The Mid-Columbia River Fishery Resource Office (MCRFRO) originated in 1974 as the Fishery Assistance Office - Coulee Dam to provide technical fisheries assistance to the 1.3 million acre Colville Indian Reservation in north central Washington. In 1978, the Coulee Dam Fisheries Assistance Office was moved to the grounds of Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery (LNFH) at Leavenworth, Washington, to assume responsibility for evaluating hatchery fish production. In 1990, the office was renamed the Mid-Columbia River Fishery Resource Office to better reflect the station's expanded involvement in fishery and resource management issues in central and eastern Washington. In 1998, a sub-office was established in Yakima, Washington, to coordinate Service activities related to flow issues in the Yakima River Basin.

The two primary purposes of the MCRFRO are: Determining the survival and contribution of spring chinook salmon and steelhead trout released from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) mitigation hatcheries located at Winthrop, Entiat, and Leavenworth, Washington, and assessing their impacts on wild salmonid populations and, more broadly; Cooperating with and providing technical assistance to other Service programs, federal, tribal, state, and local entities, and citizen groups using and managing aquatic species and their habitats in the mid- and upper-Columbia River Basin.