Wild Salmon & Steelhead News

Our "SPILL" Edition of the Wild Salmon & Steelhead News. May 2013

In addition to our court victories rejecting the government's inadequate and illegal salmon plans over the last 12+ years, "SPILL" has been one of salmon and fishing advocates' most important achievements to protect the Columbia & Snake Rivers' endangered wild salmon and steelhead from extinction.

Court-ordered spill has helped stabilize many imperiled populations and "bought" much-needed time while we work together with others on effective long-term solutions to restore healthier rivers, healthier salmon, and healthier communities.

Take a look at this issue of the Wild Salmon & Steelhead News to learn about the latest science on the positive impacts of spill, and how scientists describe how higher levels of spill in the near-future could provide even greater benefits for young salmon and steelhead as they migrate to the Pacific Ocean during the spring and summer.

IN THIS ISSUE:

1.   All Scientists Are Saying Is…Give (More) Spill A Chance!

2.   THE TOP 12: SOS 'dredges up' twelve facts that raise big questions re: the fiscal and environmental sustainability of the Army Corps' "sediment management" plans on the lower Snake River.

3.   SOS and NW Energy Coalition celebrate two Northwest river restoration champions.

4.   IN THE NEWS – Salmon Collaboration, Climate Change, and Restoration.

5.   REMINDER – Raft the Middle Fork Salmon with SOS this August!

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1.  All Scientists Are Saying Is…"Give (More) Spill A Chance."

120% or 125%?

2%, 4%, or 6%?

35% or 70%?

SARs?

These numbers and acronyms are just a sample of the many facts and figures presented at the Comparative Survival Study (CSS) annual meeting held April 30 in Vancouver, WA. CSS is a collaborative scientific study, initiated in 1996 by state and Tribal fishery managers and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, to estimate Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead survival rates at different life stages. Probably our most effective near-term salmon protection measure is spill - a program that sends some water over Columbia/Snake River dams (rather than through turbines) to help more young fish reach the Pacific Ocean safely. With the dams in place, spill helps the river act just a bit more like, well, a river – which is exactly what endangered salmon and steelhead need.

Since 2006, under federal court order (as a result of a legal victory achieved by salmon and fishing advocates, the State of Oregon, and the Nez Perce Tribe), federal dam managers have been required to spill water to improve salmon survival during their spring/summer migration.

Scientists have long understood that spill helps salmon, but it turns out to be even more beneficial than we thought – not just in terms of getting ocean-bound smolts downstream in one piece, but also in terms of their survival in the ocean and eventual return to spawning gravels as adults.

At this year’s meeting, scientists presented a range of modeled scenarios that indicate more spill - up to a point - can lead to survival improvements that could move imperiled salmon and steelhead stocks from the “treading water/ at high risk of extinction” column into the “hey, now we’re getting somewhere” column.

The truest way to measure salmon survival is something called the Smolt-to-Adult Return ratio, or SAR. For example, for every 100 smolts that journey downstream, how many ultimately return as adults? Generally, a 2-4% SAR is needed for survival over the long-term, while a 4-6% SAR is required to rebuild populations. CSS modeled various levels of spill to see how each of four scenarios affected the SARs.

Underpinning these scenarios is a key balancing question: can we spill enough water to yield an SAR at or above 2% (the region’s minimum target for getting salmon numbers "back in the black"), but without spilling so much water that in-river gas levels put the fish at risk of injury? (As spill levels increase, dissolved gases do too, and at certain threshold levels, this can become problematic for salmon and steelhead.)

The CSS shows we can. According to the scientists' models, if we spill enough water to reach 125% total dissolved gas (ie, the saturation of nitrogen in the river on the dams’ downstream side), we are likely to see SARs at or above 2% more than 70% of the time. (The 125% dissolved gas level is also very safe for salmon; it is only at higher levels that fish start to show signs of impact or injury.) Even if we spill to a 120% gas cap, we’d see those sought-after SARs about 35% of the time.

Contrast both of those scenarios to the level of spill laid out in the now-illegal 2008/2010 federal salmon plan: it only hits an SAR of 2% or more 14% of the time. Our salmon, steelhead and fishing economy, and our region needs better than that; the CSS model shows that "better" is very possible.

While Bonneville Power Administration and the other federal dam managers still insist on much lower spill levels, many Northwest fishery managers appear interested in spilling more water (maybe to 120%, perhaps to 125%) to help fish – and “test the waters” to confirm that more spill at these higher levels will lead to many more salmon.

We want to see this too. With our partners, SOS has fought successfully for spill since 2005. We know that it works – and that it’s largely responsible (along with good ocean conditions) for the modest bumps in salmon returns that we’ve seen over the past few years.

The science says let's give spill a chance; now is the time for a new, expanded experimental spill program in the Columbia/Snake rivers.

SEE THE FULL REPORT on the Fish Passage Center website  - with the presentations from the 2013 CSS Annual Meeting.

2.  THE TOP 12: SOS "dredges up" twelve facts that raise big questions re: the fiscal and environmental sustainability of "sediment management" plans on the lower Snake River.

Meanwhile back on the Lower Snake River, the Army Corps of Engineers is still pushing their plan to dredge hundreds of thousands of tons of sediment, at great cost to American taxpayers, and harm to the river and its endangered salmon and steelhead.

SOS has produced The Top 12: Lower Snake River Dredging - By the Numbers to give you a flavor for Corps' deeply flawed arguments and the upside-down economics of the lower Snake River transportation waterway.

SOS is committed to working with lower Snake River businesses and communities to ensure reliable, affordable, and fiscally and environmentally sustainable transportation options. SOS supports re-directing the public funds that the Corps is currently wasting on an unsustainable lower Snake River waterway, and investing instead in the rail and road infrastructure improvements that eastern Washington growers and communities need. 

Here's a sample from the List:

#9:  $15,400 – the taxpayer subsidy per barge that ships from the Port of Lewiston at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers on the Lower Granite Reservoir (in 2002 dollars), just to cover dredging costs as proposed in the Corps’ draft plan.

#10:  24 PERCENT – the increase in fuel efficiency when delivering wheat from eastern Washington and Idaho farms to coastal ports on rail compared to barge, measured in BTUs/ton‐mile. Barge
transportation requires 368 BTUs/ton‐mile of freight while rail requires just 278.

DOWNLOAD the "Top 12 List" (PDF) here.

READ Dustin Aherin's May 5 guest opinion in Spokesman Review: It's time to assess use of shrinking tax dollars on the lower Snake River dams.

3.  SOS and NW Energy Coalition celebrate two Northwest river restoration champions

Save Our Wild Salmon was proud to co-host an event with partner organization NW Energy Coalition honoring two wild salmon and clean energy champions Shawn Cantrell and Katherine Ransel.

Shawn, now the Executive Director of Seattle Audubon, worked for Friends of the Earth in the 1990s and played a key role in gaining federal authorization to remove the Elwha's two century-old dams. Katherine was Co-Director of American Rivers in the Northwest during this same period and led the charge for dam removal in the FERC relicensing process for Condit Dam on the White Salmon.
 
On Wednesday, April 24, nearly fifty people gathered to celebrate these recent river/salmon victories, applaud two key people that helped bring them about, and watch two film shorts.

First, the award-winning The Art of Dam Removal, showed how art and artists served as key catalysts in the campaign to remove the Condit Dam and restore the White Salmon River - a tributary to the Columbia River named for its distinct white-colored salmon - in southwest Washington State.

WATCH The Art of Dam Removal here.

The second short was actually a trailer for Return of the River – a film-in-production that will tell the story of the restoration of the Elwha River on the Olympic Peninsula through removal of its two dams.
 
SEE the trailer and learn more about Return of the River here.

4.  IN THE NEWS - Collaboration, Climate Change, and Restoration

-- Will the feds ever get their dam act together? By Dan Chasan, crosscut.com

Long-time observer of the federal government’s Columbia Basin salmon recovery efforts brings people up to speed on all things salmon: recent returns, status of spill, the government’s upcoming salmon plan, and the new opportunity for a regional stakeholder collaboration.

-- A 21st century plan for saving Oregon’s species from climate change. By Bill Bradbury, guest writer for the Oregonian

Oregon's Northwest Power and Conservation Council (NPCC) member Bill Bradbury highlights the mounting climate impacts on our fish and wildlife populations and the habitat they depend upon, and urges a path forward that can serve both ecology and economy.


-- The Life of the Elwha - the biography of a river - a book review by Daniel Jack Chasan in crosscut.com.

"Author Lynda Mapes' new book isn't a story about dams or salmon. It's a love story to the river itself." Mr. Chasan reviews a new book about the nation's biggest dam removal - the Elwha River on Washington State's Olympic Peninsula.

5. REMINDER: Take a wild trip in August down the Middle Fork of the Salmon River – AND help wild salmon and steelhead restoration too!

SOS is excited to partner with Idaho River Adventures in 2013 – and to invite you to join a trip this summer down the fabled Middle Fork of the Salmon River in central Idaho. The Middle Fork is one of the original eight rivers designated as Wild under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. It winds through the heart of the Lower 48’s largest contiguous wilderness area - the Frank Church River of No Return. 

Central Idaho is the historic home of millions of wild salmon and steelhead. Today, largely as a result of downstream dams on the lower Snake, only a small number these fish return each year. SOS is working with others to remove these four dams and reconnect wild salmon and steelhead with the largest, highest, wildest, and best protected chunk of salmon and steelhead habitat remaining in the Lower 48.

For river rats everywhere, the Middle Fork is among the most treasured river trips anywhere in the United States – a holy grail!

AND - when you sign up, Idaho River Adventures owner and guide Dustin Aherin will donate $400 of the trip cost to SOS!

As always, thank you for your support!

Wild Salmon and Steelhead News – February 2013

The Save Our wild Salmon Coalition’s mostly-monthly online newsletter with news, updates and developments affecting Columbia and Snake River wild salmon and steelhead, and the communities that rely on them.

IN THIS ISSUE:

On Feb. 4, Congressman Doc Hastings (R-WA) fired off a letter to the Obama Administration’s NOAA Chief Dr. Jane Lubchenco asking her to stop the salmon stakeholder process that her agency just got started. He stated his intent to bring pressure on the agency via a review of NOAA's efforts by the House Natural Resources Committee, which he chairs.

Fortunately, Congressman Hastings is increasingly on his own today. Many regional leaders - including Oregon's Gov. Kitzhaber, the U.S. senators from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, and a number of U.S. House members - support an authentic stakeholder collaboration to resolve the tough issues that communities face in the Columbia-Snake River Basin. The Northwest’s three major newspapers - Seattle Times, Idaho Statesman, and Oregonian - have all editorialized in favor of solutions-oriented stakeholder talks.

TAKE ACTION: Please ask the Northwest’s newest Governor – Jay Inslee - to publicly support regional stakeholder collaboration as the right way forward for NW salmon and communities. Given Congressman Hastings' recent volley against NOAA's process, it is critical that the region’s newest governor join other Northwest leaders and publicly support this new stakeholder-driven approach to resolve the linked issues of salmon, clean energy, agriculture, and transportation in the Columbia Basin. While NOAA's stakeholder initiative is still in its infancy, Governor Inslee's early support is vital to ensuring that this new process has its best chance at success.

2. What Future for the Lower Snake River Waterway?

Late last year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) – a document that purports to analyze the future of the lower Snake River waterway and its continued use as a barge transportation corridor. In its DEIS, the Army Corps focuses on sediment management – aka, dredging – as its best option for maintaining the waterborne transportation system. Save Our wild Salmon, in cooperation with the Nez Perce Tribe and a number of local organizations and leaders, is now carefully reviewing the DEIS. In mid-January, we successfully asked the Army Corps for an extension of comment time. The new comment deadline is now March 26 – giving the public an additional 45 days to review and weigh in on the DEIS.

The creation of a barge transportation corridor was the main argument for building the four lower Snake River dams in the 1960s and ‘70s. Today, it remains a main argument for keeping them. But the system’s costs are growing – including the need for regular, harmful dredging operations and a worsening flood risk for the people and businesses of downtown Lewiston, ID. To be sure, farmers and other local businesses need a reliable, affordable transportation system to deliver their products to market, but the question of whether ‘barges are best’ deserves far more scrutiny – certainly more than the Army Corps provides in its DEIS (which is approximately none). Working with local community members, SOS wants to make sure that this EIS process provides for a broader discussion of the barge system’s true costs and benefits, its impacts on salmon and steelhead recovery, and how it fits into a larger set of regional transportation needs.

Visit our website to learn more about the Sediment DEIS and some initial thoughts about the barge system’s economics from Lin Laughey, co-founder of Fighting Goliath, the voice of the people of Highway 12 in central Idaho who joined forces to stop ExxonMobil from turning their functional, historic, and beautiful local road into an industrial corridor and sacrifice zone for tar sands development. The people of Highway 12 have won so far, but the Port of Lewiston has not stopped its quest to attract Big Oil/Gas/Coal traffic to help rescue the lower Snake’s navigation corridor from its decade-long decline.

Winter is when Northwest fisheries scientists pour over last year’s data in order to make predictions about the coming salmon and steelhead return. The Columbia and Snake River adult upriver migration won’t officially begin until April, finishing in early fall. Until then, of course, we won’t really know how the fish fare. This annual prediction ritual, however, is essential for setting up expectations and establishing fishing levels and seasons (targeting hatchery fish).

Based on reports so far, this year’s forecast unfortunately contains more bad news than good: Most stocks, including the thirteen Endangered Species Act-listed runs, are expected to return at levels lower than last year. 


In a specific example, the official forecast for this year’s wild spring/summer chinook return suggest that just 11,000 adults will likely survive to reach Idaho after passing eight dams on the Columbia and lower Snake Rivers. By comparison, last year’s wild run was 21,000; 2011 was 22,000; and 2010 was 26,000. Even if you ignore the recent downward trend, these are very small numbers compared with the two million salmon that returned to Idaho historically, and are a long, long ways from the ‘80,000 wild chinook returning for eight consecutive years’ that are estimated to be needed to remove the species from listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

The main exception to the anticipated lower returns in 2013 comes from the upriver brights, or Fall chinook. Over 400,000 Fall chinook are expected this year. The vast majority of these fish will stick to the Columbia River mainstem – and more specifically the 51-mile free-flowing Hanford Reach in south-central Washington State. Just 31,000 of these anticipated fish are bound for the Snake River.

We’ll keep you posted as this information is updated and, of course, as the fish actually start showing up in early April.

Two Washington State filmmakers - John Gussman and Jessica Plumb - are busy at work to complete a film celebrating the restoration of a healthy, free-flowing, salmon-abundant Elwha River on the Olympic Peninsula in western Washington State. As you may recall, after a decades-long campaign on the part of a coalition that includes the Klallam Tribe, conservation and fishing advocates, and local communities, the federal government in 2011 began removal of two 100-year old dams from a river whose headwaters lay deep in the heart of Olympic National Park. It is the largest dam removal project – so far! – on the planet.

Visit their website and enjoy a 5 minute trailer to give you a little taste of the watershed, the river, and film – all currently works in progress. Enjoy – and we’ll keep you posted when the movie is released.

As always, thank you for your support for wild salmon, healthy rivers, and the communities that rely on them!

Joseph and the SOS Team

206-300-1003

Our End-of-2012 Holiday Issue: The Obama Administration Kicks Off a New Approach

Our final issue of the year focuses on just one recent major campaign achievement …but we’ll also take the opportunity to remind you about our end-of-the-year fundraising effort.

FIRST, THE NEWS: The Obama Administration just took a critical first step to engage stakeholders directly affected by long-standing, contentious (and failed!) efforts to protect and restore Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead. After twenty years of illegal federal plans, declining wild salmon populations, and struggling fishing communities, salmon and fishing advocates view this outreach to stakeholders as a very promising move by the administration.

The Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition and our allies and partners have long advocated for a ‘stakeholder table’ that brings people together to develop a long-term plan to rebuild endangered salmon and steelhead populations and the communities that rely on them. This is a first step toward initiating such a regional dialogue.

On December 11, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reached out to 150 Columbia Basin stakeholders to invite them to provide their views about “how to best approach long-term salmon and steelhead recovery in the Columbia Basin.”

This is the first time that the federal government has sought to directly engage Northwest stakeholders – including farmers, fishermen and fishing businesses, utilities, power producers, energy consumers, conservationists, and others – in a dialogue about solutions for Columbia/Snake salmon and Northwest communities.

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THIS IMPORTANT ACHIEVEMENT BELONGS TO YOU, and to all of us. Our coalition of citizens, fishermen, scientists, businesses, organizations, and elected officials - alongside the State of Oregon and Nez Perce Tribe - have made the case for constructive dialogue and shared solutions.

ALL OF US AT SOS ARE SO GRATEFUL for your commitment to our diverse partnership for wild salmon, healthy rivers, and healthy communities. We have a lot of work to do, but we have helped secure a genuine venue to seek long-term solutions for salmon and people on the Columbia-Snake.  Thank you.

-- Pat Ford, executive director

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Thanks to you, the public and political support for stakeholder talks is strong and growing, and NOAA’s new initiative is helping to start the conversation. We need to move beyond the gridlock, the uncertainty, and the salmon losses and take a new approach. By bringing together all affected interests to work together on shared solutions, we’ll have the best chance to develop a plan that restores healthy salmon, invests in communities and businesses, and has support across the Northwest because it broadly benefits its people and communities.

In the meantime, we’ll continue to work toward ensuring that - after NOAA gathers input from Northwest people in the first half of 2013 – a solutions-focused stakeholder process is convened in the second half.

These talks are needed – and soon. Endangered salmon and steelhead populations can’t wait, and neither can the communities and businesses that depend on them. Two decades of uncertainty and declines have come with a cost.

In order to succeed, talks must include all affected interests and consider all credible measures and options – including the removal of the four lower Snake River dams. Talks need to be transparent and guided by good science, good economics, and the law.

Listed below you will find a number of links to articles, op-eds, and editorials – expressing support for convening talks and reporting on the Obama Administration’s new efforts to engage stakeholders.

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But...before you click through to review the recent press coverage...please consider making an end of year, 100% tax-deductible, salmon-sustaining holiday donation to Save Our wild Salmon. We are hosting a terrific raffle and we have some great gifts in appreciation of your generosity.

Right now, we are half way to matching Patagonia’s generous $10,000 Holiday Challenge Grant. By contributing now, you'll help us double our money before the end of the year.

This new approach by the Administration represents a tremendous opportunity for wild salmon, clean energy, and communities. But we still have lots of work ahead of us in 2013. Your support is both critical and appreciated. THANK YOU!

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Now…to the press coverage!

PNS RADIO (December 13): A New Approach for Saving Northwest salmon

Oregonian (Oregon, December 12):  NOAA fisheries takes first step toward building consensus on Columbia Basin salmon recovery

Seattle Post Intelligencer (Washington State, December 12):  Feds: New move to break Columbia River salmon impasse 

Idaho Statesman Editorial (Idaho, December 5): Our View: The $9,000 Sockeye? There is a Better Answer

Op-ed in the Columbian (Washington State, December 2):  Time for new approach to save salmon

Daily Astorian Editorial (Oregon, November 13):  Salmon Recovery Waits on Obama

As always, thank you for your support!

Joseph and the SOS Team

Wild Salmon & Steelhead News - October 2012

Our almost-monthly online newsletter reports on the latest developments concerning efforts to protect and restore healthy, abundant wild salmon and steelhead populations in the Columbia-Snake River system - the largest salmon landscape in the continental United States. Enjoy...

1.     BIG NEWS: Oregon’s Governor Supports New Approach to Restore Salmon.

2.     Feds’ So-Called “Progress” Report – Salmon and Steelhead Remain At Risk.

3.     The Run-For-Wild-Salmon-in-Coat-and-Tie Marathon Results.

4.     Patagonia’s Cleanest Line: Wild Salmon – Good News and Bad.                                                                     ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

1. Big Mo’: Governor Kitzhaber Calls for New Approach to Restore Salmon

Last month, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber announced his support for a new approach to Columbia-Snake River salmon restoration - one that brings people together to resolve this issue and find common ground in a debate that has lasted more than 20 years. In an op-ed published in the Oregonian in late September, the Governor cites litigation success but also a need to do more now for Northwest salmon and jobs. 

In his op-ed, Governor Kitzhaber stated that “by gathering the parties around a table, and working in good faith to reach common ground on a fisheries plan that is supported by sound science, we can come to the 2014 deadline with an historic agreement that ends the 20-year chapter of salmon wars in the Columbia basin, an agreement that protects fish while maintaining our supply of clean and affordable energy.” 

Soon after the Governor’s announcement, Oregon’s senior Senator Ron Wyden issued a statement in support of regional stakeholder talks as the right next step to craft a comprehensive plan: "Time and time again we've seen that good things happen when folks agree to meet face-to-face and tackle the tough issues facing Oregon. I'm glad to see that Governor Kitzhaber has taken the initiative and announced his support for a roundtable that will bring together tribes, fishermen, farmers, power customers, conservationists and officials from state and local governments to discuss Northwest salmon issues.” 

Governor Kitzhaber and Senator Wyden are in good company: salmon stakeholder talks are supported by more than 1,000 American businesses, 52 members of Congress, the Nez Perce Tribe, tens of thousands of Americans, and multiple national newspapers. 

ACT NOW: ASK THE ADMINISTRATION TO GET TALKS STARTED!

OREGONIAN OP-ED: Governor Kitzhaber’s call for salmon collaboration is an economic opportunity – Tom Kelly

2. Federal Agencies' “Progress” Report Maintains Status Quo - Salmon Numbers Struggle.

The agencies that run the federal dams on the Snake and Columbia Rivers just submitted their 2011 Annual Progress report to the U.S. district court in Portland, Oregon, as part of the ongoing litigation over their salmon plan. This self-assessment presents the agencies’ view of how well they are implementing their plan (one that was ruled illegal in court in 2011 and ordered replaced by January 1, 2014).

When one looks past the pretty pictures and context-free statistics, some troubling truths emerge:

Wild salmon and steelhead populations remain in serious trouble. 
 80% of adult salmon returning to the Columbia and Snake Rivers are hatchery fish. These hatchery fish - while important for helping to sustain salmon-dependent communities and some key wild runs - mask a deeper problem: most wild salmon and steelhead populations remain on the brink.

Feds’ ‘fuzzy math’ clouds the full picture.  
The agencies are very proud of their 93-96% per-dam survival rates –- which look deceptively good on paper. But these at-the-concrete performance standards obscure the fact that endangered salmon and steelhead are also harmed by the warm, predator-filled slackwater reservoirs behind these dams, and that many will die in the estuary and ocean post-river-migration due to the cumulative impacts from so many dams and reservoirs or stresses from artificial (barge/truck) transportation.

Poor return-on-investment.  
The agencies are spending millions of dollars on habitat projects as "offsite mitigation" for the lethal effects of the hydropower system. But there is a yawning gap between what the agencies are implementing (or promising to implement) and the actual survival benefits salmon and steelhead populations need. Restoring habitat is certainly important, but both the Plan and Progress Report fail to demonstrate how these habitat projects can or will make up for the massive harm caused by the hydrosystem.

No commitment to additional SPILL.    We have yet to see the federal agencies incorporate the latest science from the US Fish and Wildlife Service and state and Tribal fisheries biologists concluding that more water spilled at the dams (rather than sent through the turbines) throughout the spring and summer could dramatically improve survival of key salmon runs. (For more on this: CSS report) 

More broken promises.
  The agencies long ago fell behind on promised projects in 2008 and 2010, and have yet to make up for previous shortfalls. In 2010, for example, the agencies admitted that they had completed only about 25% of the actions they had promised in the Columbia River estuary in the Plan’s first few years. Although they promised to catch up in future years, this deficit goes unmentioned and unaddressed in the latest progress report. The real problem remains: the Plan is illegal and inadequate. 


The Bottom Line:   The 2008/2010 Plan was rejected by a federal court because it fails to do what is needed to protect and recover imperiled salmon and steelhead. The agencies may continue to check off their to-do's, but without a legal, science-based plan in place - we're treading water or worse. For the wild salmon and steelhead populations throughout the Columbia-Snake Basin that remain in serious trouble – and the communities that rely on them - this can’t be called “progress.”

We support the Oregon Governor's call in late September for a new approach to salmon restoration on the Columbia-Snake. This progress report from the federal agencies reinforces Governor Kitzhaber’s call to find a new path forward. 

More information on the federal government's 2012 Progress Report.

3. 'Run Wild For Salmon' athletes exceed their goal.  

On Oct. 7, three intrepid salmon advocates set off in the Portland Marathon to support the work of Save Our Wild Salmon. During the month of September, these runners raised funds throughCrowdrise – and while they have met their goal of $2,000, there is still time to contribute and become eligible to win a $135 gift certificate from Patagonia Footwear and qualify for some other great thank you prizes. 

Take some strides with these runners and help salmon - make a donation today! 

Thank-you gifts and Raffle Prizes:     

--  All donors will be entered to win a $135 gift certificate from Patagonia Footwear (we have 2 to raffle).

--  The first 25 donors at $60 or more will receive a $30 gift card to Mountain Khakis!

--  Donors of $100+ will receive a set of 6 awesome steel pints from Klean Kanteen with SOS’ 20th anniversary logo.

MEET THE RUNNERS: 

Jennifer Trunkey hails from Snoqualmie, Washington, in the Cascade foothills. She has lived all over the Pacific Northwest and now makes her home in Portland. Jennifer says, “I have always felt a strong connection to this bioregion and the amazing natural beauty that we are so lucky to have. I studied salmon ecology in college and am happy to support the good work that SOS does advocating for the preservation of important (crucial) salmon habitat.”  Jennifer is an instructor at Portland Community College. She loves to hike and run on trails and has run the Portland Marathon for the last three years. 

Jennifer King got her running start in 5th grade in the Junior Olympics for cross-country and has been running on and off since then. This was Jen’s first full marathon since 2002 and her second one ever. “In those ten years I've had 2 lovely kids, and moved from California to Oregon. Back in California I witnessed the salmon spawning on the Russian River where you were lucky to see a few fish spawning on a good day. I like to get out to see some of the healthier runs on rivers near my home in Hood River and take the kids. I know that today's numbers are a far cry from historical numbers and there is so much more to be done.“ 

Steve Hawley is a journalist and self-proclaimed "river-rat," author of “Recovering a Lost River: Removing Dams, Rewilding Salmon, Revitalizing Communities.” He grew up in Portland Oregon, where in June of 1979 he completed his first road race in a pair of Women's sexy yellow Nike waffle trainers, the only running shoes made back then that would fit a nine-year old. He's been running ever since. The 2012 Portland Marathon was his second – and the first in 8 years. Steve ran it in a suit - seeking to set a world record for the fastest-marathon-in-a-suit, a time that he missed by just a few minutes! Steve lives and runs and writes in Hood River, Oregon. 

Please consider a contribution to support these runners and the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition. Your donation will help sustain our work in the courtroom, in Congress, and on the ground in communities throughout the Pacific Northwest and nationwide.  

Read more on the Run Wild Salmon Marathon Challenge...

4. Patagonia’s 'The Cleanest Line' Blog: Good News and Bad -- Wild Salmon Find a Northwest Champion, but are Under Attack in Congress.      

Patagonia is a longtime, committed supporter of wild salmon and steelhead, healthy rivers, and removing costly, outdated dams.

The Cleanest Line is Patagonia’s blog for employees, friends and customers.

Wild Salmon & Steelhead News - August 2012

We hope you enjoy the latest edition of Wild Salmon & Steelhead News! In this issue:

1. HR 6247 – The Worst Dam Bill Ever.

2. The Most Interesting Fish in the World.

3. Elwha River success story continues to build.

4. Salmon Mean Business - Outdoor Retailer.

On the right is a photo from Keith Nevison, Student Garden Liaison at the Sustainability Leadership Center of Portland State and a huge salmon advocate. Just check out his awesome tattoo! The picture was taken at the visitor’s center in Stanley, Idaho, just a few miles from Redfish Lake. Go Keith!

Read more...

Wild Salmon and Steelhead News - June Hog Edition 2012

Every June we are reminded of the famed “June hogs” – giant chinook salmon that once migrated back through the Columbia Basin at about this time of the year.  We will likely never see those runs again, but there’s still plenty of recovery to be had in one of our planet’s best salmon watersheds.

In this edition:

1. Salmon and steelhead are under attack from Doc Hastings.

2. WE DID IT! - thank you for helping us reach our goal.

3. Maine's Great Works and the Columbia-Snake Opportunity.

4. VICTORY: Highway to Hell defeated.

Read more...