Willamette Riverkeeper v. National Marine Fisheries Service

The federal district court for the District of Oregon found violations of the Endangered Species Act in the federal review of releases of hatchery-raised summer steelhead into the Upper Willamette River by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The plaintiffs alleged that the releases would jeopardize winter steelhead. The plaintiffs’ arguments included that the biological opinion for the hatchery management plan failed to evaluate how the impacts from climate change would affect “already depressed winter steelhead populations in degraded habitat.” The court agreed with the plaintiffs that the biological opinion failed to evaluate “the consequences to winter steelhead of projected worsening conditions” or to assess whether winter steelhead “can sustain impacts from the release of hatchery summer steelhead on top of climate change effects.” The court therefore granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs on this issue.