The Wilderness Calling (TWC) is a conservation organization focused on wild fish and the places they

depend on.

We bring anglers, scientists, volunteers, businesses, agencies, and conservation partners together around

research, education, and hands-on conservation.

Our flagship project is rooted on Oregon's North Coast, with a broader commitment to wild fish and healthy

watersheds.

We want to better understand wild fish, protect important habitat, and get more people directly involved in

conservation.

A big part of our work is creating useful information and building partnerships that can turn that information

into action. TWC connects people who know these rivers and fish firsthand with scientists, agencies, and

conservation partners who can help put that knowledge to work.

No. Wild steelhead are a major focus of our work today, but TWC has a broader commitment to wild fish,

habitat, research, education, and conservation.

Our Oregon Coast steelhead satellite-tagging study is our flagship project.

A kelt is a steelhead that has survived spawning and is heading back toward the ocean.

Unlike most Pacific salmon, steelhead can survive spawning, return to sea, rebuild their energy reserves,

and come back to freshwater to spawn again. That makes the survival and ocean life of kelts an important

part of the steelhead story.

WC is conducting a five-year satellite-tagging study of wild steelhead kelts on Oregon's North Coast.

The project uses Pop-up Satellite Archival Tags, or PSATs, to follow fish beyond the river and begin

answering one of the biggest remaining questions about steelhead: where do they go in the ocean?

The main goal is simple:

Build a map on the West Coast of where steelhead go after they return to the Pacific Ocean.Little is known about the ocean migration routes of these fish. Once they leave our rivers, a huge part of

their lives remains a mystery.

TWC is doing the work of uncovering that mystery.

Each successful deployment adds another piece to the map. Over multiple years and many fish, those

pieces can begin revealing where steelhead travel and how they use the ocean.

Furthermore, our work can be combined with research from other organizations and scientists, including

the satellite telemetry work of Michael Courtney and his colleagues in Alaska. Together, studies from

different steelhead populations can ultimately help build a much larger picture of steelhead ocean migration

routes along the West Coast and across the North Pacific.

Steelhead spend a large part of their lives at sea, but most research and conservation work has historically

been concentrated in freshwater.

If we can understand where these fish travel in the Pacific, we can begin asking better questions about the

habitats they use, the conditions they experience, and the threats they encounter. That gives scientists and

resource managers better information for future conservation decisions.

Yes. The work of Michael Courtney, Andrew Seitz, Kevin Fraley and colleagues at the University of Alaska Fairbanks is

an important scientific benchmark for our project.

Their multi-year Situk River study satellite-tagged 63 steelhead kelts and produced some of the first

detailed information on steelhead kelt migration in the North Pacific. The work showed that a large,

multi-year PSAT dataset can reveal migration patterns, likely daily positions, depth use, temperature,

behavior, and mortality.

TWC is working toward that level of understanding for Oregon's North Coast steelhead.

The Pacific Ocean is enormous, and steelhead are difficult to encounter once they leave freshwater.

Historically, much of what scientists knew about their ocean distribution came from commercial bycatch,

occasional tag recoveries, and encounters during research aimed at other salmon species.

Population-specific migration routes remain poorly understood.

New advances in satellite telemetry give us a way to start filling in that missing part of their

life history.

We use Pop-up Satellite Archival Tags, or PSATs.

The tag travels with the fish and records information while the steelhead moves through the ocean. After a

programmed period, the tag releases from the fish, floats to the surface, and transmits information through

the Argos satellite system.The data can then be used to estimate movement and better understand what the fish experienced while at

sea.

The MiniPAT tags record depth, temperature, ambient light, wet/dry status, and acceleration. They also

produce data that can be used for light-based geolocation and provide an Argos location after the tag

releases and reaches the surface.

Together, these measurements can help researchers estimate location and large-scale movement,

examine vertical movement and activity, and understand the temperatures and depths a fish experienced.

As the dataset grows, those measurements can support more detailed analyses of migration, habitat use,

behavior, temperature exposure, and mortality.

For TWC, the map comes first. The larger dataset creates possibilities beyond the map.

The 2025 season was our pilot year. It established that PSAT technology can produce ocean data from

Oregon Coast steelhead and gave us a foundation for the larger study.

Just as importantly, the first season helped us refine fish capture, handling, tagging, recovery, tag retention,

and deployment strategy. Our 2026 field season expanded the work with 10 additional tag deployments.

The sample is still too small for broad conclusions about the population. This is why the project is designed

to continue across multiple years.

A useful migration map takes more than a few fish.

The Situk River study is a good example. Researchers satellite-tagged 63 steelhead kelts over three field

seasons: 16 in 2018, 12 in 2019, and 35 in 2020. Fifty-nine of the 63 tags transmitted. Forty-four reported

from marine waters, and 30 tags produced more than two weeks of marine data suitable for the study's

migration and behavior analyses. Those 30 tags produced a total of 2,034 days of marine data.

TWC is building the Oregon dataset the same way - one fish, one deployment, and one season at a time.

Fish welfare is built into the study design.

One of the most important safeguards is tag burden - the weight of a tracking device relative to the weight

of the animal carrying it. In our steelhead work, the tag is kept below 2% of the fish's body weight. Fish

also have to meet minimum size and health standards before they can be tagged.

The Situk River study used the same under-2% standard. Researchers selected healthy fish, used a

specialized cradle and eye covering to reduce stress, and only tagged steelhead large enough to meet the

size and tag-burden threshold.

That research demonstrated that steelhead kelts carrying PSATs can complete extensive ocean migrations

and provide months of useful telemetry data.TWC's methods are informed by that work and other established telemetry practices. Our fieldwork is

conducted under state and federal research permits, and we continue refining our methods as the study

develops.

Experienced anglers give us a way to encounter wild kelts in their natural river environment and bring the

angling community directly into the research.

Hook-and-line capture also allows the team to be selective about which fish are tagged. Fish are assessed

for size, condition, and suitability before a tag is attached.

That connection between anglers and science is a big part of TWC.

Citizen participation is an important part of the project, alongside professional science.

The work brings together experienced anglers, fisheries biologists, telemetry experts, technical advisers,

agency coordination, research permits, and data analysis.

TWC's role is to bring those pieces together and create a field-based conservation program capable of

producing useful science while giving the public a direct way to participate.

Collaboration has been important from the beginning.

TWC works with scientists, state and federal agencies, conservation organizations, foundations,

businesses, lodges, landowners, anglers, volunteers, and individual donors. Our relationships and

supporters include the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, NOAA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,

University of Alaska Fairbanks, Wildlife Conservation Society, Trout Unlimited, Wild Steelhead Coalition,

1% for the Planet, Crystal Creek Lodge, local businesses, foundations, and many individual donors.

Michael Courtney and Kevin Fraley have also provided important technical guidance in the development of

the study.

There are too many people and organizations helping this work to list here. Visit our Partners page to learn

more

Anglers spend an enormous amount of time around these fish and rivers. That experience, local

knowledge, and connection to the resource can be a real conservation asset.

TWC gives anglers a way to move beyond simply caring about wild fish and participate directly in research,

education, and conservation

Education connects the research to the people who can support it, learn from it, and eventually use it.TWC uses field experiences, public events, presentations, film, storytelling, and community outreach to

help people understand the fish, the research, and why the work matters.

We want conservation to be something people can participate in.

The study is still active, and the detailed dataset has real scientific and conservation value.

We want people to understand the work and follow its progress without releasing individual fish tracks,

precise locations, raw tag files, or the complete underlying dataset while the research is developing.

Detailed data can be used through scientific collaborations, conservation and management partnerships,

research agreements, peer-reviewed work, licensing arrangements, or other structured relationships that

support the mission of TWC

The Situk River research gives us a picture of what becomes possible with enough successful

deployments.

A mature PSAT dataset can help researchers examine migration routes, likely daily positions, depth use,

ocean temperatures, behavior, habitat occupancy, and mortality.

Our immediate job is to build a strong Oregon dataset. As that grows, so does what we may be able to

learn from it.

No.

Tags can release early, transmissions can fail, fish can die, and some deployments produce much more

information than others. The 2025 pilot and 2026 deployments both reinforced why sample size and

repeated field seasons matter.

Every season gives us more experience, better methods, and another opportunity to add useful information

to the dataset.

Support pays for satellite tags, field equipment, training, field operations, data analysis, reporting, public

outreach, program development, permitting and coordination, and the infrastructure required to sustain a

multi-year research effort.

Satellite tags are a major expense - historically about $5,000 each - but good science requires much more

than the hardware. It takes experienced people, careful fieldwork, enough deployments, technical analysis,

and time.

Currently, TWC has no paid team members. The organization is powered by volunteers,

partners, and supporters, allowing donations to go directly toward advancing the work.

The flagship project was designed as a five-year study.

Each year adds fish, data, experience, and another piece of the map. The goal is to build enough

information to begin seeing patterns that individual deployments cannot show us.

For the flagship project, success means building a meaningful map of steelhead ocean migration and

contributing Oregon's North Coast data to a larger understanding of where steelhead travel in the Pacific.

For TWC, success means better information, stronger partnerships, more people directly involved in

conservation, and healthier wild fish and habitat.

Donate, volunteer, partner with us, attend an event, or help tell the story.

TWC is built around the idea that anglers, scientists, businesses, landowners, students, donors, and

volunteers can all contribute something.