The Salmon Office opened in May 2001 to assist with implementation of the National Fire Plan. The area covered by the Salmon Office starts with the Main Salmon River above Mackey Bar and includes the Salmon River. Much of the landbase for these watersheds is administered by the U.S. Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management. As a result the office deals primarily with the Salmon Challis National Forest, Sawtooth National Forest, and the Salmon and Challis Districts of the Bureau of Land Management. The office also works with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, Idaho Fish and Game, the Shoshone Bannock Tribe and the Upper Salmon Basin Watershed Project.

The Salmon Office’s focus is primarily on improving and protecting aquatic habitat conditions. Low stream flow, water diversions, high water temperatures and excessive sediment are the primary limiting factors in our stream environments, but other factors such as loss of riparian function, lack of instream cover and woody debris, and lack of stream passage are also problems. Land uses contributing to fish habitat declines have included irrigation, grazing, mining, timber harvest, road building, and recreation.