AbstractGenetic risk assessment is a tool for describing and communicating genetic risks and hazards of natural resource management objectively, on a case-by-case basis, to reduce conflicts and ambiguities that arise from generalized perceptions of such risks. Here, we describe a general framework and some technical approaches to quantifying genetic risks and hazards. We develop a model of genetic vulnerability of managed populations that links sources of potential technological hazards, protective mechanisms and responses, and potential losses using artificial propagation of Pacific salmon in the Columbia River as an example. Unlike other models of ecological risk assessment that emphasize containment of hazards, risk assessment must consider both the protective measures against genetic hazards (reliability) and the potential rate of recovery from failure of protective measures (resilience). We illustrate the essential components of these safeguards, and we illustrate how genetic vulnerability can be described by inventorying, measuring, or rating safeguards and by applying genetic or ecological models to describe losses.