February 7, 2022 3:00 a.m.

State Representative David Brock Smith has introduced two bills for this legislative session that he said will assist in restoring Oregon’s wild salmon runs, increase off-channel habitat and bring groups together to grow wild fish.

A release said HB 4145 establishes a fish incubation program with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Brock Smith said the bill will help to create instream wild salmon in the state’s watersheds and provide shelter for newly hatched eggs where they can remain safe from predators, allowing them to grow and thrive in Oregon’s waterways.

HB 4148 would establish the Salmon Habitat Credit Program. This would be done under the Oregon Department of Agriculture, in consultation with ODF&W and the Department of State Lands. Brock Smith said the program will offer mitigation assurance while incentivizing landowners who voluntarily take part in the program that creates channel and off-channel salmon habitat restoration projects.

Brock Smith said the two proposals will work hand-in-hand to restore wild salmon in Oregon’s waterways by relying on modern fish incubation methods and “…by taking advantage of the fact that Oregonians are already great stewards of their own land”.

Brock Smith said the Salmon Habitat Credit Program will be “the most progressive environmental legislation introduced in Oregon since the Tom McCall Bottle Bill of the 1970’s, and it will do so by rewarding land owners for growing wild salmon as a permanent part of their land’s revenue stream”.

Both bills will have hearings this week in the House Environmental & Natural Resources Committee where Brock Smith serves as Vice-Chair.