Recent cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have conservationists and scientists worried about anadromous fish populations in the Pacific Northwest. Like other federal agencies, NOAA is undergoing major downsizing. The shrinkage is already disrupting habitat restoration work for salmon and steelhead in California. And if additional budget cuts that are currently in the works come to fruition, the agency’s fisheries division could be eliminated entirely, a recently retired NOAA scientist tells Field & Stream. … When it comes to salmon and steelhead, (fluvial geomorphologist Brian) Cluer worries most about the potential loss of dam-removal projects in the Pacific Northwest. NOAA played a pivotal role in the removal of four dams on California’s Klamath River in 2023 and 2024, Cluer says. 

Other Klamath River salmon news:

• The Public’s Radio (Providence, R.I.): Why would an energy company remove its dams?