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SALEM, Ore. – The Oregon Conservation and Recreation Advisory Committee will meet on Tuesday, October 7, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The committee will be discussing future grant offerings and strategic communications planning. For more information including an agenda visit: https://www.dfw.state.or.us/conservationstrategy/OCRF/meetings.html The Oregon Conservation and Recreation Fund (OCRF) is…

CLACKAMAS, Ore.— Fishery managers from Oregon and Washington extended hatchery steelhead retention for recreational anglers on the mainstem Columbia River downstream of The Dalles Dam using joint state action yesterday. Steelhead retention was initially planned to be closed in this area beginning August 1. With this extension, effective Friday, Aug…

ROSEBURG, Ore – A temporary rule prohibits wild spring Chinook salmon harvest on the mainstem Umpqua River and keeps the North Umpqua bag limit the same as 2025, ODFW announced today. Feb. 1 – June 30, 2026: Mainstem Umpqua River: only hatchery spring Chinook may be kept. Harvesting wild spring…

It’s hard to enjoy a day of hunting if your feet are cramped, wet or cold. Many turkey hunters in Oregon have at least two different pairs of boots to meet the variety of conditions they might encounter while hunting. Rubber boot for cold, wet conditions Rubber knee boots are a good choice when conditions are cold and wet, and/or when you’ll be sitting for hours in a ground blind. Many boots are insulated to help keep your feet warm. If you’re looking at uninsulated boots, buy them ½ to one size larger than you normally wear. This will give…

NEWPORT, Ore. – The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is helping investigate the entanglement of a young humpback whale stranded earlier this week near Yachats. The whale was entangled in gear attributed by NOAA Fisheries to the Oregon commercial Dungeness crab fishery. Veterinarians from the West Coast Marine Mammal…

NEWPORT, Ore – Pacific halibut angling opens Aug. 17, Sundays through Friday through Sept. 30 or until quota is reached in the Columbia River subarea (Leadbetter Pt., WA to Cape Falcon, OR) all-depth fishery. The daily bag limit is one Pacific halibut. The Columbia River subarea received a 5,000-pound allocation…

When preparing your turkey for the pot, you can either skin it or pluck it. Because wild turkeys have such thin skin, many hunters prefer skinning their turkeys as it ’s must faster than plucking the bird. Pick up where you left off gutting the bird Simply continue making the cut in the skin from the body cavity, all the way up the breast bone to the base of the neck. The skin is thin enough that you often can peel it free from the breast meat. Slide your thumbs under the skin and working it up and away from…

SALEM, Ore. – The Private Forest Accord (PFA) Advisory Committee will hold its regular virtual meeting on Tuesday, October 21, 2025. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife staff will present two new funding pathways for the PFA Grants Program, Land Transactions and Water Transactions, followed by Advisory Committee discussion of…

Tucker Jones, Ocean Salmon and Columbia River Program Manager Summary of 2024 Fisheries and Outlook for 2025 Fisheries The Columbia River Management section of OSCRP has posted a document to the ODFW website with preliminary estimates of 2024 salmon returns and fishery results, 2025 run forecasts for spring Chinook, summer Chinook, and sockeye salmon, as well as a list of currently-known key dates for 2025 fisheries planning milestones. This document is prepared jointly by the ODFW and WDFW Columbia River fishery management staffs each year. This useful document has a table of salmonid returns/forecasts that will be updated on our…

CLACKAMAS, Ore. – The two-rod validation will not be available for the Willamette River in 2026 as the forecast for hatchery-origin adult fish does not meet the minimum return threshold. The 2026 Columbia River spring-summer forecast anticipates 43,700 adult Willamette-origin spring Chinook will return to the mouth of the Columbia…