Our Mission

Joe Hoptowit releases sockeye into Cle Elum River (Yakama Nation Fisheries)

Mission Statement: To honor, protect, and restore culturally important fish populations and their habitats throughout the Zone of Influence of the Yakama Nation and to protect the rights of Yakama Nation members to utilize these resources as reserved by them in the Treaty of 1855 (12 Stat 951).

Yakama Nation Fisheries is a program of the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation

From its inception in 1983, Yakama Nation Fisheries has employed scientific expertise in concert with traditional ecological knowledge to develop innovative projects and partnerships credited with restoring culturally important fish runs in the Columbia River. Yakama Nation Fisheries is headquartered on the Yakama Reservation.  We maintain field offices in Portland, Husum, Goldendale, Wahkiacus, Glenwood, Prosser, Yakima, Ellensburg, Cle Elum, Peshastin, Wenatchee, Winthrop, Piney Wood, and Twisp.  Yakama Nation Fisheries consists of over 200 employees that manage numerous projects across the Columbia River mainstem and sub-basins (White Salmon, Little White Salmon, Wind, Klickitat, Rockcreek, Yakima, Wenatchee, Entiat, Chelan, and Methow). Yakama Nation Fisheries focuses on culturally important fish, including: Chinook, sockeye, steelhead, coho, Pacific lamprey, and White sturgeon.

Yakama Nation Fisheries works "To honor, protect and restore Nch'i-Wa'na (the Columbia River), its tributaries and its resources for the benefit of current and future generations of the Yakama people as reserved for them in the Treaty of 1855 (12 stat. 951)