Welcome Pacific Lamprey – a Collaborative Restoration Effort in the South Santiam

Posted July 16, 2026/Alex Shoulders/Last Updated July 23, 2026

Pacific Lamprey hold a place of significance and provide an important source of
food, culture, and medicine for Columbia River Basin Tribes. Along with this,
Lamprey is an important ecologic indicator of healthy aquatic habitat. As noted by
Dave’y Lumley; Yakama Nation, “Pacific Lamprey are such as amazing fish with a
unique life cycle that not only has a positive benefit to the ecosystem but also tribal
communities. Each life stage of the Pacific Lamprey has a place, the larval lamprey
are filter feeders so they help clean water systems and aerate sediment within the
stream, juvenile lamprey migrating out to the ocean act as a buffer for salmon
smolts since they migrate at the same time, and adult lamprey are a food source
for wildlife and tribal communities.” The Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish
Commission (CRITFC), in collaboration with the Yakama Nation (YN), Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), The Confederated Tribes of
Warm Springs (CTWS), and Nez Perce Tribe (NPT), is advancing a landmark
restoration effort to return Pacific lamprey to their ancestral spawning grounds
above major hydropower dams in the Willamette River Basin. Unlike Pacific salmon,
which rely heavily on olfactory cues to return to their origin streams, Pacific
lamprey use pheromones released by larval lamprey and environmental signals to
locate suitable spawning habitat, making their remarkable return to freshwater.

A major milestone in th is ongoing work occurred in June 2025 when CRITFC tribal
crews successfully collected 278 adult lamprey at Willamette Falls, marking the first
large-scale reintroduction of the species into five upper Willamette watersheds in
more than six decades. The 2025 restoration also established an important
partnership with the Oregon Zoo, where 23 adults were transferred for education
and short-term study. Building on these accomplishments, the current project
funded by First Nations doubled the target number for Pacific lamprey collections at
Willamette Falls in 2026, setting this goal to approximately 500 adults for
translocation. This lamprey restoration effort is guided by key leadership from
CRITFC biologists and Lead Lamprey Staff from the member tribes’ natural resource
programs.

While the lamprey release is representing for the technical part of the restoration
effort, community engagement and outreach is a crucial element for sustainability
of the actions. One of the project’s most important community events occurs during
the translocation and release ceremonies. In the dams of the North Santiam sub-
basin above Detroit, the South Santiam sub-basin above Green Peter, the McKenzie
sub-basin above Cougar, the Middle Fork Willamette sub-basin above Hills Creek,
and the Long Tom River sub-basin above Fern Ridge, tribal elders and youth and
members of the public gather to welcome lamprey back into their homelands. For
youth, participating in these releases builds cultural identity, strengthens ties to
elders, and connects them to living traditions of ecological stewardship. Through
these combined efforts, the project stands as a model of community-driven
restoration. It honors sacred relationships, empowers tribal stewardship, engages

the broader public, and moves the Willamette Basin toward a future where lamprey
once again thrive in the waters that sustained them for millennia.

South Santiam Watershed Council (SSWC) is also part of these conservation efforts.
On June 23rd, SSWC together with the representatives of CRITFC organized the
release of 50 Pacific Lamprey above the Green Peter Dam (South Santiam). The
translocated adults are expected to spawn naturally, producing larvae that will help
re-establish sustaining lamprey populations in the South Santiam watershed over
time.

Community members interested in learning more about Pacific lamprey restoration
and Tribal-led conservation efforts can visit the CRITFC webpage on Pacific Lamprey here https://critfc.org/fish-and-watersheds/columbia-river-fish-species/lamprey/ . Protecting healthy rivers and supporting watershed restoration helps
ensure these culturally and ecologically important fish can once again thrive
throughout the Willamette Basin. SSWC will further undertake monitoring SSWC
and will continue its efforts to provide a suitable environment in the South Santiam
Watershed both for unique species as well as people.