Save Our Wild Salmon

Mascot Love at Outdoor Retailer

2012-01-24T11:37:00.000-08:00

by Bobby Hayden, National Rep @ Save Our Wild Salmon

Allie Bombach (L) and Sarah Menzies (R) of Red Reel video with Buster, Big Foot, Ice-P

What an awesome couple of days!

They love each other.

Gilly Lyons and I had some great meetings and check-ins at Outdoor Retailer Winter Market with some of our longtime friends at KEEN, Patagonia, Osprey Packs, Granite Gear, Petzl, Kelty, Black Diamond, Ruff Wear, Under Solen Media and many more! Also built on some new connections with Cloudveil, GSI Outdoors, Wilderness Press and others.

The Saturday happy hour hosted by Osprey Packs was a blast! It was great to hang with the Osprey folks along with the Alaska Wilderness League and Leave No Trace. Special thanks to Osprey, Timmy O'Neill and Red Reel Video for their help! Stay tuned for an awesome video of mascots Buster, Bigfoot, and Ice-P from Red Reel in a few weeks.

Also special thanks to fearless big mountain backcountry skier Mark Kogelmann and his awesome dog Marlowe for opening their home to us and our gear.

Your moment of zen provided by Captain and Tennille:

Osprey Packs to host Buster, Ice-P, Bigfoot, and Timmy O'Neil at Outdoor Retailer

2012-01-18T09:58:00.000-08:00

Our dear friends at Osprey Packs are hosting an awesome party to benefit Save Our Wild Salmon, Alaska Wilderness League, and Leave No Trace at this year's Outdoor Retailer Winter Market.

More about the party from Osprey:

"Enjoy a White Russian and keep the glass. Meet the girls in white dresses, boys in tutus and environmental mascots. Donate to Leave No Trace, Alaska Wilderness League and Save our Wild Salmon and win great prize packages."

And by mascots, they mean our very own Buster the Wild Snake River Sockeye Salmon, Ice-P the savvy spokesbear for the Alaska Wilderness League, and Bigfoot who lives the dream with Leave No Trace. Of course there's also Timmy O'Neill, adventurer, comedian, drummer, super salmon friend and mascot to the world, who will be MC'ing the event.

Check out the cool flyer:

We're excited to ring in the new year with all of our allies in the Outdoor Retailer community!

If you happen to be in Salt Lake City this week, please stop on by.
We'll be live tweeting from the event - follow @savewildsalmon and #ORShow

“What Are YOU Wearing Today?” Happy Hour
When: 4 to 6pm, Saturday January 21, 2012
Where: Osprey Booth #5011 at the Salt Palace Convention Center in SLC

Outside Sees Momentum for Dam Removal in 2012

2012-01-12T16:24:00.000-08:00

Outside Magazine is as encouraged by recent dam removal projects in the Pacific Northwest as we are. Citing the recent river restoration projects on the Elwha and White Salmon Rivers, they list the four Lower Snake River dams as number six for their 2012 Editor’s Choice feature. The feature covers the editors “outdoor pleasures” and is “a mix of the good and the guilty- so we made a list.”

Pick of your copy of Outside’s February 2012 issue at news stands today! Or check out some of the other featured items at the website: http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/This-We-Like.html

Thank you Outside Magazine for adding your voice to the ever-growing list of supporters for true wild salmon and steelhead restoration in the Columbia and Snake River basins.

Curious what you can do to help save wild salmon? CLICK HERE

Patagonia’s Salmon Super Heroes

2012-01-10T16:03:00.000-08:00

Yvon Chouinard, president and founder of Patagonia, has long been a champion for salmon and a proud advocate for removing dams, including the four lower Snake River dams. Understanding that salmon restoration is as much an economic consideration as a conservation one, Patagonia was one of the nearly 1,200 signers on the “Salmon Mean Business” letter sent to President Obama last August. Chouinard and his team at Patagonia are true salmon super heroes.

This month, we were thrilled to see that Chouinard chose to feature dam removal in Patagonia’s Mountain 2012 catalog. In the essay titled “Dammed if we don’t” (p. 18), Chouinard reflects on his love of wild rivers, and the need to remove the four lower Snake River dams in order to restore wild Pacific salmon populations:

“Four crucial dams to take out if we wish to restore wild Pacific salmon are on the lower Snake River – a tributary to the Columbia River and one of our planet’s mightiest salmon producers. Every fisheries biologist not in the pocket of the Bonneville Power Administration agrees that the dams must come down. But the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and state and local governments in the area lack backbone and refuse to act on good science…”

Read the full essay.

Last September, Chouinard also attended the festivities in Port Angeles, Washington to celebrate the commencement of the Elwha River Restoration Project (which includes one of the largest dam removal projects in US history, now well under way). We were lucky to be invited to participate in a presentation with Chouinard at the annual Elwha River Science Symposium as featured guests. SOS Inland Northwest Director Sam Mace spoke about the need for a new approach to salmon policy on the Columbia/Snake; her comments connecting the Elwha River to the Snake River, and a few closing thoughts from Chouinard, are included in this short video:

Huge thanks to Patagonia!

Salmon…and bikinis?

2012-01-06T15:15:00.000-08:00

by Amy Baird, SOS communications director

“Statistics are like a bikini. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.” – Aaron Levenstein

I talk to a lot of people everyday about wild salmon restoration efforts on the Columbia and Snake Rivers here in the Pacific Northwest. Those people vary from elected leaders, to young entrepreneurs, to activists, to the friendly guy who runs the coffee shop up the street. I talk to a lot of committed conservationists, fish biologists, and even those who know little to nothing about salmon except how delicious they taste. It’s a subject with a complex history and political nuances that dwarfs even presidential campaigns. From my vantage point in dealing with business leaders, I realize just how much I take for granted the direct connection between a healthy environment and a healthy economy.

That said, polling conducted over the last couple of decades reflects a need to increase public education about this issue. At a time when our economy is still struggling, unemployment still stubbornly high, and a living wage difficult to come by, recognizing that salmon restoration creates jobs is critical. Our environment and economy are very much tied to each other, not at odds. We can indeed restore salmon and create jobs via innovation in the transportation sector, development in renewable energy, increases in energy efficiency, and increasing access to fish that thousands of Northwest businesses, families, and communities are reliant upon.

 Recent polling conducted by Earthfix/DHM reflects the need to provide information on the economics behind environmental protection. Many of the questions in the survey implied a contrast or even opposition between the economy and the environment, when we know the opposite is true (just look at the Sandy or Elwha River restoration projects). Survey results are entirely dependent on how a question is phrased.

At the end of the day, polling like this really reinforces why we need a new approach to salmon restoration on the Columbia/Snake Rivers. A collaborative process that addresses the science and economics behind salmon restoration and addresses the needs of ALL the stakeholders involved is possible, and has worked on other tough conflicts in which the environment and economy are closely intertwined. It’s time to make both our jobs, and our environment, our priority. Join me in asking our elected leaders to convene a solutions table for salmon: TAKE ACTION

Of Fish Farms, the Absurd, and the Unnatural

2011-12-19T16:41:00.000-08:00

Guest Blog by Michael Shurgott

The American Heritage Dictionary defines absurd as: "Ridiculously incongruous or unreasonable; [lack of] order or value in human life or in the universe; meaningless." Unnatural means: "Violating natural law; inconsistent with an individual pattern or custom; deviating from a behavioral, ethical, or social norm."

I submit that the proposal to add a huge fish farm in the Strait of Juan de Fuca (as reported earlier in the Seattle Times: “Plan for huge fish farm in Strait roils the waters”) is hideously absurd and unnatural, and should be scrapped immediately.

Fish farms raise Atlantic salmon, a non-native (i.e., unnatural and invasive) species, in huge nets that cram millions of fish into an unnatural and unhealthy environment. In these pens, fish waste is concentrated and the pens promote disease, including the highly contagious and deadly ISA virus, which has been spread across the planet by farmed fish. It has contributed not only to the deaths of millions of farmed fish around the world but also been implicated as a potential cause for the collapse of the famed Fraser River wild sockeye runs in Canada.

Further, to compound the unnaturalness and absurdity of these farms, the farmed fish are fed wild fish and the fish farmers kill hundreds of seals and sea lions that are attracted to the pens. Anticipating the impending restoration of a free-flowing Elwha River and presumably huge runs of wild salmon, if the Juan de Fuca fish farm is allowed to operate will we see fish farmers seeking to kill not only more seals and sea lions but also endangered orcas that will be attracted to the Elwha’s wild fish runs? Would we tolerate the absurdity of killing increasingly large numbers of ocean predators, and thus further upsetting the natural balance of ocean wildlife, because we have destroyed so many wild salmon runs that we have to rely on farmed fish? Does ANY part of this scenario make sense?

Meanwhile, despite mountains of science, the federal government continues to resist efforts to remove the unnecessary earthen dams on the lower Snake River that block more than five thousand miles of wild salmon spawning grounds – the largest, wildest, healthiest and best-protected salmon habitat in the ‘Lower 48’. In fact, the Obama administration’s first approach to salmon recovery in the Columbia and Snake Rivers embraced the Bush administration's that once argued that since the Snake River dams are in place we should think of them as being part of the river's "natural environment." Really? How much more absurd can this situation become?

Instead of building more fish farms that breed invasive species, spread disease, and devastate ocean wildlife, we should promote and restore the natural ocean environment and abandon the absurd idea that we can ignore natural processes that have evolved over millenia.

Michael Shurgott is the former chair of the Conservation Committee at The Mountaineers and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Mountaineers Foundation.

Thank you, Judge Redden

2011-11-23T17:20:00.000-08:00

From the desk of Pat Ford, executive director of Save Our wild Salmon:

If salmon could talk, each one would have the same words for U.S. District Judge James Redden, who announced Tuesday that he is stepping down from the Columbia/Snake salmon case he has presided over for 12 years.

The words: Thank You.

Over those 12 years, Judge Redden has done more to restore Columbia and Snake River salmon and steelhead than any other individual. He has struck down three status quo-protecting salmon plans from three different administrations. He has ordered since 2006 the single most beneficial action to restore Columbia Basin salmon: spring and summer spill at the federal dams. He deserves most of the credit for all the actions now being taken or funded by federal agencies to improve spawning, rearing and estuary habitats for Columbia Basin salmon - actions which are not enough to restore the endangered stocks, but which will benefit them.

Thanks to Judge Redden, there are far more salmon-based jobs in the Northwest and on the West coast than we would otherwise have. Hundreds of communities and thousands of families are in his debt for that. By upholding the law, he has done more to protect and create salmon jobs in the six salmon states than three administrations combined.

Thanks to Judge Redden, the Obama Administration must now take a comprehensive new look at removing the lower Snake River dams, at boosting flows through federal dams on the Columbia and Snake, and at other actions needed to address the core problem that three Administrations have refused to address: the federal dams kill too many salmon, and those deaths must be reduced if Columbia and Snake River salmon are to be rescued from extinction and returned to productivity.

He did his job; he applied the law fairly and clearly. We hope and urge the Administration to do the same.

Judge Redden, on behalf of everyone in the salmon states and our country who cares about salmon: Thank You. We are in your debt. We are more grateful than we can say.

Highway to Hell Freezes Over

2011-11-14T12:07:00.000-08:00

From the desk of Pat Ford, executive director of Save Our Wild Salmon:

I am happy to report a victory, incomplete but real, for people and rivers, salmon and wildness. Exxon's plan to use the lower Snake River and Idaho and Montana scenic local roads to transport gargantuan mining/milling equipment to the Alberta tar sands seems close to death. A year ago, Bobby Hayden of SOS named the scheme "Highway to Hell", a good literal description. Like Frankenstein in the northern ice at the end of Mary Shelley's tale, it is now frozen.

There will be sequels, and we know ice melts. We cannot prematurely count out the world's largest corporation, Exxon has shifted its plans geographically rather than giving up (its new proposed highway route threatens parts of Spokane), and the beast this one tentacle was to serve, tar sands production itself, goes on. But last week Exxon announced its equipment will still be barged on the Columbia River to the Tri-Cities, but for now will not come on to Lewiston to then threaten Highway 12, the communities along it, and the salmon of the Snake, Clearwater, and Salmon Rivers.

Read more from Pat at the SOS website.

Read a recent blog on the issue from Rocky Barker of the Idaho Statesman.

WA Leaders: Support Salmon with Solutions Table

2011-10-28T15:56:00.000-07:00

This week, Washington State’s Governor Christine Gregoire and Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell were urged to take a new approach to Columbia Basin salmon restoration. The letter, signed by 15 Northwest conservation groups, asks Washington’s leaders to support the establishment of a new, stakeholder-based solutions table to save Columbia and Snake River salmon and steelhead.

The letter echoes a message nearly 1,200 American businesses sent to President Obama in August, just after a federal judge ruled the government’s plan inadequate and illegal. Conservationists, fishermen, and business leaders are calling for a new approach to salmon restoration that brings together affected communities to work collaboratively and craft a lawful, science-based plan that meets the needs of affected communities.

Click here to read the full letter.

Do you live in Washington State? Click here to contact Governor Gregoire and Senators Murray and Cantwell.

With four federal salmon plans ruled illegal since 1995, we’re long overdue to convene an inclusive, collaborative stakeholder process that is serious about saving salmon and protecting communities. Let’s make it happen.

Letter signers include: Sierra Club, NW Energy Coalition, Earthjustice, American Rivers, American Whitewater, Orca Network, Wild Steelhead Coalition, Save Our wild Salmon, People for Puget Sound, Washington Environmental Council, Trout Unlimited, National Wildlife Federation, The Lands Council, Center for Environmental Law & Policy, The Mountaineers

First Elwha, then White Salmon. Next up: SNAKE

2011-10-26T16:59:00.000-07:00

Watching the Condit Dam precision explosion today on the White Salmon River was an emotional experience. (In case you missed it, watch it HERE online.) The crowd was excited and jumpy in the final minutes leading up to the blast. Loud horns sounded the countdown. There were some tears of relief and joy, but mostly smiles and laughter. A strong sense of camaraderie was felt; everyone who was present cares about proper river restoration. Cares about wild fish recovering. Cares about the jobs to be created and the businesses to benefit. And everyone present knows just how hard it was to get to this day.

Like the two dams coming out on the Elwha River in Olympic National Park, Condit Dam took more than a decade of negotiation, collaboration and review before breaching became a tangible possibility. Many heated debates, political and legal battles were waged to reach agreement. As a result, today is a day of celebration.

For other campaigns in river restoration, the Elwha and Condit dams represent renewed enthusiasm. They are extremely powerful reminders of what is possible. We CAN achieve a better future. We CAN save rivers, and save fish. And we WILL continue to do so.

There are many differences between Elwha dam removal, the breaching of Condit dam, and the four dams on the lower Snake River. But there are similar fundamentals. One is that when it costs more to leave dams in operation than it does to remove them, the dams are likely to go.

As the Elwha and White Salmon Rivers are reborn, and we see the communities around them benefit, jobs increase, and salmon return, we also step closer to success in restoring the lower Snake River, and the highest- and longest-migrating salmon assemblage in the world.

We won’t give up. While we’ve always known that we must, today we are reminded that we can, and will, succeed.

Many thanks to partners that have worked hard to make a free-flowing White Salmon a reality: American Rivers, American Whitewater, Columbia Riverkeeper, Friends of the White Salmon, Friends of the Columbia Gorge, Gifford Pinchot Task Force, Mountaineers, Trout Unlimited.

Congressman Hastings: Playing Fast and Loose with the Salmon Facts

2011-10-20T15:46:00.000-07:00

Many people are familiar with PolitiFact, a project of the St. Petersburg Times that fact-checks quotes by members of Congress, the White House, lobbyists and interest groups to determine their overall accuracy. A recent statement from Congressman Doc Hastings (R-WA) about salmon restoration efforts in the Pacific Northwest got us wondering if it’s time for the debut of a salmon-oriented offshoot, FishFact.

Now, it’s certainly not unusual for members of Congress to occasionally engage in rhetorical hopscotch or to stretch the truth here and there in order to make a punchier point. But in his October 14 Weekly Message, “Protecting Northwest Investments,” Congressman Hastings takes the time-honored practice of embellishment a step further by contradicting himself in the course of a single news release.

Here’s where Congressman Hastings, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, gets tripped up by the facts, and by his own words:

Congressman Hastings says, “This year, the region will again experience record or near-record salmon returns.” In actuality, many key populations of wild salmon remain perilously low, with most wild runs still at or near the levels that led to their protection under the Endangered Species Act in the first place. Still, the Columbia Basin has seen modestly higher salmon returns over the past couple of years, with hatchery fish comprising about 80% of those returns. The near-unanimous scientific explanation for these slightly-better-than-average numbers? Good ocean conditions and an in-river salmon protection measure called spill, where federal agencies send water over the tops of dams to help young salmon safely reach the ocean during their spring and summer out-migrations. Even longtime opponents of spill, such as the Bonneville Power Administration, now admit that the practice works and has contributed to the recent boost in returns.

But Congressman Hastings then begs to differ with just about every fish biologist in the Northwest: “Unfortunately, new salmon-related regulations based on faulty science have led to wasteful spilling of water through [sic] federal dams…” The congressman does not elaborate on which new regulations or faulty science he’s referring to, nor why the spilling of water is wasteful; but perhaps most importantly, Mr. Hastings fails to square his critique of spill with his claims of record salmon returns. Since we don’t get a bump in fish numbers without spilling water over the dams, the congressman will need to choose which myth he’d like to perpetuate: spill is bad vs. record returns. In this case, he can’t have it both ways.

Congressman Hastings goes on to say that the federal government has done little “to address the most pressing threats to salmon.” We couldn’t agree more, but we suspect Mr. Hastings is referring to a different set of threats; while most scientists recognize the federal dams as the most significant threat to Columbia and Snake River salmon, it appears Congressman Hastings believes that salmon have more to fear from birds and sea lions. We don’t want to discount the impact that predation has on imperiled salmon populations, but let’s keep things in perspective: sea lions consume between 2-4% of returning salmon (specifically spring chinook), while the federal hydropower system accounts for as much as 75% of human-caused mortality for some stocks. Clearly we should do all we can to reduce salmon mortality across the board, but Congressman Hastings’ focus on downplaying and even ignoring the massive harm caused by the federal hydrosystem won’t get us very far. To achieve actual salmon recovery – wild salmon recovery – we must turn our collective attention to making meaningful changes at the federal dams. Scientists tell us that this is the path to salmon abundance.

Speaking of the federal dams, Congressman Hastings rarely misses an opportunity to dismiss lower Snake River dam breaching as a cockamamie idea, and his October 14 release is no exception; in it, he states, “Dam removal is an extreme action that would be devastating to the Pacific Northwest economy and is not proven to increase fish populations.” However, we’re not sure what evidence Mr. Hastings has to back either of these claims. In fact, study after study has concluded that removing the four dams on the lower Snake River is the most biologically certain (and perhaps only) way to recover imperiled Snake River salmon and steelhead. Other dam removals in the region (e.g., the Marmot Dam on the Sandy River) have already resulted in improved salmon returns. Furthermore, many studies have shown that dam removal is a cost-effective solution (and certainly more so than the current path of spending $1 billion per year on a salmon plan that’s not working) that would create thousands of jobs and revitalize rural economies from the Pacific Coast to Central Idaho.

Despite our clear differences with Congressman Hastings, we wholeheartedly agree with him on one point from his Weekly Message: when it comes to salmon recovery efforts, we should ensure that we’re “using the best data and science we have available.” To that end, we respectfully challenge Mr. Hastings to a “science-off.” Our data against his: may the best facts win.

Or better yet, we invite the congressman to join us in supporting a collaborative process where affected stakeholders can sit down together and discuss all scientifically credible salmon restoration options. Mr. Hastings has rejected this idea so far, but we think there’s a lot to be said for talking through our differences. A stakeholder table focused on solutions could be the key to resolving our decades-old salmon crisis; we hope Congressman Hastings is willing to pull up a chair.

Gilly Lyons is the Senior Policy Analyst for the Save Our wild Salmon Coalition.

In the Northwest, dams are falling (but the sky is not)

2011-10-20T13:12:00.000-07:00

While dams across the country are being removed to restore healthier, free-flowing rivers, in many ways the Northwest - and especially Washington and Oregon - has become the epicenter for the movement these days.

These historic projects are restoring healthy rivers, recovering fish populations, providing increased fishing opportunities, and creating much-needed jobs. Our partners at American Rivers have rightly dubbed 2011 The Year of the River.

September on the Elwha

Year of the River: Episode 1 from Andy Maser on Vimeo.

Amid much well deserved fanfare last month, the restoration of the Elwha River – previously throttled by two gigantic concrete walls for 100 years - began with massive jackhammers and backhoes. The removal of America's largest dams yet will require about 2.5 years to complete. During its pre-dam glory, the Elwha River drainage was a premier salmon and steelhead river - home to more 400,000 fish each year, including 100-pound chinook as well as chum, sockeye, coho, pinks, and steelhead. Restoring this river is expected to generate over time the greatest salmon restoration this country has yet seen, and with it, hundreds of jobs.

While there are some emerging debates and disagreements about techniques being used to restore salmon and steelhead populations, such as the sources of fish being used to repopulate the basin and whether the use of hatcheries in this case is a wise choice, Save Our Wild Salmon is excited about this project and the fact that we have progressed to the point where we are now having these types of debates, about how we will recover fish in the newly-restored river.

October on the White Salmon

Year of the River: Episode 2 from Andy Maser on Vimeo.

Following quickly on the heels the Elwha River Project is the removal of Condit Dam and restoration of the White Salmon River, a tributary of the Columbia River in southwest Washington. On October 26, contractors will blast a hole in the dam's concrete base and drain the 92-acre reservoir in just six hours. The torrent will snake 3.3 miles downstream to the Columbia River, taking with it millions of cubic yards of sediment that have settled behind the dam over the past 98 years.

While Elwha River restoration is slow-going, a free-flowing White Salmon River will occur literally overnight, though the full removal of the dam is expected to take months, and washing out the load of sediments downstream from the dam site could potentially take a couple of years.

White Salmon Fall Chinook salmon were recently trapped downstream and transported above the dams into habitat they have not visited in nearly a century. They are already making nests and kick-starting the re-colonization process.

What this means for the Snake River

Neither the White Salmon nor the Elwha River restoration projects were easy to pass or move forward. They are the result of years of hard work, collaborative effort, and scientific review. They are the result of strong leadership and legal process, bolstering regional economies and ecosystems. While every river restoration project is different, lessons learned from the Elwha and Condit dam removal projects will be important in future policy decisions for other projects, such as on the Snake River.

Regardless of their differences, all these river restoration projects have similar traits in common: it costs more to leave these outdated, obsolete dams in place than it does to remove them. As we measure the salmon returning and the economic impact these projects have, we can look forward to future successful restoration projects. And know that it can be done.

For recent coverage on the Elwha and White Salmon River Restoration efforts:

(1) Seattle Times: Elwha River Restoration video

(2) Elwha River Restoration Webcams.

(3) White Salmon River Restored a timelapse project from filmmaker Andy Maser.

(4) Yakima-Herald Republic: Run Free, White Salmon

Thanks to Andy Maser Films for the awesome videos!

Running the Middle Fork of the Salmon River

2011-09-29T08:39:00.000-07:00

Middle Fork of the Salmon River © Neil Ever Osborne

The following post is from professional endurance athlete, Luke Nelson. This Friday, Nelson, along with Ty Draney, will begin a multi-marathon run through the Frank Church Wilderness - over 120 miles in less than two days. Learn more about their epic journey.

Follow their run LIVE on Friday and Saturday, via SPOT messenger here.
Luke Nelson will be tweeting updates: http://twitter.com/@slukenelson

Luke Nelson

A few summers ago I was fortunate enough to be able to spend the entire summer working as a whitewater guide on the Middle Fork of the Salmon. It was not my first time on the river, as the Middle Fork had been my first wilderness multi-day river trip just prior to my 18th birthday. When the opportunity to spend an entire summer on the Middle Fork came about I took it without hesitation. One visit to the Middle Fork left me yearning to return to it’s awe-inspiring clutches.

There are very few places on this planet that can compare to the wildness of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area, through which the Middle Fork of the Salmon River flows. The natural and pristine immaculately preserved, throughout most of the river there is hardly noticeable traces of mankind's heavy hand. Without fail, at the end of our six day trips down the river our guests would express their experience with phrases like “trip of a lifetime” or “time of my life”. I would thank them with a smile, knowing inside that it was my life and I would be able to repeat the voyage in just over a day’s time. When I finished work for that summer I teared up as I drove home knowing I wouldn’t be back for a season. I knew I would still be able to go back, at some point. Humans are not the only frequent visitors to the Middle Fork as it serves as the return route for salmon. It’s headwaters are spawning grounds that are thousands of years old. Yet, unlike myself there are many things that threaten the ability of Wild Salmon to return to the Middle Fork, including many hydroelectric projects on the Lower Snake River, into which the Middle Fork eventually flows.

For a couple of years now I have tried, unsuccessfully, to win the lottery for a permit to float the Middle Fork of the Salmon. It has been quite depressing every year to be turned down, knowing that my return to paradise is delayed. Wild Salmon are in the same situation, trying to return, but inhibited by obstacles outside of their control. During a run with a friend a little over a year ago an idea was hatched, to “run” the Middle Fork. Not to run it in a 15-foot raft but to run the trail that follows the river for over seventy miles. After a year a planning and logistics the stars have aligned for Ty Draney and I to “run” the Middle Fork. There have been obstacles along the way but we will not be deterred, in the same way we hope to draw more awareness to the issues facing wild salmon so that they to may “run” freely in the Middle Fork and it’s headwaters once again.

Luke Nelson is a member of the US Ski Mountaineering Team, representing the team in February at the World Ski Mountaineering Championships in Italy. Nelson holds several records, including fastest ascent and the fastest car to car on Mount Borah, the highest peak in Idaho. He is sponsored by La Sportiva, UltrAspire, First Endurance, and Nuun.

Pres. Obama Greeted in Seattle by a 25-foot Salmon

2011-09-27T14:20:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, September 25th, President Obama visited Washington State on a very brief fundraising trip lasting mere hours that included stops at a private home in Medina and the Paramount Theater in Seattle. Because Presidential visits are rare occurrences in Seattle (his last visit was in 2009), we thought we would use the occasion to send President Obama a special message regarding salmon and jobs in the Northwest.

Last week’s Elwha river restoration festivities highlighted just one of the opportunities we have in the region to collaborate, protect and restore our natural resources in ways that create jobs and economic activity. As the nation’s largest dam removal effort ever, the story of the Elwha reflects positive momentum forward as we look at other restoration efforts, including on the lower Snake River.

Restoring rivers not only saves critical salmon and steelhead, but, done right, can also rebuild and recapture thousands of long-term jobs (and generate billions of dollars in economic activity). As we work to set an example for the nation with the Elwha and other rivers in need of restoration, these issues deserve the President’s attention.

So in an effort to capture President Obama’s attention, we decided to drive around Seattle near the Paramount Theater with our friend “Fin,” a 25-foot metal salmon sculpture on a trailer. She’s eye-catching, for sure.

Save Our wild Salmon Outreach Director Joseph Bogaard maneuvered Fin through the crowd-packed streets of Seattle. Joining him was Jeremy Brown, a salmon fisherman and board member of the Washington Trollers Association to talk about why salmon mean jobs, and why our President should care.

Said Jeremy outside the Paramount, “Restoring the Elwha River demonstrates that when communities work together, we are capable of achieving great things. Recovering Elwha River salmon means more fishing and more food. These are important benefits to local communities, as well as the obvious benefits to local wildlife too."

Added Joseph, “The President really needs to seize this opportunity to push forward on salmon restoration and jobs creation via collaborative, science-driven process now in the Columbia and Snake River Basin."

Image courtesy of Seattle Times

All other images courtesy of Noah Dolan/Save Our wild Salmon

A job creation opportunity for President Obama

2011-09-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

The following is a guest blog from Paul Fish, president of Mountain Gear, an outdoor gear retailer based in Spokane, Washington. Mountain Gear is one of over 1,100 businesses to call for decisive policy change in Columbia and Snake River salmon recovery.

Please stand with Paul by taking action here.

President Obama recently addressed the nation to outline a renewed plan for kick-starting an economy in crisis. As one piece of the larger puzzle, I urge the President, his administration, and members of Congress to take a close look at the opportunity to recapture lost jobs and create new ones by following good science and bringing people together to restore healthy, abundant runs of wild salmon and steelhead to the Columbia and Snake Rivers. I stand ready to work with the administration on a new path forward.

Those of us who live in salmon country understand how healthy salmon populations and good jobs go hand in hand. Like thousands of other outdoor recreation businesses, Mountain Gear depends on wild backcountry, freely-flowing rivers and healthy fish and wildlife populations for our company’s bottom line. We understand firsthand the direct link between a healthy environment and a strong economy.

Mountain Gear is thankful to be based in Spokane, with its unparalleled backyard of wild lands, scenic mountains, great rivers and wild salmon. The region’s great outdoor recreation opportunities provide a high quality of life that attracts a talented and educated workforce important to our company and the local economy.

One of our greatest treasures is the Snake River and its wild salmon and steelhead. The basin’s many rivers (including the Salmon, Clearwater, Grande Ronde, Wenaha, and the Snake itself) are renowned for their fishing, rafting and hiking. The entire Columbia/Snake River Basin was once the most productive salmon watershed on the planet, with as many as 30 million fish returning to spawn each year.

Unfortunately, the health of this river system and its famed fisheries have been in decline for decades due to poor management and lack of political will.

American taxpayers and Northwest ratepayers have spent more than $10 billion on salmon recovery measures that have failed to protect and restore endangered fisheries in the basin. Declining salmon numbers have hurt regional fishing and outdoor recreation economies throughout the Pacific salmon states of Alaska, California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

The future of the Snake River has reached a critical tipping point. Early last month, a federal judge once again ruled the federal government’s proposed salmon plan illegal and inadequate. Science has shown again and again that any viable salmon recovery effort must include the removal of four costly dams on the lower Snake River. (See for example the June 2011 “Resolution of the Western Division of the American Fisheries Society on the Role of Dams and Conservation of Snake River Salmon, Steelhead, Pacific Lamprey, and White Sturgeon”)

For the past eight years, however, federal agencies have attempted to circumvent this scientific consensus by failing to even consider dam removal as a viable option.

Guided by science and good information we can create many new jobs by restoring this magnificent fish, generating new recreational opportunities, investing in rural towns, enhancing the region’s clean energy and transportation infrastructures, and saving taxpayer dollars.

Recovering wild salmon and steelhead will create thousands of jobs and generate billions of dollars – not just for outdoor and sport fishing companies like mine, but also for rural and coastal communities throughout the Northwest and beyond.

It will not happen, however, without leadership. Seizing this opportunity depends on Washington state’s elected leaders, including Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, joining with President Obama to convene a forum driven by science and economics that puts stakeholders on equal footing with the federal agencies.

A Northwest ‘solutions table’ should be one part of a larger plan to get people working again – and solve other pressing problems at the same time. Done right, it can yield a blueprint to restore wild salmon and steelhead runs to vibrant, self-sustaining levels while creating much-needed family-wage jobs, investing in our economy and protecting our outdoor way of life.

Paul Fish is the president of Mountain Gear, an outdoor gear retailer based in Spokane, Washington. Paul Fish is one of more than one hundred companies in the outdoor gear industry – and more than 1,100 businesses overall - that supports an inclusive stakeholder settlement process in order to craft an effective, legal, and science-based salmon restoration plan for the Columbia and Snake Rivers, including a closer look at the removal of the four lower Snake River dams.

Again, please take action here to stand with Paul and the hundreds of other businesses across the country.

What do wild salmon, failed nuclear plants, and Google have in common?

2011-09-23T08:32:00.000-07:00

They all play a role in how the hugely complex Federal Columbia River Power System – and the agency that runs it, the Bonneville Power Administration – makes and spends money.

That was the take-home message from a hearing held yesterday in the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power about a controversial bill, the Endangered Species Compliance and Transparency Act, or HR 1719. The legislation would require federal power agencies such as Bonneville to estimate and report their direct and indirect costs of complying with the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

While the bill is veiled in consumer “right-to-know” language, here’s what consumers should really know: this bill isn’t about transparency. Instead, HR 1719 would only create confusion (and perhaps ill-will toward protecting fish and wildlife) by distorting costs associated with ESA compliance.

NW Energy Coalition executive director Sara Patton was among the witnesses who testified at yesterday’s hearing, and described HR 1719 as unnecessary (ESA costs are already readily available to utilities and members of the public from both BPA and the Northwest Power and Conservation Council); one-sided (it would only require the reporting of ESA costs, and not the immense benefits associated with fish and wildlife protection); and virtually impossible to implement (BPA is obligated by a myriad of federal laws and treaties to restore fish and wildlife; HR 1719 proposes no way to distinguish which costs are specifically linked to meeting the requirements of the ESA).

But perhaps most alarmingly, H.R. 1719 codifies a kind of “black market” accounting: by including indirect costs like foregone revenue associated with legally-required salmon protection measures (such as spilling water over the dams to help young fish reach the ocean), the bill states that BPA is entitled to money it could have earned had it violated federal law (a highly controversial practice that BPA currently employs). In other words, under H.R. 1719, power administrations would be entitled to claim lost revenue from power that’s illegal to generate in the first place. Plus, the inclusion of foregone revenue in ESA costs creates the very false impression that these costs are far higher than they are in real life. Salmon have it tough enough already; they don’t need fuzzy math and phantom kilowatts muddying the waters even further.

But enough about what HR 1719 would do…let’s talk for a moment about what it wouldn’t do. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, captured the bill’s shortcomings perfectly when he asked the witnesses whether any of BPA’s other big-ticket items should be spelled out on utilities’ monthly power bills – after all, if we’re trying to inform consumers about their electricity costs, we should make sure all the relevant information is available to them. As Rep. Markey pointed out, this should include BPA’s payments to retire the massive debt it absorbed when Washington State’s nuclear power system (“WPPSS”) collapsed under its own weight in the 1980s, a sum that clocks in at about $550 million a year, with almost $6 billion in debt still outstanding. But when asked if BPA’s utility customers should receive this information on their monthly bills, two of the panel’s witnesses (who testified in support of HR 1719, citing the importance of transparency) demurred, saying they weren’t prepared to support the inclusion of any other costs beyond those associated with ESA compliance. This laser-like focus on ESA costs to the exclusion of all others begs the question: does HR 1719 have an anti-ESA bias? Just sayin’.

Rep. Markey grappled with this possibility by noting the recent migration of hi-tech companies, such as Google and Facebook, to the Pacific Northwest. An excellent example is Google’s decision to site its power-thirsty server farm in The Dalles, where it has easy access to some of the most affordable electricity in the United States: BPA-marketed power from the Columbia River dams. Rep. Markey asked NWEC’s Sara Patton, “Have you heard Google complain about the Endangered Species Act?” to which Ms. Patton replied, “Not once.” Indeed, even with its investments in fish and wildlife protection, BPA provides electricity at rates that are the envy of the nation.

Here's the video:

Efforts to blame the Endangered Species Act for economic woes (or jacked-up power rates) are as old as the Act itself. And like most every other instance of species scapegoating, HR 1719 comes no closer to reality. Salmon restoration is an integral part of BPA’s responsibilities, and a shared goal of all Northwesterners. Distorting costs and confusing consumers will only get in the way of reaching that goal. For that reason alone, HR 1719 should get mothballed along with Washington’s old, failed nuclear plants.

Gilly Lyons is the Senior Policy Analyst for the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition.

Salmon still like water, BPA wind policy flawed

2011-09-21T13:32:00.000-07:00

A new report released today concludes that the facts simply don't support the Bonneville Power Administration's choice of dam energy over wind energy policies this spring - under the rationale of “protecting salmon".

Turns out salmon still like water.

In the report, analysts present biological data showing that Columbia and Snake River salmon populations were largely unharmed by this spring’s unusually high water and dissolved gas levels. The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) chose to shut-off Northwest wind power projects’ access to the power grid over nearly two months. The report concludes BPA’s policy did little to nothing to protect salmon. Wind energy companies have since filed a lawsuit against the BPA.

Nicole Cordan, SOS’ Legal and Policy Director, “We suspected it was inaccurate for BPA to use salmon as its scapegoat to shut off wind power this year. Now the actual biological data confirms that we were right and that the great majority of migrating salmon did okay despite the large amount of spill over the dams.”

In conditions of high flows, dams can cause a condition called gas bubble trauma (GBT) in migrating salmon when large volumes of water spill over them. But less than one-tenth of one percent of salmon examined this spring and summer at the federal dams exhibited symptoms of severe gas bubble trauma and only slightly more than one percent of salmon showed any signs of trauma at all. Check out the graph below, showing the percentage of cases of all fish affected by GBT (in red):

The report has three major findings: 1) that BPA’s policy did not appreciably help salmon; 2) that Oregon’s total dissolved gas standard is better for salmon than the Washington standard BPA currently uses; and 3) that migrating salmon benefitted from high flows and increased spill while suffering little harm from increased gas levels.

Download the full report.

Check out the full press release.

On hand at Elwha

2011-09-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

“It’s an exciting time to be a dam buster.”

Those were some of the opening remarks from Patagonia CEO and activist-legend Yvon Chouinard in his keynote address at a two-day science symposium on research and monitoring activities for the Elwha River dam removal project.

And he’s right. Never before has there been a more exciting moment for river restoration and salmon recovery. The removal of two dams on the Elwha River commences tomorrow, Saturday 17th, on the Olympic Peninsula. The project is the largest dam removal project in the world, ever. Background on the Elwha Project here.

Yvon Chouinard

The free event was packed with hundreds of scientists, conservationists, and local business leaders in attendance. Representatives of the Olympic National Park Service, Washington Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, and the Army Corps of Engineers were in attendance.

Matt Stoecker of Stoecker Ecological gave a brief presentation about his work to improve fisheries habitat in Southern California following a short film about his important work."The Elwha," he said, "is just the beginning."

Sam Mace, SOS’ Inland Northwest Project Director also spoke following a screening of the Patagonia film “Freedom to Roam.” Sam spoke about the importance of the Elwha project to other river restoration projects around the country including on the Lower Snake River. She thanked officials for working in collaboration to come up a with solution and pointed out that this is exactly the kind of collaboration and leadership now needed to save endangered salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and Snake River basins.

James Waddell from the Army Corps of Engineers and Sam Mace of Save Our Wild Salmon

Dylan Tomine, a Patagonia Flyfishing Ambassador, spoke briefly about the value of letting the Elwha River heal and restore the wild fisheries it once boasted.

Yvon’s presentation addressed Patagonia’s early beginnings in building a company dedicated to the environment, addressing the fact that our water use and purchasing habits all have an impact. Purchasing sustainable wild fish is important, and to improve the situation, dam removal projects must continue. Patagonia cites dam removal as the “Holy Grail” of conservation, and they mean it. As Mr. Chouinard said regarding dam removal, “we are on a roll!”

The event concluded with a special Q&A session were several conference attendees took the opportunity to publicly thank Mr. Chouinard for his dedication, and to all of those who helped make Elwha dam removal possible and continue to fight for river restoration elsewhere.

Special thanks to the Olympic National Park Service, the Elwha Research Consortium, Stoecker Ecological and Patagonia for a truly inspiring evening in the midst of this momentous occasion.

The Elwha Project: Lessons for the Lower Snake River

2011-09-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

Historic dam removal project sets important precedence for other rivers

By Pat Ford - Executive Director, Save our Wild Salmon

This Saturday, on September 17th, America celebrates a national achievement on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State: removal of the two Elwha River dams. This is the largest dam removal project in the world, ever. The Glines Canyon dam on the Elwha at 210 feet marks the highest dam ever removed as well. Learn more about the Elwha project.

An exciting new video was released this week about the Elwha project by Andy Maser courtesy of American Rivers and American Whitewater:

Year of the River: Episode 1 from Andy Maser on Vimeo.

Elwha River restoration will restore one of the west coast’s legendary salmon rivers, which once produced five separate salmon species, including Chinook salmon up to 50 pounds (by some accounts, even up to 100 pounds). It will restore a cultural and economic heritage for the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, a vital food source for Puget Sound’s endangered orca whales, and a world-class scenic and recreational attraction. River restoration is also creating hundreds of jobs, with more to come as salmon recover. And, after years of conflict, restoration is occurring collaboratively, via agreements that provide replacement power for local businesses and additional community benefits. Credit for this runs from local people, to Washington elected leaders, all the way to the White House and Congress. And the rewards will flow as widely.

The restoration has another dimension at well: it will teach us scientific, engineering, economic, and community lessons we can apply to other rivers. Every river is different, and therefore every river restoration proposal must be judged on its individual merits. The Elwha project is applying lessons from earlier dam removals, and similar learning will come from it.

Our coalition’s fishing, business and conservation groups support restoring the lower Snake River a few hundred miles east of the Elwha. The Elwha project will offer lessons for the lower Snake River in many areas, but I’ll note three of importance -- salmon response, economic impact, and collaboration:

Wild salmon have responded quickly and positively to every major dam removal done so far on a salmon river; quick adaptability is in their DNA. The Elwha will provide the best lessons yet in how fast various species respond. This is important for the lower Snake, where five species of salmon and steelhead will be affected.

Local economic benefit to Tribal and non-Tribal communities was not a primary motivator behind the Elwha campaign, but it has become a critical and closely watched feature of the project. While the rural areas around the lower Snake have different dynamics from the communities near the Elwha, the importance of jobs is just as critical.

After much conflict over two decades, the Elwha project finally came together due to collaborations in which all parties got something important to their future. No doubt a collaborative process for the lower Snake will look very different, but the same principles can be applied for the farmers, fishermen, energy users, communities, and businesses involved.

The recent U.S. District Court verdict found the government’s Columbia and Snake River salmon plan illegal for the third straight time. It ordered a new and full evaluation of restoring the Lower Snake River by removing its four dams. That official evaluation should apply relevant lessons from the Elwha. But more important is the people’s evaluation – people on the west coast, and across America – that will occur at the same time. We are confident people will apply the lessons and spirit of the Elwha achievement to the Snake River.

Work Party for a Portland Gem

2011-08-19T16:29:00.000-07:00


Participants in Portland's 2011 Backyard Collective

Members of the Save Our Wild Salmon crew were on hand for this year's Backyard Collective hosted by the Conservation Alliance. The Backyard Collectives provide a great way for member companies of the Alliance and Alliance grantee organizations to link up and give back to their local communities.

This year we were in Portland's Forest Park. At over 5000 acres, with 70 miles of trails, 170 species of native fauna, 100 species of native flora, and all within 5 minutes from downtown, Forest Park is truly a local gem. We split up into teams and headed into the park to work alongside staff and volunteers from the Forest Park Conservancy and staff from the City of Portland. The name of the game today was trail maintenance and restoration: pulling invasives, hauling rocks, shoveling gravel, digging dirt, re-sculpting the slope.

All in all it was a rewarding and productive day. And we got to hang with some great folks from participating companies: Keen, Columbia, REI, Merrell, Nau, Horny Toad, Icebreaker, Patagonia, Stanley

Volunteers from Merrell and Nau

Rhett and Jeff borrow dirt to rebuild the trail. Thanks, Earth.

Serena Bishop from Conservation Alliance and Stephen Hatfield from Forest Park Conservancy
share some thoughts and give thanks. Nice work everyone!

Patagonia spreads the word

2011-08-17T09:45:00.000-07:00

From the Cleanest Line:

Here at Patagonia, we have two or three holy grails of conservation. One is the permanent protection of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wild Refuge and another the restoration of the legendary salmon runs in the Columbia and Snake River Basin.

With the recent federal court ruling on the latest Obama administration's salmon plan, we asked Steven Hawley, journalist, author (Recovering a Lost River), salmon expert and self- proclaimed river rat for his take on the federal court decision. Here’s Steven, with a fish story that’s about a lot more than fish.

Read Steve Hawley's post at Patagonia's Cleanest Line.

Salmon Mean Celebration!

2011-08-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

And photo-ops with fans (we love you too Icebreaker).

This year's Outdoor Retailer Summer Market was a blast. We got a chance to meet with many of our business allies face to face and thank them for their ongoing support. And we attended the Conservation Alliance Breakfast; this year's guest was Shelton Johnson, author and ranger with National Parks Service. Hear the podcast of his great speech.

What's more, this was our first public opportunity to share (and celebrate!) the news of Judge Redden's ruling in favor of salmon and Northwest communities. At the show we were able to garner a bunch of signers on the 2011 Salmon Mean Business letter to President Obama and Congress. All total, the letter signers span 34 states and include commercial and recreational fishing businesses; outdoor retailers and equipment makers; food, farm, restaurant and tourism businesses; and clean energy businesses.

The highlight of the show for us: the fabulous salmon happy hour hosted by our great new friends at Alite Designs, Light and Motion, and Boreas Gear. We were very proud to serve wild smoked salmon from Jensen's Smokehouse.

Check out the highlights below!


Cleverness from Alite


Max and Jessica of Light and Motion


Bobby serves up some of Jensen's super-delicious wild smoked salmon.

Buster (Tae from Alite) discusses long-term recovery options for Snake River salmon.


Buster announces winners of the rad raffle.

Buster's never-ending thirst for solutions.

Thanks so much to the Conservation Alliance, the Outdoor Industry Association, and everyone at OR! See you in the winter!

1000+ US businesses raise their voice for solutions

2011-08-11T14:14:00.000-07:00

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Nearly 1,200 American businesses have asked President Obama for decisive change in the government’s failed policy to restore endangered wild salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and Snake Rivers.

The request comes in the form of a national letter, following U.S. District Judge James Redden ruling on August 2, 2011 finding the administration’s current salmon plan illegal.

The letter signers from across 34 states include commercial and recreational fishing businesses; outdoor retailers and equipment makers; food, farm, restaurant and tourism businesses; and clean energy businesses.

Recent media on the national business letter:
Register Guard - Businesses unite for salmon
Public News Service - NW Businesses to Obama: More Salmon = More Jobs
Juneau Empire - Faulty Columbia Basin salmon plan bad for salmon and jobs

Voices from national business leaders:

“Salmon recovery is a catalyst for job creation and growth in hundreds of outdoor and recreation-based companies, on the west coast and nationwide. The more than 175 outdoor companies of The Conservation Alliance all need healthy habitats and watersheds for their customers to enjoy the products they make and sell, but federal salmon policy is not producing them. We need President Obama to change this. It makes no sense to keep spending billions of taxpayers’ dollars on a salmon policy that costs jobs instead of growing them.”

- John Sterling, Executive Director of The Conservation Alliance

“Wild salmon are a cornerstone for food and restaurant businesses. Customers expect fresh, nutritious, and sustainable salmon, which federal policies are not producing right now. If President Obama changes them, food jobs and healthy eating will both benefit.”

- Barton Seaver, chef and National Geographic Fellow

“For those of us lucky to live in the Northwest, sportfishing is literally our second paycheck. NSIA and many of our businesses signed the business letter to President Obama and Congress because, frankly there is too much at stake. ESA Listed Columbia River salmon constrain fisheries in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, as well as the Ocean fisheries from N. California to Alaska and off the Coast of Canada. These fisheries are worth hundreds of millions annually, making this Salmon policy a jobs issue that deeply impacts a diverse set of industries. We are sick of salmon plans that do not meet the scientific or legal red face test, and we want a new approach to salmon policy NOW.”

- Liz Hamilton of the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association (NSIA).

“Commercial fishing businesses, and many other related industry jobs up and down the west coast will keep shrinking or shut down if the government’s 20-year failure to restore endangered Columbia/Snake salmon doesn’t change. We ask President Obama to hear our case, hear the court, and then change his salmon policy so salmon-based jobs stop shrinking and start growing.”

- Zeke Grader, Executive Director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations

Also, check out the Salmon Stories video testimonial series from Idaho River United. Here's an example: Chris Swersey from Silver Cloud Expeditions of Salmon, Idaho.

Attention Businesses: Join the call for real solutions in Columbia and Snake Rivers.

2011-08-04T12:48:00.000-07:00

Federal Judge James Redden has rejected the Obama Administration's $10 billion Salmon and Steelhead Plan for the Columbia and Snake Rivers. The message is clear: the government's old efforts have failed, and it’s time for a science-driven, collaborative approach.

We are working with business leaders and allies in a coordinated response in support of the Judge’s ruling. Thousands of jobs in numerous industries hang in the balance. You can help.

Please stand with businesses from across the country by adding your business to the national letter, requesting that President Obama change failure to success in Columbia and Snake River salmon recovery.

SIGN THE LETTER HERE.

Wild Pacific salmon and steelhead are among America’s greatest natural resources. Once the most productive salmon landscape on the planet, the Columbia Basin’s fisheries have suffered dramatic declines in the last several decades now reaching barely 1% of historic levels. The Judge's ruling marks the third rejected plan from three administrations - Clinton, Bush, and now Obama - as illegal for similar reasons: failing to provide imperiled salmon and steelhead with a real shot at survival – and ultimately, recovery.

The best way to achieve a successful, practical, science-based, job-creating solution in the Columbia and Snake Rivers is through a multi-stakeholder collaboration. The Obama administration has a critical opportunity to protect this valuable natural resource while creating thousands of new jobs over the short- and long-term in a variety of sectors, including commercial and recreational fishing, outdoor recreation, natural foods and food service, clean energy infrastructure, tourism.

We ask you to join a diverse coalition of wild salmon advocates and sign the national letter directed to President Obama, with ‘carbon-copies’ to Congress. The deadline is Monday, August 8th.

Please contact Joseph Bogaard at joseph@wildsalmon.org or 206.286.4455 x103 to request additional information.

A Watershed Moment

2011-08-03T00:16:00.000-07:00

Snake River © Matt Leidecker

Salmon and communities have just won a tremendous victory!

TAKE ACTION HERE and SPREAD THE WORD.

Federal Judge James Redden has rejected the Obama Administration's $10 billion Salmon and Steelhead Plan for the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Since 2001, three plans from three administrations - Clinton, Bush, and now Obama - have been ruled illegal for similar reasons: failing to provide imperiled salmon and steelhead with a real shot at survival – and ultimately, recovery. The message is clear: the government's old efforts have failed, and we need a new approach.

Salmon and fishing advocates, the state of Oregon, and the Nez Perce and Spokane Tribes who opposed the administration's plan are cheering this crucial ruling and stand ready to move forward. The court’s decision presents a tremendous opportunity for the businesses, fishermen, and citizens who have been working for years to restore healthy wild salmon and steelhead populations, invest in clean energy alternatives, and save taxpayer dollars.

The real work, however, is just beginning.

The Obama Administration along with members of Congress must work with affected stakeholders to chart a new course for wild salmon and salmon-dependent communities that provides solutions based on good science and economics. We anticipate that this court ruling - and the Endangered Species Act - will continue to come under attack from some anti-salmon members of the U.S. Congress. Therefore it's all the more important for the administration to engage now.

Send a message to President Obama and key members of his administration.

New Friends at Outdoor Retailer

2011-07-28T22:09:00.000-07:00

We're gearing up for some exciting days next week: Outdoor Retailer is here!

The Outdoor Retailer Market is our chance to connect with all of the amazing outdoor recreation business allies we have gained over the years. These business leaders understand full well the economic value of healthy habitat, healthy salmon populations, and outdoor recreation.

For this year's summer market we are thrilled to link up with three great companies: Alite, Boreas, and Light and Motion. They're working on an awesome T-shirt to benefit Save Our Wild Salmon and we're gonna party down on Friday at the their booth (#39205) from 4pm - close. If you are in Salt Lake City please join us!

A bit more about the companies we're working with:

Alite Designs

Alite makes going outside simple. We want nothing to stand between you and everything beyond your front door. We design products that make you wonder why you’re still inside. Like, right now.

We think the “great outdoors” is a stroll through the neighborhood. Or hoofing it up Everest. It’s all of that and anything in between. As long as you’re somewhere out there, we’re in the mood for high-fiving.

We practice ethical and sustainable manufacturing. Go us! We’re based in San Francisco and loving it! It’s pretty ridiculous. Come out and play with us sometime.

Your Alite stories and photos rock our world! Share them with us by emailing info [at] alitedesigns [daht] com. or holler at us on Twitter and Facebook!

Boreas

Boreas makes outdoor equipment you can use everyday: beautiful, practical, hardwearing stuff for passionate people with things to do.

We believe the best gear is neither complicated nor expensive, that it should be as versatile as the person using it, and that there’s no reason to compromise form for function.

If you have a favorite design you want to share, post it to our scrapbook.
Click here to submit something.

Light and Motion

Light and Motion has been designing and building lights for over 20 years. Our lights go 200 feet below the ocean and blaze trails wherever mountain bikes venture. We are riders who care deeply about building a great company that our employees and our community can be proud of. One that our customers can depend on for great products. We haven't shipped our jobs offshore either. We design and build our products in Monterey California because we do it better than anyone else can. Thanks for being part of our community.

Contact Light and Motion here. You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.

Special thanks goes out to Max Davis at Light and Motion and Emily Nuchols at Under Solen Media for making this happen.

Salmon, jobs, ESA defended; bad riders linger.

2011-07-27T14:31:00.000-07:00

Thanks to today's House vote of 224-202, the bipartisan amendment from Rep. Norm Dicks (D-WA), Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA), and Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-HI) has eliminated the anti-salmon, jobs, and ESA "Extinction Rider" from the final spending bill (H.R. 2584).

Here's a response from Pat Ford, executive director for Save Our Wild Salmon:

"Salmon defenders and salmon businesses thank the bi-partisan group of salmon state members of Congress who today voted to strip "the extinction rider" from the Interior Appropriations bill. The vote succeeded; the provision suspending key parts of the Endangered Species Act has been stripped from the bill. The outcome is a victory for salmon, salmon jobs, and salmon-dependent communities on the west coast.

We are grateful to, and we thank, the Democrats and Republicans from salmon states who successfully removed this provision. We hope they now move forward to remove all other amendments that harm salmon and salmon jobs, and we hope that salmon state Senators and Representatives unite to fight any further efforts this Congress to attack salmon or the Endangered Species Act."

Other legislative threats to salmon and jobs still on the horizon:

Interior and Environment Appropriations Act (H.R. 2584)

Poisoned salmon, poisoned communities (Section 447) This amendment prohibits the EPA from implementing any measures recommended by federal wildlife experts to protect salmon and other endangered species from pesticides.

The EPA estimates that more than one billion tons of pesticides are used each year in the United States. These chemicals, which include broad spectrum killers dating back to World War II, seriously harm America’s endangered species including salmon, frogs, birds, and sea turtles. Pesticides also threaten human health, especially the health of young children. While pesticides in our waterways and air affect everyone, farmworkers and local communities are often at the greatest risk. Under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, the EPA must consult with federal wildlife agencies to mitigate the harms that registered pesticides pose to threatened and endangered species.

This amendment prohibits the EPA from implementing any measures recommended by federal wildlife experts to protect endangered species from pesticides. This spells disaster for species that are already on the brink of extinction due to pesticides and other harms. For example, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has found that the use of 24 particularly toxic pesticides and herbicides is harming listed Pacific salmon. NMFS has recommended reasonable mitigation measures such as no-spray buffer zones around waterways to protect endangered salmon from these particular poisons. This amendment would prevent the EPA from implementing any of NMFS’s recommendations, further harming not only imperiled salmon and fishing jobs, but also human health.

The Energy and Water Appropriations Bill (H.R. 2354)

Section 203 - Undermining the Consensus Agreement to Restore California’s San Joaquin River, Hurting Jobs, Wasting Taxpayer Dollars

Section 203 would block implementation of the San Joaquin River Restoration Agreement, which balances salmon restoration with the water supply needs of agricultural users. This provision would prevent the restoration of flows and salmon to California’s second largest river and undermine efforts to revive the state’s beleaguered commercial salmon fishing industry, while also blocking flood management and water supply projects that would benefit the region’s farmers.

Additionally, this provision would order the Bureau of Reclamation to permanently maintain the river in a degraded state, thereby impacting downstream water quality for millions of Californians. The bipartisan settlement agreement ended 18 years of litigation and initiated one of the largest river restoration and water supply programs in the nation. Passage of this provision could force all parties back into court resulting in a waste years of effort and millions of dollars that are already available - funds that would create water supply projects, habitat projects, flood protection improvements and jobs.

Amendment: Threatening Salmon Restoration in the San Joaquin River

This amendment blocks funding to reintroduce salmon to the San Joaquin River – a key component of the 2006 bipartisan settlement agreement to restore the river. After the completion of Friant Dam by the federal government in the 1940’s, nearly 95% of the San Joaquin River's flow was diverted, drying up the river and devastating salmon populations and commercial fisheries jobs. Passage of the amendment will undermine the settlement agreement and could force the case back into court. If the court takes over river restoration, water users and local farmers would be at risk of losing water supply and flood management projects provided by the settlement.

Contact Congress Now: (202) 224-3121 - give your zip code

Ask your representative to fight any further efforts in Congress to attack salmon, jobs, and the Endangered Species Act.

Riders on the Storm

2011-07-26T11:34:00.000-07:00

Lightning on the Columbia - Astoria, Oregon - by Ian Boggs

The Interior and Environment Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2012, H.R. 2584, currently moving through the House of Representatives includes an "Extinction Rider" with language that, if signed into law, will paralyze our nation’s ability to protect hundreds of imperiled wildlife and plant species under the Endangered Species Act.

Congressman Mike Thompson (CA-1) and Congressman Norm Dicks (WA-6) have introduced an important amendment to the Interior Appropriations bill that would strike the "Extinction Rider" from the final bill.

Please send a message to your representative in support of the Dicks-Thompson Amendment.

As it stands, the current bill would prevent the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) from protecting any new or additional endangered species, designate or update critical habitat for any currently-listed species, or upgrade the status of a species from threatened to endangered. Unless a species is already listed, it would receive no protection under the ESA. And for listed species, prohibiting USFWS from designating critical habitat would eliminate the most effective means of endangered species protection under the ESA, inevitably leading to the non-recovery, and possible extinction, of plants and animals across the country.

When it comes to wild salmon, protecting the Endangered Species Act is about more than saving critters; it's about jobs and livelihoods in our communities and about what we truly value. Thousands of businesses and tens of thousands of jobs are supported by salmon and steelhead. Laws and policies like the ESA help communities prosper by protecting our land, water, air, and wildlife.

That's why it's encouraging to see leaders such as Congressman Dicks and Congressman Thompson taking a stand to protect the Endangered Species Act, wild salmon and steelhead, and the communities and jobs that rely on them.

TAKE ACTION TODAY.

Wind, Salmon and FERC

2011-07-19T14:52:00.000-07:00

Portland, Ore. – Today, salmon advocates joined the wind energy industry in a public battle against the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). Their support comes following an official complaint by wind energy groups having lost millions in revenue this summer due to a recent policy implemented by BPA limiting their ability to sell power. BPA has attempted to pit the wind industry and salmon groups against each other, claiming the protection of endangered salmon as its motivation for curtailing the wind industry. Salmon advocates dispute the scientific support for such a claim. In fact, salmon groups assert that increasing spill over the dams a bit and supporting the renewable wind sector are in fact a “wind-win” for salmon, despite BPA’s claims.

The situation is a result of unusually high water levels in the rivers due to abundant snowfall this past winter. Consequently, surplus energy was created via hydro power, resulting in overgeneration on the power grid. Rather than implement numerous other options for handling the overgeneration, BPA’s decision was to shut off wind, contrary to existing contracts wind producers had with BPA. The wind industry has responded via an official complaint with the Federal Energy Regulation Commission (FERC). Salmon advocates have filed a motion to intervene in the filing to support the wind-industry and protect endangered salmon, which benefit from safe spill at the dams.

"There is just no justification for BPA to curtail the whole region's wind power, costing wind investors many millions of dollars, just so they can maximize unneeded power generation at the dams," noted Glen Spain of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, a commercial fishing industry trade association and one of the intervening groups.

“There’s more at stake here than just supporting the renewable energy sector and wind-industry, which is one of the fastest growing sectors in the Northwest,” said Kevin Lewis, Conservation Policy Director at Idaho Rivers United. “This short-sighted policy also hurts fish, and therefore, all the thousands of jobs and families that depend on those fish for their livelihoods.”

The organizations moving to intervene in the FERC proceeding include Save our Wild Salmon, Idaho Rivers United, American Rivers, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, and the Institute for Fisheries Resources.

Full text of comments submitted to FERC available here.

While BPA announced this morning that it was ending this season’s curtailment of wind energy, the long term implications are serious and broad reaching, both for investment in the renewable energy sector and for salmon. With scientifically driven change in federal policy, we know we can restore salmon, increase clean energy such as wind energy, and create jobs. Read more in the NW Energy Coalition report “Bright Future.”

ICAST: Where Salmon Mean Business

2011-07-14T23:46:00.000-07:00

This week in sunny Las Vegas, Save Our Wild Salmon was on hand for ICAST, the world's largest sportfishing trade show, hosted by our friends at the American Sportfishing Association. ASA represents the interests of America’s 60 million anglers who generate over $45 billion in retail sales with a $125 billion impact on the nation’s economy creating employment for over one million people.

Buyers, sellers, manufacturers, and even bloggers of all kinds come from all corners of the globe to view what's new in the industry. ICAST provides SOS with a great way to connect with business leaders whose very livelihoods depend on healthy rivers, oceans, and abundant fishing opportunities. Also, having ICAST in Las Vegas gives us a chance to both spread the word nationally about our campaign to restore Columbia-Snake Basin salmon and steelhead and dish out a bit of history regarding salmon in Nevada.

Wha?

Yes, that's right. Northern Nevada was once home to abundant salmon and steelhead populations. Along with beef and produce, many ranchers brought salmon to market, plucked from their local stream. Read more about the salmon and steelhead connection in Nevada.

The show was a great success. A HUGE thank you to American Sportfishing Association, the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association, and all of the businesses that are helping move our campaign forward to restore Columbia-Snake basin salmon and steelhead. Check out a few photo highlights from the show:

Ron and Dave at Easy2Hook (out of Las Vegas!) were pleased to hear about the salmon / Nevada connection, and they were selling some pretty nifty hooks at the show.

Met with Mike and Lance at Chums. Both were jazzed (different ways of showing it).

Chatted with Chris Timmerman from The Creek Company out of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Chris talked up the benefits of free-flowing rivers.

Met w/ Kelly Marble and Jeff Kolodzinski (not pictured) from Frabill out of Jackson, Wisconsin. These folks were so nice and very supportive. Frabill won this year's Best New Apparel Award (see the mannequin). And PS: Why is everyone from Wisconsin so nice? Probably makes sense to link to the work of Congressman Tom Petri (R-WI) here too.

Some friends from back home: longtime SOS supporter Randy Woolsey from the Tom Posey Co. and Kari McClellan Swigart from NSIA (Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association) at the Okuma booth. Kari was SUPER helpful and introduced me to several new people. Thanks a million Kari!

And thank you to everyone at ICAST!

Still Making Summer Plans?

2011-07-12T17:30:00.000-07:00

Idaho Salmon River Trips available to benefit SOS

Float the Salmon River and Help Protect and Restore Wild Salmon and Steelhead at the Same Time!

Dustin Aherin, a good friend of Save Our Wild Salmon and owner of Salmon River Outfitters, has offered to donate to SOS $500 for any SOS supporters and their families and friends that join one of his summer trips on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River this summer. These are epic trips through some of the most beautiful, wild and storied country remaining in the Lower 48.

As of today, Dustin still has availability on three 6-day trips beginning on July 30, August 7, and August 15. There are currently multiple slots available, so you can bring your whole family to visit what was once - and can still be again - some of the most productive salmon habitat in the Pacific Northwest.

Magnificent river. Excellent food. Rollicking rafting. Very fun and professional treatment.

The trips normally run for $1975 per person. Dustin has offered to lower the price to $1850 and donate $500 to SOS for each person that takes advantage of this opportunity.

Go here to learn more:

Salmon River Outfitters

Thanks for your support!

Joseph Bogaard

206-286-4455, x103

Congressman Dicks defends the ESA

2011-07-08T14:18:00.000-07:00

Congressman Norm Dicks

Congressman Norm Dicks, from Washington State's 6th Congressional District, is working in Congress this month to protect the integrity of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). At an important hearing this week, Congressman Dicks led the charge to defend the ESA and oppose the many anti-environmental provisions or legislative "riders" and cuts that made it into the House Interior Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2012.

Please take just a few minutes to call his office and thank Congressman Dicks now: 202-225-5916

After you do, please send me a quick email - joseph@wildsalmon.org - confirming that you made a call. Thank you!

Some important points to make:
    * Thank you for your work to defend the Endangered Species Act from attacks in Congress by opposing the addition of anti-environmental provisions in the Interior Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2012. Please know that you have my support as you continue to work to improve the Interior bill as it moves forward in the House.
    * In the Northwest, the recovery of ESA-listed species - wild salmon and steelhead in particular - is directly tied to the health of our economy.
    * Salmon and steelhead mean business and jobs. Please keep this connection between the ESA and job recovery in mind in the 112th Congress and work towards solutions that bring lasting recovery for wild salmon and steelhead - and for coastal communities and the salmon economy.

Here in the Pacific Northwest - salmon country - protecting the Endangered Species Act is about more than saving critters; it's about jobs and livelihoods in our communities and about what we truly value in our region. Thousands of businesses and tens of thousands of jobs are supported by salmon and steelhead. Laws and policies like the ESA help communities prosper by protecting our land, water, air, and wildlife.

The Interior Appropriations bill currently moving through the House includes language that, if signed into law, will paralyze our nation’s ability to protect hundreds of imperiled wildlife and plant species under the ESA. The bill would prevent the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) from protecting any new or additional endangered species, designate or update critical habitat for any currently-listed species, or upgrade the status of a species from threatened to endangered. Unless a species is already listed, it would receive no protection under the ESA. And for listed species, prohibiting USFWS from designating critical habitat would eliminate the most effective means of endangered species protection under the ESA, inevitably leading to the non-recovery, and possible extinction, of plants and animals across the country.

Those who have followed salmon recovery in the Pacific Northwest for years already know these "non-recovery" and "possible extinction" scenarios all too well. The last thing we need is another attack on our invaluable natural resources.

That's why it's encouraging to see leaders such as Congressman Dicks taking a stand to protect the Endangered Species Act, our salmon and steelhead, and the communities and jobs that rely on them.

Again, please take a moment to thank Congressman Dicks by calling 202-225-5916.

From the scientists who know: the future of Snake River salmon – and then some - depends on dam removal.

2011-06-30T13:31:00.000-07:00

Last week, the Western Division of the American Fisheries Society – the nation’s oldest, largest, and well-respected association of fisheries biologists overwhelmingly (84% approval) passed a resolution affirming the importance of removing the four lower Snake River dams if we have any hope of protecting and restoring endangered wild salmon and steelhead. Read the full resolution here.

The WDAFS has passed similar resolutions on several other occasions over the twelve years, though this is perhaps broadest in scope with more than a few whereas’s. This new resolution includes imperiled white sturgeon and critically imperiled lamprey – a highly prized cultural (e.g. food and medicine) resource by Columbia Basin Tribes. Lamprey returns last year over Lower Granite Dam were in the double digits. Not long ago, they returned to the Columbia Basin, like salmon and steelhead, in the millions.

The timing of the passage of the resolution was no accident. The scientists wanted an opportunity for the their voice to be heard before the judge rules on the adequacy of the Obama Administration’s Plan for Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead. The Western Division has recently published assessments of the 2008 Bush Plan (which they panned) and Obama’s Administration’s supplement to the Bush Plan (which they also planned). Read their review of Obama supplemental plan here.

Parties to the litigation are anxiously awaiting word from the judge and his verdict on the plan. Based on the language of the resolution, the plan clearly lacks the support of the vast majority of fisheries experts. Here are few choice excerpts:

WHEREAS many, and perhaps most, populations of wild Snake River salmon and steelhead are now extinct, and the remaining populations are currently listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act; and

WHEREAS wild Snake River salmon and steelhead have continued to decline as a result of delayed mortality from the hydropower system, despite recent improvements in ocean productivity, passage and adult returns; and

WHEREAS failure to restore Snake River salmon, steelhead, Pacific lamprey, and white sturgeon to sustainable, fishable levels puts the federal government in a position of failing to meet its Treaty Trust responsibilities; and

WHEREAS economic analyses have shown that river shippers pay only 9% of the total costs of maintaining and operating the lower Snake River navigation system (far exceeding subsidies for rail and highway freight transportation), and the remainder is subsidized by electric ratepayers and federal taxpayers; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that if society-at-large wishes to restore Snake River salmon, steelhead, Pacific lamprey, and white sturgeon to sustainable, fishable levels, then a significant portion of the lower Snake River must be returned to a free-flowing condition by breaching the four lower Snake River dams, and this action must be comprehensively planned and implemented, using appropriate techniques and management practices, in a timely manner.

Read the full resolution from WDAFS.

Lunch and a Movie Friday in DC with PBS Nature’s Salmon: Running the Gauntlet

2011-06-15T13:14:00.000-07:00

Please join Save Our Wild Salmon and Earthjustice for a free lunchtime screening of the 50-minute film from the award-winning PBS Nature Film Series Salmon: Running the Gauntlet on June 17 at noon.

Free pizza, beverages and popcorn will be served throughout the hour. Filmmaker Jim Norton will be on hand to answer questions before and after the film.

When: June 17, 2011, 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.

Where: 1539 Longworth House Office Building, Washington D.C., DC 20515

Watch the full episode. See more Nature.

Going beyond the debate over how to save an endangered species, the film investigates the parallel stories of collapsing Pacific salmon populations and how biologists and engineers have become instruments in audacious experiments to replicate every stage of the fish’s life cycle. In its exposure of a wildly creative, hopelessly complex, and stunningly expensive approach to managing salmon, the film reveals one of the most ambitious plans ever conceived for taking the reins of the planet.

Questions? Please contact Susan Holmes: susanh16@hotmail.com / 202.329.1553

Photo Exhibit in DC June 13 to 17: One of a Kind Salmon, One of a Kind Habitat

2011-06-13T14:59:00.001-07:00

Little Redfish Lake in the Sawtooth Valley of Idaho. © Neil Ever Osborne

Sometimes you've got to get on the ground. Get dirty, muddy and immerse yourself in a story... That's exactly what photographer Neil Ever Osborne did to tell the story of Snake River salmon and their rugged mountain spawning grounds.

Tripods in the Mud (TIM) is an initiative of the International League of Conservation Photographers (iLCP) that helps partner professional nature photographers like Osborne with conservation organizations for the creation of visual materials on a specific region or issue.

Snake River salmon swim more than 900 miles inland and climb almost 7,000 feet to reach their spawning grounds — the highest salmon spawning habitat on the planet, and the largest and wildest habitat left in the continental United States. These one of a kind salmon travel farther and higher than any other salmon on Earth.

iLCP photographer Neil Osborne at Little Redfish Lake. © Emily Nuchols

Please join Save Our Wild Salmon and the iLCP in celebrating the wild salmon of the Pacific Northwest and the communities, jobs and people they support with a photo exhibit in the Russell Senate Rotunda.

The photography exhibit, One of a Kind Salmon, One of a Kind Habitat, will be on display in the Russell Rotunda from June 13 to 17. All photos courtesy Neil Ever Osborne, iLCP.

When: The exhibit will be on display in the Rotunda from June 13 to 17.

Where: Russell Senate Office Building Room 188

Sponsored by: American Rivers, Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, Endangered Species Coalition, Idaho Rivers United, International League of Conservation Photographers, Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association, NW Energy Coalition, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Save Our Wild Salmon, Sierra Club.

Seattle’s Burke Museum runs "Gauntlet"

2011-06-09T13:46:00.000-07:00

Save Our Wild Salmon, Earthjustice and KCTS 9 hosted a very special evening – and a full house at the Burke Museum’s main floor - last night with delicious food, a provocative book and film, and engaging Q and A between the audience and panel of three experts.

The evening started Northwest style – enjoying Jensen’s Smokehouse king salmon prepared by Anthony Polizzi and his team from the Steelhead Diner and washed down by the Fremont Brewing Company’s Pale Ale. The food and grog was superb, and an excellent reminder for us all about one of the important contributions that salmon make to our region and nation – delicious, nutritious food.

BIG THANKS to Jensen’s Smokehouse, Steelhead Diner, and Fremont Brewing for their generous contributions to a wonderful evening.

The program started off with author Steve Hawley reading from his just-released book about Columbia Basin salmon – Recovering a Lost River: Removing Dams, Rewilding Salmon, and Revitalizing Communities. He focused on a chapter about Puget Sound orcas, and how their fate hinges on how we as a region and nation decide to address the steep decline of chinook salmon stocks in the Columbia Basin. Our orcas are literally starving to death. The future of Puget Sound orca depends on significantly rebuilding Pacific Northwest chinook populations and the Columbia and Snake Rivers represent our greatest opportunity to do that. Lower Snake River dam removal, it turns out, is central to at least two endangered species - salmon and orcas.

Available in bookstores and online.

Filmmaker Jim Norton introduced his film as an exploration into the degree to which we have damaged what was once the most productive salmon landscape on the planet, and the misguided and ultimately ineffective lengths that we have gone to techno-fix salmon back to abundance. The film suggests that a new approach is long overdue. All the evidence tells us this needed, but we haven’t quite (yet!) turned the corner to make it happen.

See Salmon: Running the Gauntlet at PBS online here.

A Q and A session followed with Steve H, Jim N, and Steve Mashuda – an attorney for Earthjustice – fielding questions about the status of the litigation in front of Judge Redden, the impending Elwha dam(s) removal, the four lower Snake River dams, pollution, and tribal involvement, among others.

We finished up with a drawing for outdoor gear that was generously donated by the Patagonia store here in Seattle: two nano jackets and fishing waders! Very cool!

In addition to the businesses and organizations mentioned above, I want to express our deep gratitude to the following for their support for this evening:

The Conservation Alliance

Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations

Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association

A good evening all the way around!

- JB

Running the Gauntlet in San Francisco

2011-06-03T12:50:00.000-07:00

Last night, a wonderful coalition of businesses and organizations and individuals teamed up to host Jim Norton and his very popular new film Salmon: Running the Gauntlet – one of the latest in the award-winning PBS Nature film series.

(From left to right) Jb, Zeke Grader, Jon Rosenfield, Jim Norton

The Aquarium of the Bay on San Francisco’s waterfront teamed up with the Save Our Wild Salmon, Earthjustice, and The Bay Institute to host the event. The room was packed – standing room only. More than 125 people attended. We started with a reception featuring delicious appetizers – smoked salmon and cheeses - served up by Kenny Belov of “2 X Sea”. Kenny is the co-owner of a very successful restaurant has developed a wide reputation as a purveyor of and articulate advocate for sustainable fisheries and seafood. Beer was generously donated by Sierra Nevada Brewing out of Chico, CA.

Kenny Belov of Two X Sea provided some great food.

Jim briefly introduced his film to kick off our program and set the stage for a lengthy Q and A session between the audience and a panel of local experts afterward.

Salmon – Running the Gauntlet was very well received. Released in early May, Running the Gauntlet has been one of the most well-watched episodes of the PBS film series, and is currently the most popular episode among the twelve most recent, based on an online poll that PBS started earlier this month. You can vote right here.

After the film we jumped immediately into Q and A. In addition to Jim, panelists included: Zeke Grader of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA), Paul Johnson, owner of the Monterey Fish Market, Jon Rosenfield Ph.D of The Bay Institute, and John McManus of Earthjustice. The questions ranged across the coast and across topics: the state of the fishing economy, the politics in Congress, salmon science and litigation, the Snake River dams, the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers and the San Francisco Bay Delta.

Everyone was particularly interested in how we get to “yes” - how can we bring stakeholders together (faster since these processes seem to drag out at times) and solve these salmon population crises while bringing people together and meeting community needs. They were also pretty excited about the growing number of success stories – dam removals and river restorations that really are starting to accumulate across the coast – the removal of numerous dams on the Rogue in southern Oregon, Marmot dam removal on the Sandy River outside Portland, Oregon, the impending removal of the two Elwha River dams on Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula, and the anticipated removal of four dams on the Klamath straddling the Oregon-California borders.

Special thanks also to American Sportfishing Association and SalmonAid for their help to promote the event.

Last, but certainly not least - our appreciation goes out to Patagonia for their generous donation of outdoor clothing that we used as door prizes at the end of the event. Patagonia is a leader in the industry - supporting wildlands conservation efforts, and healthy rivers, healthy salmon and healthy communities.

All in all another great event. Thanks especially to Jim Norton and all our fantastic partners and sponsors for helping make this event a huge success - and thanks to everyone for coming out and supporting salmon recovery, healthy rivers, and our West Coast fishing economy!

-JB
Joseph Bogaard - joseph@wildsalmon.org

Different Situations: Grand Coulee Fish Kill and Columbia/Snake River Salmon Spill

2011-05-27T15:05:00.000-07:00

Grand Coulee Dam

The recent fish kill below Grand Coulee dam has garnered some media attention. We wanted to take a moment to clear up some misconceptions about how this relates to spill for salmon:

A large release of water from Grand Coulee Dam on the upper Columbia River in northern Washington has killed several thousand farmed steelhead trout being raised in net pens in the river. This situation is very different from that of salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River below Grand Coulee, and in the Snake River, where fishing, business and conservation groups are seeking additional beneficial spill to help salmon. The differences make all the difference for fish, people and businesses. Here are a few:

1. There is no passage for migrating salmon at Grand Coulee or the dam below it, Chief Joseph. The dead fish are farmed trout held in net pens near the water surface below the dam, so they are unable to move away from excess dissolved gas or swim deeper to avoid it. Migrating salmon and steelhead that are passing other dams are free-swimming, so both river current and their own survival instinct moves them away from areas of high dissolved gas below dams.

2. The Grand Coulee water releases are not “spill,” despite some stories to the contrary. At Grand Coulee, due to low reservoir levels, water is being released through regulating gates near the bottom of the dam. At Columbia and Snake dams being traversed by salmon, water is being spilled over the top via dam spillways. The Coulee releases through regulating gates that generate higher dissolved gas levels than spill at other dams. This makes a big difference for fish.

3. Dissolved gas levels from the releases at Grand Coulee have been in the range of 130-135% saturation, higher than spill over spillways would normally cause, and exceeding the additional safe spill sought by fishing and conservation groups for salmon and steelhead migrating to the ocean.

4. At Grand Coulee, one farmed fish business is being harmed due to high dissolved gas levels caused by choices dam managers are making in response to high water. Downstream, in lower reaches of the Columbia and the Snake River, hundreds of salmon-based businesses are being helped by the high spring flows we are experiencing, because salmon migrating to the ocean are getting there faster. This does not mean that very high dissolved gas levels caused by dams are good for salmon, but it does mean that, when we plan and carefully manage high water and spill, high flows are mostly good for salmon, and thus for Northwest salmon businesses.

One big thing is the same at Grand Coulee and the dams downstream: high water. Many other things are different, of which we’ve listed just a few. We hope reporters and readers pay close attention to the differences, because it is the differences that matter most to affected people, fish and businesses.

Thank you Seattle! - A Two Rivers Review

2011-05-27T09:54:00.000-07:00

We had a fantastic turnout for our “Tale of Two Rivers” event at the REI store in Seattle on Tuesday. The room was packed – standing room-only with well over a hundred attendees.

A Tale of Two Rivers, Seattle © Jeff Paine, American Whitewater

The reception before the event featuring delicious smoked chinook salmon from Seattle’s own Jensen’s Smokehouse never hurts attendance either.

We split the program into two parts. We started with a celebration of the impending removal of the two dams on the Elwha River on Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula and and a review of how a “radical” idea like removing dams became one that is now “radically” popular. One is hard-pressed to find an opponent of Elwha Dam removal. Everyone is on board: the federal government, local communities, fishing and tourism-based businesses. And of course the Lower K’lallam Tribe living on the banks of Elwha River (opposed these dams from day 1 – one hundred years ago). Michael Garrity (American Rivers), Shawn Cantrell (Seattle Audubon), and Tom O’Keefe (American Whitewater) did a great job of setting the stage, describing the long campaign’s legal and political twists and turns, and detailing what exactly removal will entail.

Tom O'Keefe of American Whitewater ©Jeff Paine, AW

One of the key reasons for the success and popularity today of Elwha River restoration through dam removal is that in the end, all the affected stakeholders whose lives and businesses have been connected to these two dams got their needs met as part of the “solutions package.” For example, the dams’ energy consumers had their energy replaced, and the City of Port Angeles secured a clean and affordable water supply for their citizens and businesses. It is the same kind of stakeholder outcomes that we’ll need in the Snake River basin in order to responsibly restore a free-flowing lower stretch of river.

Michael Garrity speaking w/ Shawn, Jb, and Tom ©Jeff Paine, AW

We then switched gears, and hosted the Seattle premiere of The Greatest Migration from EP Films – a 22-minute film highlighting the one-of-a-kind salmon and the one-of-a-kind habitat of the Snake River Basin. It is an understatement to suggest that the film was well-received. People loved it and wanted copies to show their friends and family – and even strangers in some cases.

We finished up with lots of Q and A, more of Jensen’s Smoked kings. People went home content – their bellies full, proud of what our state has accomplished on the Elwha, and optimistic about our opportunities for a similar outcome on the Snake River in eastern Washington.

A huge THANK YOU to all participating organizations and attendees!

BPA puts the brakes on wind and blames salmon

2011-05-25T14:55:00.000-07:00

SOS proposes a “wind-win” solution to BPA’s problems
From the desk of Rhett Lawrence, Policy Analyst for Save our Wild Salmon

Wind turbines near Tri-Cities, Washington

As part of its ongoing attempts to reduce spill levels in the Columbia and Snake Rivers, the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) has now implemented its policy to shut off wind energy production in the region due to high flow levels in the rivers.

Even though BPA has had years to prepare for this situation, the agency is now claiming that legal constraints for salmon and overgeneration of wind and hydropower are forcing it to turn off wind power production.

That policy was implemented for the first time in the early morning hours of May 18 and has been used every day since then for a least a few hours.

Here’s what Congressman Blumenauer (D-OR) had to say in a May 23 news conference with SOS and wind industry advocates:

“The actions that the Bonneville Power Administration has undertaken are in direct conflict with the stated renewable goals of the Department of Energy, the Obama Administration, many key energy policy leaders nationally and regionally, and at variance with what we’ve attempted to do in the Pacific Northwest to grow [the wind] industry.”

Further, Congressman Blumenauer noted, “this action is unnecessarily dividing Northwest utility consumers into winners and losers.”

SOS has also repeatedly stated that BPA’s policy undermines renewable energy generation and is harmful to salmon. A recent op-ed in the Seattle Times from SOS Executive Director, Pat Ford, made a clear case for how wild salmon and wind power can and should be working together. Indeed, the simple reality is that spilling more water over the dams would both be helpful to out-migrating young salmon and would create more room on the energy grid for wind power.

Here are Pat Ford’s comments during the May 23 news conference:

“The current situation is fundamentally a problem of too much hydro coupled with the state of energy markets – not a wind power problem…. A solution for salmon can help solve the problem. That solution is more safe spill, water going over the tops of dams rather than through turbines. Spill is the safest way to get young salmon heading to the ocean past big dams. And by reducing hydro generation some it will ease the overgeneration problem.”

Much of this situation could have been prevented.

BPA has had years to prepare for these types of overgeneration scenarios by improving the power grid to accommodate the booming production of wind and other renewable energy and finding ways to store that power. Instead, the agency has dragged its feet in preference for higher revenues via hydro power. The idea that salmon are somehow to blame for their failure to plan is disingenuous.

BPA may not be the only agency or entity that will make an adequate grid a reality, but it's in the best position to push for these new solutions. Sadly, instead of science, politics and money are driving BPA’s decision and standing in the way of what is good for both salmon and the wind industry. Litigation is now sure to follow from wind producers who are already losing millions of dollars.

We believe it’s time for BPA to stop circumventing its responsibilities to the salmon and renewable energy communities. BPA should act like the federal agency it is and help the region reach our shared goals of healthy salmon populations and a clean energy future, rather than focusing solely on increased hydropower sales and using a heavy-handed “take-it-or-sue-us” approach.

Take action here to urge Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and the U.S. Senate to help BPA see the light on this critical issue.

A wind-win solution

One last thought, cogently expressed by Alan Moore of SOS coalition partner Trout Unlimited in a Letter to the Editor of the Oregonian on May 9. After reading a quote from BPA’s Elliott Mainzer in a May 6 Oregonian article that "every time we choke down 1,000 megawatts [of wind energy], another 250, 500 or 1,000 megawatts shows up," Alan noticed that the 1,000 MW figure looked a little familiar. As he put it in his LTE, “[t]he proliferation of wind alone makes replacing the 1,000 megawatts of hydropower needed to reopen the lower Snake River and access to more than 5,000 stream miles of the best salmon and steelhead habitat left in the world look like a pittance.”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves, Alan. Taking out the four costly and outdated dams on the lower Snake River could indeed largely make BPA’s overgeneration problem go away. Shouldn’t we be working toward such “wind-win” solutions?

Read an extended version of this post from Rhett Lawrence at the SOS website.

A Tale of Two Rivers – Seattle, May 24th

2011-05-17T16:47:00.000-07:00

Conservationists come together to discuss successful efforts for salmon protection and what still needs to be done.

On May 24 in Seattle, WA, Save Our Wild Salmon, along with several other environmental organizations, will celebrate the monumental removal of two salmon-killing dams in the Elwha River and discuss the campaign to remove the four lower Snake River dams. We will also show The Greatest Migration, a film that traces the incredible journey of Snake River salmon.   

When: Tuesday, May 24, 2011, 6:30-8:30 p.m. PST (the program will begin at 7:00 p.m.) 
Where: REI Flagship Store – 222 Yale Ave North, Seattle, WA  
Additional info: Joseph Bogaard (joseph@wildsalmon.org) or Patricia Sumption (patsump@juno.com)
 Cost: Event is FREE and open to the public, but RSVPs are appreciated

Guest speakers for the event are: Joseph Bogaard, Outreach Director at Save Our Wild Salmon, Michael Garrity, NW Policy Director at American Rivers, Shawn Cantrell, Executive Director at Seattle Audubon, and Tom O’Keefe, NW Director of American Whitewater.  

This event is sponsored by: American Rivers – American Whitewater – Save Our Wild Salmon – Sierra Club – REI – Seattle Audubon

Rep. Markey to Bonneville: Please Reconsider Proposed Wind Power Policy

2011-05-13T15:11:00.000-07:00

Congressman Markey, we heart you.

Take Action on this issue here.

Last week, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) sent a letter to Secretary of Energy Steven Chu addressing current issues with Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and its approach to wind energy production and water spill levels in the Columbia and Snake Rivers.

In recent months, BPA has claimed that legal constraints for salmon may force it to shut off wind energy production in the Northwest when there’s too much water in the rivers (a so-called “over-generation” situation). BPA has therefore proposed a “Record of Decision on Environmental Redispatch,” which outlines its approach for dealing with the issue. This plan, which BPA will likely implement very soon as spring runoff increases river flows, will undermine renewable energy in the Northwest, threaten salmon, and contradict the policies of the Obama administration and the Department of Energy.

In his letter, Rep. Markey writes that he is aware that changes in power systems will present new challenges to energy managers. However, he asks that BPA utilize resources such as the Department of Energy to create sound policies, instead of shutting off wind. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), as well as Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA), also sent letters to BPA recently, asking it to reconsider its Record of Decision and expressing their concern that it would “cause significant problems for renewable energy development in our region.”

While over-generation situations do occur, the salmon aren’t forcing BPA to order reduced spill; BPA is largely making that decision on its own. Currently, BPA follows Washington State’s dissolved gas standard (water spilled over the dams increases the amount of dissolved gas in the river, moderate levels of which salmon can readily handle), which allows a dissolved gas level of 115%. If Washington adopted or federal agencies implemented Oregon’s standard, maximum dissolved gas levels would increase to 120%. This shift could allow more spill and significantly lessen the need to curtail wind energy. It also would be better for salmon - in fact, more protective – by easing their migration past these dams. See our previous blog post on this issue

Rep. Markey presented four additional alternatives to address these high-runoff scenarios in his letter last week: displacing thermal electricity generation in the West; managing the transmission grid more effectively and efficiently; creating better weather forecasting techniques to be able to predict when these situations may occur; and evaluating options for exporting excess power to other regions.

Of course, in our opinion the best option (which didn’t come up in Rep. Markey‘s letter) would be to remove the four dams on the lower Snake River. By removing these dams, salmon would be reconnected to the best habitat left in the continental United States, BPA’s alleged “salmon constraints” would largely be lifted, and salmon would thrive. Many scientists and economists agree that removing the four lower Snake River dams is the best, most cost-effective, and perhaps only option to protect and rebuild endangered Snake River salmon populations.

Salmon are amazing animals that travel thousands of miles in their migration from mountain streams to the Pacific Ocean and back again. They play a key role in the culture, economy, and ecology of the Pacific Northwest – feeding us, our ancient forests, and more than 150 additional animal species. Save Our Wild Salmon thanks Senator Merkley and Representatives Markey, Blumenauer, and Inslee for their leadership on both salmon protection and clean energy development – two things that we think go hand in hand here in the Northwest. We are grateful for their efforts to draw more attention to this issue and hope that their words encourage Secretary Chu and others to re-examine BPA’s proposed plan. This issue is expected to come to a head in the coming days, as warming spring temperatures will lead to increased water levels at the dams.

Let’s hope BPA decides to listen to the leadership of the Northwest on this issue.

TAKE ACTION HERE.

Moving Beyond The Courtroom, Saving Wild Salmon: "The Job Is Not Done"

2011-05-10T07:19:00.000-07:00

- from the desk of Nicole Cordan, Policy & Legal Director, SOS

This spring, a federal court is poised to make a decision that could change the fate of endangered species across the entire country.

Conservation, fishing groups, the State of Oregon and the Nez Perce Tribe marched back to court yesterday for a hearing on the Columbia-Snake salmon plan. The plan is meant to mitigate the harmful impacts of dams on endangered salmon and steelhead populations in the Columbia-Snake River Basin, but it has yet to do the job.

Over the next several weeks, U.S. District Court Judge James Redden will decide if the Obama administration’s federal salmon plan passes legal muster — a decision that will do one of two things for endangered wildlife: protect the Endangered Species Act (ESA), or weaken it.

The Greatest Migration Teaser from EP Films on Vimeo.

This court case is about much more than a fish. This case is about how we, as a country, decide to chart a path to our future — and whether we decide to save wild salmon, grizzlies and other iconic American wildlife, or let them slip to extinction.

From OPB’s Ecotrope, Judge James Redden said:

“Everyone agrees habitat improvement is needed, but scientific support for actual benefits from habitat improvement is challenging and perhaps questionable.”

The biological opinion on the hydropower system “leaves no room for error,” he said. Yet there are “gaps” in the government’s goals and achievements for salmon survival and recovery. “For some species, only a quarter of the expected survival benefits have occurred.”

Is the “unproven” habitat mitigation plan for the dams based on “independent, reliable and verifiable scientific information”?

“That’s what we hope to learn today,” Redden said.

Judge Redden has instituted more protections for endangered salmon and steelhead on the Columbia-Snake Rivers than the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations combined.

Snake River salmon swim farther and climb higher than any other salmon on earth. Their migration is legendary, awe-inspiring and at times unbelievable.

In the Pacific Northwest, the science is clear: removing the four lower Snake River dams is the most effective, if not only, path to restore healthy, abundant salmon and steelhead populations. But even outside of the region, this decision would have a major ripple effect. It would be the largest river restoration in our nation’s history and a motivator for the rest of the country to “win the future” by building a bright future not just for salmon in the Northwest, but for other endangered wildlife and communities across the US. The Obama administration has yet to consider this option despite strong urging from fisheries biologists, former Northwest governors, and people and businesses across the nation.

Judge Redden took the bench this morning and said: “The job is not done.” And we couldn’t agree more.

But as we wait to hear what the judge has to say, we know this is not just up to the court and our fight doesn’t stop today. This is up to the American people. We have the opportunity to save these one-of-a-kind fish. I don't want to tell future generations that we had the opportunity to save wild salmon and we did nothing. I want to tell them that we fought to save them. That we fought to save the jobs and the communities that depend upon them. That we fought to ensure transparency in our federal decisions.

TAKE ACTION HERE.

2 Important Oregonian Stories

2011-05-08T21:28:00.000-07:00

Salmon wars return to Portland courtroom: Can at-risk fish and hydroelectric dams coexist?

For the past eight years, the champion of Northwest wild salmon and steelhead has been an 82-year-old judge with a sharp pen and a willingness to use it.

To date, U.S. District Judge James A. Redden has sunk two plans the federal government argued would allow it to operate hydroelectric dams in the Columbia River basin without jeopardizing the region's signature fish.

In Portland on Monday, he holds what could be his last hearing in the salmon case, a final discussion of the government's third shot at a 10-year plan. He'll have to cut through the fog of fish numbers before handing down a decision with consequences for electricity ratepayers and farmers in four states.

Helped by favorable ocean conditions and fishing restrictions, the numbers of salmon and steelhead returning to the Columbia have surged since 2001. Returns -- mostly hatchery fish -- hit post-dam-building highs for much of the past decade at Bonneville Dam, the first on an upstream journey that can run over eight dams and more than 900 miles.

Redden's focus is narrower: the seven endangered or threatened wild runs that pass Bonneville, including 77 smaller populations native to tributaries in Oregon, Idaho and Washington. Their returns are also up sharply in the past decade, a promising sign after stark declines in the 1990s.

But a closer look at the numbers shows key runs remain perilously low -- and well below minimum benchmarks for removing them from the endangered species list.

More here.

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Habitat restoration soars on Columbia River, but fish benefits are murky

CHINOOK, Wash. -- This winter, restoration workers punched a 12-foot concrete culvert through the rock rip-rap that lines the Columbia River near the ocean and waited for fish to hit wetlands walled off for a century.

They didn't have to wait long.

On March 15, the first check, biologists counted 20 juvenile salmon. On April 29, the count totaled 723, mostly chinook and chum.

That's the kind of success story operators of the Columbia basin's federal hydropower dams need a whole lot more of. Their 10-year dam operations plan, under the skeptical eye of U.S. District Judge James A. Redden, banks heavily on habitat improvements to bolster seven threatened runs of wild salmon and steelhead that begin life above Bonneville Dam.

It's likely the biggest restoration effort in the nation, from the Columbia's mouth to tributaries deep into eastern Oregon, Idaho and Washington. If it works, it could help lift the fish off the endangered species list, dim the spotlight on dams and reduce demands for Snake River dam removal.

But translating the effort into hard fish survival numbers that will satisfy the court is another story.

More here.

Oral Arguments for Salmon Restoration on Monday, May 9th

2011-05-06T15:26:00.000-07:00

Oral arguments will begin on Monday, May 9th at 9:30 AM in Portland, Oregon in a landmark case to be ruled on later this year by U.S. District Court Judge James Redden (National Wildlife Federation et al v. National Marine Fisheries Service et al). The case reviews the Obama administration’s 2010 federal salmon plan that sets policy on how to operate the federal dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers.

The plan, also known as a Biological Opinion (BiOp), attempts to address the significant harm the federal dams cause to salmon and steelhead protected by the Endangered Species Act. The actions called for by the plan are almost indistinguishable from previous plans that were rejected by the courts, which were rejected by the courts. The plan currently under scrutiny also rolls back important protections now in place and will cost almost $1 billion per year over the next 10 years.

The salmon community has five basic concerns associated with the BiOp: the plan rolls back current salmon protections, sidesteps climate change impacts, ignores the best available salmon science, uses a faulty legal standard and analytical framework, and offers less protection for more money.

Stay tuned for our post-hearing update.

PBS Nature "Salmon: Running the Gauntlet" - Watch Full Episode Online

2011-05-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday night, we gathered with our friends and neighbors to watch the PBS Nature premiere of Salmon: Running the Gauntlet. We're so excited that our issue, which is just as important nationally as it is regionally, is getting this kind of great exposure.

Going beyond the debate over how to save an endangered species, the film investigates the parallel stories of collapsing Pacific salmon populations and how biologists and engineers have become instruments in audacious experiments to replicate every stage of the fish’s life cycle. In its exposure of a wildly creative, hopelessly complex, and stunningly expensive approach to managing salmon, the film reveals one of the most ambitious plans ever conceived for taking the reins of the planet.

The story of salmon is one of the nature stories of our time – how we became entangled in the life of creatures at once resilient and fragile, manipulated and wild, and whether they, and we, might recover from that intrusion.

“If the fish were in any worse shape, they wouldn’t be savable, if they were in any better shape, people wouldn’t care as much. This is the time.” — Former Chief of Fisheries for Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, Jim Martin.

But even as we watched the industrial side of the story, we were brought back to one crystal clear fact: salmon are survivors.

They aren't limping along because of the techno-fixes, they are fighting harder to live in spite of it. If we stepped up and took the one action that scientists have pointed to for decades — removing the four lower Snake River dams — it would be the largest river restoration in our nation’s history and a motivator for the rest of the country to “win the future” by building a bright future not just for salmon in the Northwest, but for other endangered wildlife and communities across the US.

Co-producer and writer, Jim Norton said:

We hope audiences will simply celebrate salmon themselves – their truly extraordinary life history and why they stubbornly remain icons of wildness, resilience, and abundance. Certainly, we hope this episode will contribute to an appreciation of their role in stitching together oceans and continents, estuaries and alpine meadows, coastal rainforests and high deserts. By extension, people should come away with an understanding of why their decline is so consequential on so many levels.

Also, we hope audiences will explore the original assumptions that informed our approach to managing salmon – and how committed we remain to trying to make that story work despite 150 years of evidence that those assumptions might be leading us astray. At incalculable cost, we constructed a reality out of our illusions and have forgotten which is which. Maybe it’s time for a new story.

If you give salmon a wild, free-flowing river, they will survive. The Columbia-Snake Rivers may not be in your own backyard, but the effects of this decision certainly will be. Take action to save wild salmon!

Read more about this fight, over on Patagonia's blog...

Watch the full episode of Salmon: Running the Gauntlet here.

Watch the full episode. See more Nature.

Wild Salmon at Risk - May 4th in Spokane

2011-04-27T12:32:00.000-07:00

A Filmmaker and Writer Share the Latest on Columbia-Snake Salmon and Steelhead

Join us in Spokane, WA for a special screening of Jim Norton's PBS Nature documentary Salmon: Running the Gauntlet with Steven Hawley, author of Recovering a Lost River: Removing Dams, Rewilding Salmon, Revitalizing Communities..

Preview Salmon: Running the Gauntlet here.
Read more about Steven Hawley's book, Recovering a Lost River.

When: Wednesday, May 4th, 2011 - 7 pm
Where: Caterina Winery - 905 N Washington Street - Spokane WA
Additional info: contact Sam Mace at 509-747-2030 or sam@wildsalmon.org.
Cost? Event is FREE and open to the public, but RSVPs appreciated. RSVP on Facebook here or contact Sam the information above.

Both Norton and Hawley will be in attendance to update us on the current state of wild salmon in the Columbia and Snake Rivers at this free community event and discuss what's really at stake. And yes, we'll have copies of Hawley's book available for purchase!

Special thanks to our sponsors: Aunties' Books, The Whole Plate and Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition

SOS Actions - Week of April 25th

2011-04-25T16:24:00.000-07:00

1) Is Your Member of Congress a Salmon Champ?
2) Tell Congressman DeFazio to change his position on NW salmon recovery.
3) Host a Watch Party! - Salmon: Running the Gauntlet premieres this Sunday on PBS.

1) Is Your Member of Congress a Salmon Champ?

Americans deserve real solutions to the crisis facing endangered wild salmon and steelhead in the Pacific Northwest’s Columbia-Snake River Basin. Congress has an enormous opportunity to help recover wild salmon and steelhead in this region – once the largest salmon watershed in the world – while creating new living-wage jobs and building a clean energy future.

Your representative can be a champion for salmon and salmon-dependent communities in the 112th Congress. Urge her/him to support legislation that gives imperiled salmon a shot at recovery – while also protecting communities, regional economies, and American taxpayers. Columbia-Snake wild salmon are among the most resilient, determined creatures on earth, but today they hover at 1% of their historic numbers. These fish need all the help they can get, starting in Washington, DC.

Take Action Here.

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2) Tell Congressman DeFazio to change his position on Columbia-Snake salmon recovery

Congressman DeFazio is at it again. And we wish that was a good thing, but it's not.

Congressman DeFazio has long been a leader on natural resource issues representing Oregon's 4th Congressional District. As a senior member of both the House Natural Resources Committee and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, he could play an important role in bringing about lasting recovery of wild salmon in the Snake River Basin and the communities that depend on them.

But over the last several years, Congressman DeFazio has chosen to support federal agency failures in the Columbia-Snake Basin instead of making a break with the past to embrace a broader set of solutions that can help recover salmon, invest in clean energy, protect communities, and restore our economy. He has actively worked in Congress to limit the progress of a key studies bill for Snake River salmon and communities. DeFazio has also - again - weighed in negatively for Columbia-Snake salmon.

Read a recent oped piece in the Eugene Weekly on DeFazio's role in the salmon crisis.

Send a message to Congressman DeFazio here.

You can also give Congressman DeFazio's office a call: 202.225.6416
Ask Rep. DeFazio to change course and support an all-options approach to wild salmon and steelhead recovery in the Columbia and Snake Rivers.

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3) Host a Watch Party! - Salmon: Running the Gauntlet premieres this Sunday on PBS.

What are you doing next Sunday, May 1st?

We are encouraging folks across the country to organize watch parties with friends and family on May 1st to view the premiere of Salmon: Running the Gauntlet at 8pm on PBS (check local listings).

Salmon: Running the Gauntlet takes critical look at the extraordinary efforts to save Columbia and Snake River salmon. Check out the preview below...

Going beyond the debate over how to save an endangered species, Nature takes a timely look at the Columbia-Snake salmon crisis in Salmon: Running the Gauntlet from filmmaker Jim Norton. The story of salmon is one of the nature stories of our time – how we became entangled in the life of creatures at once resilient and fragile, manipulated and wild, and whether they, and we, might recover from that intrusion. After broadcast, the program will stream at pbs.org/nature.

Salmon: Running the Gauntlet airs Sunday, May 1, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT. Check your local listings.

RSVP on Facebook here.

Are you setting up a watch party? If so, let me know: bobby@wildsalmon.org

More information here: http://video.pbs.org/video/1862122371/

Enjoy the show!

Smoked Salmon and Superb Support at Washington, DC Reception and Film Screening

2011-04-21T16:53:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday, April 12, 2011 Save Our Wild Salmon sponsored a cocktail reception and screening of the documentary short film “The Greatest Migration” on Capitol Hill. The film features the miraculous story of high-altitude Snake River salmon and the race to save them. Joining us were more than 150 House and Senate staff, supporting conservation and fishing organizations, and others to enjoy some great dialogue regarding the future of these iconic fish while appreciating some delicious smoked wild salmon from Jensen’s Smokehouse.

With stellar attendance, this event couldn’t have gone better and we were overwhelmed by the vocal support we received from so many staffers. One staffer even enthusiastically let us know that, “This is the only reception I come to all year.” Aw, thanks!

Unfortunately, due to an unanticipated caucus meeting, our congressional champions were unable to personally attend. However, Melanie Rhinehart VanTassell, legislative director for Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA), made a statement on the Congressman’s behalf. She referenced the Wild Salmon Caucus, of which Thompson is a co-chair, and connected the Columbia-Snake River to other West Coast salmon watersheds that are also struggling to recover healthy salmon stocks.

While one of the primary functions of the reception was to screen "The Greatest Migration," it was also a wonderful opportunity to remind our DC-based colleagues and supporters of why salmon are so critically important, and about some of the very serious threats they are currently facing.

Many thanks to our organizers and to our event co-sponsors:
American Rivers, Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, Endangered Species Coalition, Idaho Rivers United, Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association, NW Energy Coalition, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Sierra Club, and Trout Unlimited.

And a huge thank you to our honorary co-hosts, Congressmen Jim McDermott, Mike Thompson, and Raul Grijalva.

Sneak Preview of PBS Nature Salmon: Running the Gauntlet in PDX April 27

2011-04-20T15:28:00.000-07:00

Join OPB and filmmaker Jim Norton for a screening and panel discussion of the NATURE program Salmon: Running the Gauntlet.   NATURE goes beyond the ongoing debate over how to save an endangered species to expose a wildly creative, hopelessly complex and stunningly expensive approach to managing salmon.

WHEN: Wednesday, April 27 at 7:30pm (Doors open at 6:30pm)

WHERE: Mission Theater & Pub, 1624 NW Glisan St., Portland

COST: Free!   

If you can’t attend the preview screening, you can watch the program on PBS Nature on Sunday, May 1 at 8pm. Check local listings.

Salmon: Running the Gauntlet Premieres May 1 on PBS's Nature

2011-04-19T15:15:00.000-07:00

A critical look at the extraordinary efforts to save Pacific Northwest salmon...

Going beyond the debate over how to save an endangered species, Nature takes a timely look at the salmon crisis in Salmon: Running the Gauntlet on Sunday, May 1, 2001 at 8:00 p.m. on PBS's Nature. The story of salmon is one of the nature stories of our time – how we became entangled in the life of creatures at once resilient and fragile, manipulated and wild, and whether they, and we, might recover from that intrusion. After broadcast, the program will stream at pbs.org/nature.

Airs Sunday, May 1, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT. Check your local listings.

Watch the full episode. See more Nature.

We Get Wild at Wild Salmon Rising

2011-04-19T14:49:00.000-07:00

200+ people, $1,500+ raised, 5 filets of wild salmon eaten, 3 kegs tapped, 2 cases of wine drowned... that's what we call a salmon party.

Thanks to everyone who came out last week to Wild Salmon Rising. We had a great time screening Eastern Rises and The Greatest Migration, as well as a last minute entry of the Kamchatka Steelhead Project.

Missed out on all the salmon action? Here are some of our favorite party photos for your enjoyment. More can be found on our Flickr page.

If you're interested in showing The Greatest Migration in your neck of the woods, contact bobby[at]wildsalmon[dot]org.

A big thanks to our partners on the party Wild Salmon Center and Under Solen Media as well as our sponsors: Widmer, Osprey Packs, Patagonia, Idylwilde Flies, Rio Products, Sage and Klean Kanteen.

Wenatchee World: Salmon are still too few

2011-04-19T14:03:00.000-07:00

Buzz Ramsey (left) and Ron Richards

By Buzz Ramsey and Ron Richards

"We in the commercial and sport fishing industry don’t buy in to the argument that everything is just fine and we should all just go home. We are the ones still out there on the rivers and the ocean trying to make a living. Regardless of what the federal court decides, we are going to continue to work for a better plan for Columbia and Snake River salmon. Our families, our livelihoods and our communities depend on it."

Read more over at the Wenatchee World.

Both Ron Richards and Buzz Ramsey support a Working Snake River.
Learn more at www.workingsnakeriver.org

Congratulations to West Salem High School

2011-04-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

Save Our Wild Salmon is thrilled to congratulate the West Salem High School in Salem, Oregon as the grand prize winner of the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest. The contest asks selected 6th- 12th grade teachers to create videos with their students to answer the question: “How can science or math help improve the environment in your community?”

The West Salem High School students chose to create their video submission depicting their concern about the impact hydroelectric dams are having on salmon fisheries in the Columbia River, and how solar and wind power could replace hydroelectric energy.

The students were able to demonstrate using science and math that there are alternatives to dams as an energy source that can be implemented to help salmon.

States the video, “At our school, we want to save the salmon by promoting eco-friendly energy sources.”

West Salem High School was announced as the grand prize winner at the event hosted by 9 time Grammy Award Winner, John Legend, at the Samsung Experience in New York City. The winning school was honored with $155,000 in technology prizes from Samsung, Microsoft, DIRECTV and the Adobe Foundation during the ceremony.

Congratulations, West Salem High School, for this tremendous achievement and for focusing your project on helping to save wild salmon!

CLICK HERE to watch the award-winning video...

Spill is Good for Both Endangered Salmon and the Wind Power Industry

2011-04-14T16:26:00.000-07:00

In its ongoing attempt to reduce water spill levels in the Columbia and Snake Rivers, Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) is now attempting to use salmon as an excuse to shut off wind energy production in the region when flow levels are too high. BPA is claiming legal constraints for salmon and over-generation of wind and hydropower will force the agency to turn off wind power production but keep producing hydropower. Such a policy would undermine renewable energy generation and be harmful to salmon.

While over-generation situations do occur, the supposed legal constraints on BPA are largely self-created and self-imposed. The salmon aren’t forcing BPA to order reduced spill and thus more hydro production at the expense of wind generation; it’s the total dissolved gas (TDG) limits for the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Currently, BPA follows Washington State’s spill standard, which allows a dissolved gas level of 115%. If Washington adopted and federal agencies implemented Oregon’s standard, maximum dissolved gas levels would increase to 120%. This shift could allow more spill and avoid curtailing wind energy. It also would benefit salmon and steelhead by easing their migration past these dams.

BPA recently evaluated how much more wind energy might be available if the dissolved gas standard were increased. It did its analysis in response to SOS calculations of how many TDG exceedences might be avoided in a given month if the Oregon standard were followed. A new analysis from the Fish Passage Center (FPC), which provides current and historic data on salmon and steelhead travel in the Columbia and Snake Rivers, backs up the SOS findings and reveals an opportunity for significantly increasing spill in the Columbia-Snake.

The SOS, BPA, and FPC analyses all lead to the same basic conclusion: adhering to the 120% Oregon standard for TDG is better for salmon and would allow more wind energy on the regional system. Despite these benefits, BPA has decided not to pursue this additional spill, claiming the economic benefits are minimal and not worth the biological risks to salmon from too much TDG in the water. Bonneville ignores the clear science showing that the TDG levels at issue here would not harm migrating salmon.

Instead of science, politics is driving this decision. Politics should not stand in the way of what is good for both salmon and the wind industry. The Northwest Power and Conservation Act requires BPA to protect and restore salmon in the region while supporting renewable energy development to meet our new power needs. Increasing the dissolved gas standard to 120% would accommodate both salmon survival and wind energy production.

We believe it’s time for BPA to stop circumventing its responsibilities to the salmon and renewable energy communities. BPA should act like the federal agency it is and help the region reach our shared goals of healthy salmon populations and a clean energy future, rather than focusing solely on increased hydropower sales.

Salmon protection and survival in the Columbia-Snake Basin are linked with wind power, not in conflict with it. We in the Northwest can have both a truly clean energy future and wild rivers teeming with wild salmon.

The Greatest Migration @ the UO Longhouse

2011-04-13T13:42:00.000-07:00

Derek Kimbol introduces the film and talks about his heritage.

We had a great crowd last Wednesday in Eugene for the screening of the Greatest Migration at the Many Nations Longhouse on the campus of the University of Oregon. This event was hosted jointly by the UO Outdoor Program, the Native American Student Union and Save Our Wild Salmon.

Derek Kimbol, one of our interns from the UO, kicked off the event, we watched the film, Bobby from SOS helped lead a really great Q & A session, and later we watched another film: Celilo Falls and the Remaking of the Columbia River.

Bobby from SOS answers some good questions from the crowd.

This event would not have been possible without Derek, Delia Sanchez, the UO Outdoor Program, and the Native American Student Union for pulling everything together. THANK YOU!

Several cast members from the upcoming play Salmon is Everything came to the event as well. If you are in Eugene May 20 - June 4, you should definitely check out this play. SOS will be tabling there as well.

Please stay tuned for more awesome events in Eugene very soon.

CONFIRMED: Fish Like Water!

2011-04-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

Federal agencies commit to ‘spill’ water over dams to help salmon and steelhead during their spring migration this year. But despite scientific support, the government does not make spill a guaranteed, permanent part of the federal salmon plan.

Out-migrating juvenile Columbia and Snake River salmon and steelhead will get a much-needed boost this spring - thanks to the successful advocacy of the Nez Perce Tribe and the State of Oregon to retain court-ordered levels of water spilled over federal dams during the 2011 spring salmon migration.

Listen to the Public News Service story here.
Read the press release from the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition.

“Spill” has been a key reason for recently improved salmon returns, although numbers are still far below levels needed to sustain healthy salmon populations. Federal dam agencies announced last month that they would provide spill this spring that gets closer to the levels ordered by U.S. District Court Judge James Redden for the last five years.

Earlier in the year, the dam agencies once again sought to cut back court-ordered spill in favor of generating additional hydropower this spring. Oregon and the Nez Perce Tribe led the effort among federal, state, and tribal salmon managers to retain prior spill levels.

“We are thankful that the Nez Perce and Oregon stood up to federal pressure to reduce water spilled past the dams to protect salmon,” said Liz Hamilton of the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association (NSIA). “What we’ve learned in the last five years is that more spill means more salmon, which means more jobs.”

“For the sixth straight year, water spilled over the federal dams in spring when young salmon are migrating to the ocean will mean higher salmon survival, higher salmon returns, more fishing and more jobs in our coastal communities,” said Joel Kawahara, board member of the Washington Trollers Association. “Judge Redden first required spring spill for the 2006 migration season, and every year since, his oversight has led the federal government to keep providing it – even though every year, they have looked for ways to reduce spill in order to make more money from generating electricity.”

This decision means that – at least for Spring 2011 – about half of the young Columbia Basin salmon heading to the ocean will travel there in the river, rather than being vacuumed out of the river and barged around the dams. Prior to 2006, up to 90% of baby salmon were routinely removed from the river and barged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, interrupting their natural migration and compromising their survival.

For years, salmon advocates have asked the federal government to make spill a permanent, guaranteed part of the federal plan. The Obama Administration’s 2010 Plan curtails spill from court-ordered levels, and allows the federal agencies to halt spill during key times of the migration in the spring and summer.

“The science is clear: salmon do better when the river runs more like a river,” said Glen Spain of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman’s Associations (PCFFA). “We shouldn’t have to fight for spill every year. Salmon and west coast fishing economies deserve reliable protections guided by the best science – and that means continued and increased spill in the spring and summer months."

Please Join Special Guests Congressmen Jim McDermott, Raúl Grijalva and Mike Thompson for a Celebration of Wild Salmon

2011-04-06T11:23:00.000-07:00

You are cordially invited to a cocktail reception celebrating Northwest wild salmon

and the communities, jobs, and people they support.

Please join us on April 12 at 6:00 p.m. as we…

Support wild salmon and salmon-based communities;

View a beautiful short film, “The Greatest Migration,” about Snake River salmon and their remarkable journey from Southeast Alaska to the mountain streams of Central Idaho;

and

Enjoy delicious wild-caught smoked salmon from the West Coast and Alaska, accompanied by some of the Northwest's tastiest wines and microbrews.

When: Tuesday, April 12, 2011 – 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Where: HVC-201 (in the Capitol Visitor Center) – 1^st Street, NE, Washington, D.C.

Questions & RSVPs: Please contact Susan Holmes at susanh16@hotmail.com or (202) 329-1553

Sponsored by:

American Rivers • Defenders of Wildlife • Earthjustice • Endangered Species Coalition • Idaho Rivers United • Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association • NW Energy Coalition • Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations • Save Our Wild Salmon • Sierra Club • Trout Unlimited

Wild Salmon Rising: Two epic stories about the greatest salmon rivers on Earth… and fishing

2011-03-29T12:26:00.000-07:00

Save Our Wild Salmon and Wild Salmon Center Present Eastern Rises + The Greatest Migration

On April 14 at 7pm in NE Portland, Save Our Wild Salmon and Wild Salmon Center are teaming up to present Wild Salmon Rising: two epic films about the greatest salmon rivers on earth… and fishing.

In Felt Soul Media’s Eastern Rises, fishing is poetry; Bigfoot lurks in the fog; and fishermen risk life and limb in decommissioned Cold War helicopters to explore rivers that have never been fished. Eastern Rises has won awards including: Best Sport at Banff Mountain Film, Best Film at The Drake Magazine Video Awards, Audience Choice at Wild & Scenic Film Festival and Best Action at Flagstaff Mountain Film.

"Kamchatka is one of the most wild and remote places on Earth and a huge producer of wild salmon in the North Pacific, currently only rivaled by Alaska's Bristol Bay,” said filmmaker Travis Rummel of Felt Soul Media. “The entire Pacific coast of North America used to produce wild salmon in abundance — especially the Columbia/Snake River systems. Sadly you have to travel to the end of Earth to find what was once in our backyards."

While the audience won’t see many salmon in Eastern Rises, the film showcases a wild piece of the world where salmon still return in large numbers and is reminiscent to what the mighty Columbia once was.

Eastern Rises | teaser from felt soul media on Vimeo.

In EP Films’ The Greatest Migration, follow endangered Snake River salmon as they tackle an incredible journey from Alaska through the Columbia and Snake Rivers to Idaho's wild and rugged Sawtooth Mountains — swimming 1,000 miles inland and nearly 7,000 feet in elevation — farther and climbing higher than any salmon on Earth.

“While filming I spent time fishing with a fisherman from Sitka, crouched on the banks of the Snake with a Nez Perce elder and stalked spawning wild chinook salmon with a fisheries biologist in Idaho — 1,000 miles from the ocean,” said filmmaker Andy Maser of EP films. “After all of that, it was crystal clear that the story we set out to tell was about so much more than a fish. Salmon are an icon. They’re the lifeblood of our communities, culture and environment. Without them, our world looks very different.”

The Greatest Migration Teaser from EP Films on Vimeo.

Historically, 30 million salmon used to feed the Columbia-Snake Rivers, but today, their populations have plummeted to just 1% of those historic numbers — largely due to impacts from the basin’s hydrosystem. Salmon advocates, fishermen, business leaders and conservationists are fighting in court to institute protections on the Columbia-Snake Rivers that would restore wild salmon populations. And the region’s top scientists have identified lower Snake River dam removal as the most effective — if not only — option to recover the Snake River’s legendary salmon runs. The Obama administration has yet to consider that option.

“Not wanting to stir up controversy or upset powerful interests, our government has allowed science and innovation to lose out to politics and procrastination,” said renowned Oregon steelhead fishing guide Jeff Hickman. “My job depends on healthy wild salmon and steelhead. To save them, we’ve got to take the lead and push for the removal of the dams that are literally blocking wild salmon and steelhead from their very survival. This fight is far from over. We will not simply sit on the sidelines and allow science and truth to be silenced. We will fight for salmon, for our rivers, for ourselves and for our future.”

Wild salmon are an integral part of our cultures, ecosystems, food security and global economy. To save them, we must protect our best remaining rivers and remove the dams that are literally blocking wild salmon from their very survival.

Join Save Our Wild Salmon and Wild Salmon Center to enjoy an evening of films, Widmer brews, wild smoked salmon, gear giveaways and to take action to save wild salmon in our own backyard!

When: April 14 — Doors at 7pm, Films at 7:30pm

Where: Boothster — 521 NE Davis in Portland

Eastern Rises Teaser: http://vimeo.com/3074182

The Greatest Migration Teaser: http://vimeo.com/15041410

FREE Entry, 21 and over.

$5 gets you a Klean Kanteen steel pint and beer for the night

$5 gets you 3 raffle tickets for great prizes from Osprey Packs, Patagonia, Idylwilde Flies, Rio Products, Sage and more!

All proceeds benefit Save Our Wild Salmon.

Fewer dams will improve Columbia-Snake river system

2011-03-29T11:07:00.000-07:00

By Brett Swift
For the Capital Press

Woody Guthrie sang the virtues of a working Columbia River nearly 70 years ago.
Back then, a working river meant an industrialized river harnessed for power and irrigation.

Today, we need to make the Columbia a working river that "rolls on" in a way that balances hydropower, barge navigation and irrigation with the amazing array of services a healthy river provides. These services include clean drinking water, healthy fisheries and recreational activities like fishing, birding, boating, hiking and camping that improve our quality of life and attract new businesses and jobs.

The next several years will be pivotal for ensuring that the Columbia River and its tributaries work for farmers, fishermen, communities and the environment. This effort will be won or lost based on how we manage the following benefits that the Columbia and its tributaries provide.

Students call on Congressman DeFazio

2011-03-24T13:36:00.000-07:00

Derek Kimbol with his boys.

This past fall, several students at the University of Oregon spent time reaching out to fellow students about an open letter to Congressman DeFazio. The letter asks DeFazio to "support a stakeholder process – bringing together fishermen, farmers, energy users, and decision-makers – to craft durable solutions for communities of the Columbia and Snake Rivers that are based on sound science and economics, and an all-options approach."

Last week, one of the main student organizers, Derek Kimbol, submitted the final letter to Congressman DeFazio from nearly 300 students and young people in Oregon's 4th congressional district. Derek decided to share his cover letter with us (below). Here is the full sign-on letter from students. You can also find more information here on DeFazio's role in Northwest salmon recovery.

Dear Congressman DeFazio,

My name is Derek Kimbol and I am currently a senior in Environmental Sciences at the University of Oregon. I write to you regarding the attached letter about salmon recovery in the Columbia and Snake Rivers from students and young people in Oregon's 4th Congressional District.

Salmon are an essential part of my cultural heritage. I am Modoc Indian and an enrolled member of the Klamath tribes with family in the Hoopa, Grande Ronde, Warm Springs and Yakima Tribes. I consider salmon a part of my family as well. What's more, salmon play a key role in our Northwest ecosystem and economy. They support hundreds of plant and animal species in the coastal temperate rain forest, the inland high desert, and the high mountain ranges of central Idaho and northeast Oregon. And these salmon support thousands of jobs in a diversity of industries throughout our region. We as people of the Northwest deserve a real voice in deciding the fate of this precious resource.

This past fall I worked with several other students on the attached letter. For a period of about two weeks, we reached out to fellow students and student groups on campus at the University of Oregon and Lane Community College. The reaction was very positive and there was a strong call for change.

I was disappointed to read your op-ed with Congressman Hastings praising the current federal efforts to recover salmon. We have unfortunately not reached the peace you mention and the federal agencies have failed to craft a long-term, science-based plan that proposes new actions to recover wild salmon and steelhead.

The Nez Perce Tribe, the State of Oregon, and many of your colleagues in Congress – Representative Blumenauer and Senator Jeff Merkley among them – have helped keep pressure on the federal agencies to implement stopgap measures, such as spilling water at the dams, that are working to protect salmon until a lawful and science-based plan with a broader set of solutions for salmon and the Northwest can be crafted. Newly elected Governor John Kitzhaber supports an open conversation about all options as well; I hope you will stand with him.

History has shown that NOAA and the Bonneville Power Administration do not have the best interests of salmon or salmon people in mind when managing the rivers and operating their dams. If the federal judge rules NOAA's plan illegal again, I hope you see this as an opportunity to change course and embrace alternatives to the four lower Snake River dams.

Again, I hope you read the attached letter and take it to heart. Salmon and salmon-dependent communities deserve a fighting chance and they need you in their corner.

Sincerely,

Derek Kimbol
Senior in Environmental Sciences
University of Oregon

Here's another link to the sign-on letter.