The Ellensburg Field Office (EFO), located near historic downtown Ellensburg opened in July of 2001. The office houses the Eastern Washington Habitat Branch (EWHB), the Interior Columbia Recovery Coordinator, and a fishery biologist from the Eastern Oregon Habitat Branch.

The EFO was established to place staff resources closer to NOAA Fisheries Service customers and the fish this agency is charged with managing and protecting. The EWHB is primarily responsible for Endangered Species Act and Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act consultations on projects proposed throughout Eastern Washington, including the Okanogan, Methow, Entiat, Wenatchee, Yakima, Klickitat, White Salmon, and Walla Walla Subbasins, and portions of the Snake River in Washington State and the mainstem Columbia River upstream of the Wind River. In addition to consulting on federal actions, EWHB staff support salmon recovery and habitat conservation planning efforts and provide technical assistance to local habitat restoration efforts.