sustainable fisheries -- with more wild fish, bigger fish, and more places to fish them. The alternative is a guaranteed extinction of wild fish, and that’s bad news for everyone on the Cowlitz.
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