Working with Tribes to protect native fish and restore habitat
By Maura Fahey | October 3, 2024
Dams put many native species at risk, including chinook salmon. Photo courtesy of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Over the past few years, a focus of my work at Crag has been on salmon recovery and the restoration of essential native fish habitat. I have had the opportunity to work closely with Tribes and conservation groups to help restore the Pacific Northwest’s iconic salmon runs. These efforts are critical for the survival of salmon and the health of our ecosystems and communities.
Here’s a photo of me after the removal of Lovelace Dam. It was remarkable to see the free-flowing river and the benefits it provides to native fish.
Salmon hold deep cultural significance for the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest, serving as a First Food and an integral part of their heritage. These remarkable fish face numerous threats, including dams, warming water temperatures, habitat loss, and commercial fishing. To support salmon recovery, we fight for dam removal, improved water quality, and the restoration of habitat. This not only benefits salmon but also the ecosystems and communities that depend on them.
One case I am particularly passionate about involves challenging efforts to weaken Oregon’s statewide fish passage requirements. These are the rules that ensure fish can make their way up and downstream past obstacles like dams. In December 2022, the Oregon Fish & Wildlife Commission adopted last-minute changes to the rules without any public process or tribal consultation. The revised rules now authorize “trap and haul,” where fish are captured and trucked upstream, as a form of fish passage at dams and other barriers. Previously, the rules required all fish passage to be “volitional,” allowing fish to travel to upstream habitat on their own. These revisions undermine efforts to restore and protect native migratory fish and their habitats, which is essential for salmon recovery.
As Crag’s Managing Attorney, I’ve worked for over 10 years to help protect native fish, ecosystems, and communities.
Crag represents a coalition of seven conservation and fish advocacy groups challenging the last-minute changes before the Oregon Court of Appeals. We are partnering with the Nez Perce Tribe and the Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation, who also challenged the rules. Our clients are asking the court to invalidate the rules that bypassed the public process and significantly altered Oregon’s fish passage laws.
In addition to challenging efforts to weaken protections for native fish, Crag helps our clients to advocate for the removal of obsolete dams that hinder fish migration. Over the past five years, I have worked with WaterWatch of Oregon to provide legal leverage to push for removal of private dams, focusing on Southern Oregon’s North Umpqua and Rogue River Basins. The removal of Lovelace Dam on Slate Creek in 2023 and Williams-Whalen Dam on Evans Creek this past summer are notable successes, providing access to over 60 miles of habitat for native fish in the Rogue Basin. When I visited the site of the former Lovelace Dam it was remarkable to see how quickly the ecosystem responded to a free-flowing creek after decades of being disrupted by a dam.
Before and after the removal of Williams-Whalen Dam from Evans Creek. Photos by Crystal Nichols, Rogue River Watershed Council.
Today we are working towards removal of another dam on the North Umpqua River. Winchester Dam is maintained solely as a private waterski lake, but kills, injures, and delays salmon and steelhead trying to access 160 miles of high quality upstream habitat. Additionally, last year, botched repairs at the dam resulted in the death of over 500,000 young lamprey – a keystone species for the ecosystem and an important subsistence and cultural resource for peoples of the Pacific Northwest. Crag is engaged in various state agency enforcement actions to hold the owners accountable. Our clients’ ultimate goal is to see the dam removed and the habitat of the North Umpqua restored.
Here‘s a photo of me and our clients after oral argument.
Through these combined efforts, Crag and our clients strive to protect and restore the streams and rivers essential for the survival of native fish species and the health of our ecosystems. I have seen the results of a restored free-flowing river and the benefits it provides to native fish and I am proud of what we have accomplished so far.
Maura Fahey, Managing Attorney
Maura earned her J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland with a certificate in environmental and natural resources law. She holds a B.A. in sociology, with a minor in political science, from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Maura joined the Crag Law Center staff in October 2013 as a legal fellow. Her docket consists of a variety of work including land use challenges focused primarily on fossil fuel infrastructure development, Clean Water Act enforcement, water law, and federal public lands law.
Maura is a member of the Oregon and Washington State Bars and is admitted to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the District of Oregon. In her free time, Maura enjoys backcountry skiing, hiking, biking, running, and exploring all the wonder the Pacific Northwest has to offer.