Wild Salmon Center

Wild Salmon Center, a Portland, Oregon-based non-profit organization, acts as a prime recipient of federal grants focused on fish passage restoration, aquatic habitat recovery, and freshwater conservation, with ancillary sub-recipient roles on habitat and research initiatives managed by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and state conservation offices.

Wild Salmon Center is a tax-exempt corporate entity specializing in salmonid habitat restoration, fish passage barrier removal, and watershed-scale ecological recovery across the Pacific Northwest. The organization operates exclusively in the grant space; it holds no federal contracts as a prime or sub contractor. Its federal footprint is concentrated in grant awards from natural-resource agencies, with no competitive set-aside designation applicable to its grant work.

The organization's customer base is narrow and concentrated. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration funds 18 of 29 total awards (62% of prime plus sub grants) and anchors Wild Salmon Center's work—nearly all NOAA-funded effort targets coho salmon recovery across Oregon coastal watersheds (Coos, Siletz, Nestucca, and Nehalem) and Washington's Olympic Peninsula and Quinault watersheds. The Department of Agriculture Forest Service accounts for five additional awards, primarily under its International Forestry Programs (CFDA 10.684) and through the Washington Office Acquisitions bureau. The Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 1 contributes one award. The top four agencies cover 93% of recent grant awards.

Representative prime-recipient work includes a $5.972 million NOAA Cooperative Agreement (awarded October 1, 2026, running through September 30, 2029) under the Habitat Conservation program (CFDA 11.463) to restore fish passage and wetland habitat across ten road crossings in four Oregon Coast watersheds, restoring access to 8.6 miles of stream habitat and 22.95 acres of critical wetland. An earlier $11.942 million NOAA Cooperative Agreement (April 1, 2023) funds the Coldwater Connection Campaign in Washington, designing, permitting, and removing nine culverts in the Quillayute and Quinault watersheds in partnership with the Quileute and Quinault tribes. A $3.625 million NOAA Cooperative Agreement (March 1, 2023) supports nine fish passage projects across four Oregon coastal watersheds to recover coho populations. Wild Salmon Center also holds a $300 thousand USDA Forest Service Project Grant (September 17, 2024) to build freshwater conservation capacity abroad in Mongolia.

In its sub-recipient capacity, Wild Salmon Center works under the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation on AI-enabled fishery monitoring in Alaska, coastal resilience design for sockeye habitat in Lake Ozette, Washington, and multi-watershed wetland restoration planning across Oregon estuaries. It also receives sub-awards through the Recreation and Conservation Office on phased fish passage barrier removal on the Quinault Indian Reservation and fluvial process restoration in Lewis County, Washington. Awards completed or completing in the next twelve months number three across the portfolio. Activity growth accelerated from a single award in 2022 to nine awards in 2024; recent year-over-year activity in 2025 and 2026 shows moderation at four and two awards respectively. Work is performed in Portland, Oregon, with field implementation across coastal Oregon and Washington watersheds.