Mission and History

Mission

Save Our Wild Salmon's mission is to restore abundant, harvestable runs of salmon to the Columbia and Snake River Basins. Wild salmon and free-flowing rivers are the cornerstone of a healthy environment and vibrant economy in the Pacific Northwest.

The members of SOS endorse these five principles:

• return to salmon the use of their rivers: protect and restore spawning, rearing, and migratory habitat
• conserve the genetic heritage and biological diversity of wild salmon populations
• restore productive Tribal and non-Tribal fisheries that allow the rebuilding of wild stocks
• restore wild salmon at least cost to other river users and society as a whole
• foster cooperation among all citizens committed to wild salmon recovery

History

Save Our Wild Salmon formed in 1991, uniting conservation organizations, commercial and sport fishing associations, businesses, river groups, and taxpayer advocates in a commitment to restore Pacific Northwest wild salmon and the communities that depend on them. In 1994, SOS published Wild Salmon Forever, a comprehensive scientific blueprint for Northwest wild salmon recovery. Our litigation and advocacy in the mid-90s led to improvements in federal dam operations, which slowed the extinction crisis faced by Northwest salmon. In 1998, impelled by an emerging scientific consensus, SOS endorsed removal of the four lower Snake River dams as the only means to restore the river's unique salmon, which migrate 900 miles inland from the Pacific to reach their home in Idaho. Concurrently, we launched the Columbia & Snake Rivers Recovery Campaign, taking the message of salmon restoration and economic renewal through dam removal nationwide. If successful, it will be the largest river restoration in our nation's history.

In 1999-2000, Save Our Wild Salmon organized 232,000 Americans (the second-largest number of people ever to comment on a federal agency action) to ask for a federal salmon recovery plan that included removal of the four lower Snake River dams. In the same timeframe, we developed a strategic plan to secure federal authorization of dam removal by 2006, as the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial concludes. In December 2000, the Clinton Administration, while agreeing dam removal was the surest path to salmon recovery, opted instead for a "try everything else" plan, with 199 separate measures and check-in points in 2003 and 2005. Since then, SOS has rigorously tracked the Administration's progress, issuing detailed assessments of the Administration's failure to implement its own plan in our 2001 and 2002 "Salmon Plan Report Cards". Successful litigation resulted in the inadequate federal salmon plan being ruled illegal in May 2003.

We have built strong support for salmon recovery in Congress, spearheading a letter from 118 members of the House of Representatives to President Bush in October 2003, which urged the Administration to keep all scientifically credible recovery options on the table, including the removal of the four lower Snake River dams. And as of November 2004, the Salmon Planning Act (HR 1097), a bipartisan bill in Congress to fully examine the benefits and costs of lower Snake River dam removal, had 110 co-sponsors from across the country.

Excitement is building as the reality of removing these dams draws closer. Won't you join us for the final push to victory?