OAR 635-500-0020: Steelhead Management Goals and Objectives

The Department shall proceed with programs and other efforts to achieve the following statewide goals and objectives, consistent with applicable law, agency policy and rule, and recognizing funding priorities for the agency. Goals of steehead management are to: (1) Sustain healthy and abundant wild populations of steelhead. The Steelhead Management Plan defines “healthy population” as a population that maintains a high level of productivity and adaptive capacity. Objectives under this goal are to: (a) Protect and restore spawning and rearing habitat; (b) Provide safe migration corridors; (c) Protect wild populations from overharvest; (d) Protect wild steelhead populations from detrimental interactions with hatchery fish; and (e) Monitor the status of wild steelhead populations so that long-term trends in populations can be determined: (2) Provide recreational, economic, cultural and aesthetic benefits from fishing and non-fishing uses of steelhead. Specific objectives are to: (a) Provide a harvest for treaty tribes without overharvesting wild fish; (b) Provide recreational angling opportunities reflecting the desires of the public while minimizing impacts on wild fish; and (c) Increase non-angling uses that provide recreation and broaden public understanding of steelhead and habitat programs. (3) Involve the public in steelhead management and coordinate Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife actions with the tribes and with other agencies. Objectives include: (a) Increase public awareness of steelhead and related fishery management issues; (b) Provide a forum for public involvement in steelhead management; and (c) Coordinate Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife steelhead management activities with other habitat and fishery managers.