Beneath Willamette Falls, Pacific lamprey gather before scaling the 40-foot cascade to spawn upstream. Once vital nutrient carriers and ecosystem builders, their numbers have plummeted. Now, Northwest Tribes and advocates are working to help restore these ancient fish to rivers they once filled.

Bull trout, once common in the Pacific Northwest, now cling to cold, clean streams in remote headwaters. Logging, road building, and climate change have degraded their habitat. These fish need complex, cool waters to survive, conditions now found only in a few pristine places.

Beneath Willamette Falls, Pacific lamprey gather before scaling the 40-foot cascade to spawn upstream. Once vital nutrient carriers and ecosystem builders, their numbers have plummeted. Now, Northwest Tribes and advocates are working to help restore these ancient fish to rivers they once filled.

Thanks, @npr.org, for sharing a glimpse into the world of the Pacific Northwest’s remaining old-growth forests on the International Day of Forests! Thanks to @bdcruz.bsky.social To learn more about these ecosystems and how you can help protect them check out the work of @oregonwild.bsky.social.

The fish of the forest, few species teach us more about the connection between forests and rivers better than the coho salmon. From headwaters to estuaries, these fish utilize a wide variety of habitats. Yet, many of these environments have been heavily degraded by logging in Oregon’s Coast Range.

Long before salmon return to the Pacific Northwest, another fish signals spring, the eulachon. These tiny, fatty fish fuel bears, seabirds, and marine life while enriching rivers. For Indigenous communities, they are a vital food and medicine, deeply woven into cultural traditions.

Under the Trump administration, new policies are being proposed to dramatically expand timber production on public lands. The US Forest Service is now taking public comments on the NW Forest Plan and there is an urgent need to demand stronger protections for these forests. www.coastrange.org