2026 Upper Columbia Science Summit

Date: January 21-22, 2026

Location: Leavenworth, WA

Theme: “Honoring the Past, Shaping the Future”

The Upper Columbia Salmon Recovery Board (UCSRB) is actively planning the upcoming 2026 Upper Columbia Science Summit. This summit is an opportunity to forge and strengthen relationships through the exchange of information and discussion of key issues. The summit focuses on adaptive management and is based on the theme of “Honoring the Past, Shaping the Future” to reflect our region’s acknowledgment of where we’ve come from and how to adapt our continuing efforts to support salmon recovery and benefit listed species. The summit is intended for a variety of active participants including monitoring and research professionals, project sponsors, contractors, regional technical team members, elected officials, agency representatives, academics, and the public.

Registration

Registration is open! Currently early bird registration is at $60 and will go up to $80 on December 1st. Payment of registration fees is encouraged to assist with the summit costs. However, to support maximum participation should you or your agency be impacted by the current funding challenges, please enter a zero in the fee field before submitting the registration form and contact Leslie Selgestad (leslie.selgestad@ucsrb.org) with your justification.

Program

The Upper Columbia Science Summit Steering Committee is actively generating the sessions and plenary speakers. Past sessions during the summit included status of species, ocean and estuary conditions, adult migration, juvenile migration, predation, watersheds, habitat, floodplains, and restoration. Final sessions will be decided on by the Science Summit Steering Committee and based on abstracts submitted. Please see past meetings for past programs. Abstracts are due November 15th (extended from Oct 31st due to government shutdown) at midnight.

Lodging

We have reserved a 20 room block at Hampton Inn and Suites in Leavenworth at government per diem lodging rate ($110). Please contact them at 509-470-9798 to reserve a room. Let them know you are reserving a room in the “UCSRB Science Summit”.

Additionally, we have confirmed that FairBridge Inn & Suites, Icicle Resort, and Howard Johnson – all in Leavenworth – have rooms available at government per diem lodging rates ($110).

Venue

This summit will be held at the Leavenworth Festhalle in Leavenworth, WA.

Contact

If you have any additional questions or comments, please reach out to Ryan Niemeyer at ryan.niemeyer@ucsrb.org.