The North Fork Smith serves as a salmon and steelhead stronghold for the large Umpqua River system, with good runs of coho, sea-run and resident cutthroat trout, fall chinook and winter steelhead. The North Fork Smith's cold water and complex habitat provide a refuge for fish in summer months.

In 2003, WRC conserved a unique 320-acre property on the North Fork Smith, which is now part of the Siuslaw National Forest. The property was the only private in-holding within the Kentucky Falls Special Interest Area, a seven-mile-long corridor of old growth in the Siuslaw National Forest. This area contains the largest expanse of mature Late Successional Reserve in the Oregon Coast Range.

Just upstream of this first property, Western Rivers Conservancy in 2010 negotiated purchase of 778 acres that will protect an additional four miles of the North Fork Smith River.

Purchasing these lands, along with restoration activies already underway on the river, will enhance the basin's fish productivity and help ensure excellent refugia for salmon and steelhead.

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