Science is the KEY to salmon recovery!
2. Dr. Carl Safina on Shoddy Science, Wild Salmon, and Hungry Orcas.
3. In the Media: Fishy Science From the Obama Administration.
Clips from the Seattle Times and Idaho Stateman
4. Reaching out: SOS visits Outdoor Retailer Show in Utah and Fly Fishing Shows in New Jersey and Massachusetts
5. The Drake's Flyfishing Film Tour – Coming to a town near you?
As 2010 gets under way, salmon/river/fishing advocates, the State of Oregon, and the Nez Perce and Spokane tribes continue to challenge the Obama Administration over the lawfulness and the “science” behind its Bush-crafted/Obama-adopted Federal Salmon Plan for endangered Columbia and Snake River salmon and steelhead.
The Administration and its plan have come under strong criticism from scientists, newspapers, and salmon and fishing advocates for its less-than-transparent and less-than-honest science process. Last year, the Obama team slightly tweaked and then adopted the Bush Administration’s completely inadequate 2008 Salmon Plan before re-submitting it to judge James Redden in September (Judge Redden is reviewing it, with action expected early this year).
The administration must change course and bring real change to the salmon and people (and orcas!) of the Northwest. And Congress has an important role to play to ensure that this happens. We need the politicians to step up or step aside. Read on to learn more of the story and find out what you can do right now to help get salmon recovery on track – protecting a national treasure and serving the people of the Northwest and nation.
1. Free the Science! - Campaign UpdateLast week we launched a new, two-part national campaign and the response so far has been fantastic. If you haven't already, please take two quick actions:
First, we're sending messages to the Water and Wildlife Subcommittee of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee. Please send an email message to Congress here. We're asking for a hearing to provide some Congressional oversight on the questionable science and process of Obama administration's Columbia and Snake River Salmon Plan.
Afterwards, please forward the link to your friends and family in your network: http://ga0.org/campaign/unlockethescience Second, folks from across the country are urging Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to come clean on the science behind the Obama administration's Salmon Plan. Science is the KEY to salmon recovery! Please download this flyer, print it out, and mail it to Secretary Locke with a key. Thanks again for taking action!
Afterwards, please forward the link to your friends and family in your network: http://ga0.org/campaign/unlockethescience Second, folks from across the country are urging Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to come clean on the science behind the Obama administration's Salmon Plan. Science is the KEY to salmon recovery! Please download this flyer, print it out, and mail it to Secretary Locke with a key. Thanks again for taking action!
Salmon science in the Media
Eugene Register Guard Editorial: Release salmon findings - Administration should make public all documents
Astorian Editorial Editorial: Obama was right - so it's time for his NOAA to release scientific findings on the salmon plan
"Something's Fishy" - by Kevin Taylor, Pacific Northwest Inlander
Free the Science! - a closer look at Obama's Salmon Plan for the Columbia and Snake Rivers
First, some good news for orcas: Northwest residents were thrilled to learn that Puget Sound's "resident" orcas added five new calves to their population in 2009 - and another right after New Year! After the loss of seven Puget Sound “killer whales” the year before, this was welcome news indeed. This population of orcas once numbered well over 200, but has suffered from habitat loss, water quality degradation, a decade of "roundups" for amusement parks, and, more recently, a plummeting supply of its primary prey: large, oily, delicious chinook salmon. It is currently listed under the Endangered Species Act. At its current population of 88 individuals, every newborn represents an important step away from extinction. Follow this link for more information about Star, the newest arrival.But there's bad news, too. As noted, chinook salmon are orcas’ primary and preferred food source (and who can blame them?), making up more than 75 percent of their total diet. They even strongly prefer chinook when chinook are scarce and other salmon are abundant. And the dominant predator in these Northwest waters needs a lot of food: Each of these beautiful marine mammals requires about 18 chinook daily. That works out to about a half million chinook each year for this population - at its current endangered population level. Will they be able to find enough prey for the newborns to grow up and reproduce?
While the Columbia basin used to produce over 15 million chinook, it now produces in the hundreds of thousands (roughly 20 percent wild; 80 percent hatchery). The Klamath and Sacramento Rivers, the other major "chinook factories" of the American west coast, have been similarly decimated. And the Obama Administration's approach to addressing that problem consists of poor science glossed over by bad policy and masked by heavy rhetoric.
MacArthur Genius and award-winning scientist and author Carl Safina writes compellingly about this alarming situation – and calls on the Obama Administration to follow the science and strengthen its Columbia Basin plan. The survival of our salmon – and our orcas - depend on it.
Recently, a photograph made its way to me on the Internet: In a surging Alaskan stream, a grizzly bear stands with a salmon in its jaws, and in the shallows, a wolf -- keeping its distance -- also hoists a thrashing salmon. Your eye goes to the bear, then the wolf. But the salmon convened the meeting. Without the salmon, you'd see only water.
3. Breaking News: Seattle Times Editorial supports “Spill”; Idaho Statesman op-ed: Salmon and Dams: A Federal legacy of broken promises.
Seattle Times EditorialFor healthy returns, juvenile salmon have to reach the ocean
January 22nd, 2010
Court-ordered spills of water on the Columbia River dam system are getting credit for helping ensure more juvenile fish reach the Pacific Ocean, where they can thrive and eventually return upstream. Restoring iconic salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest has a corollary in the business world. Success equates to moving product. Read more of the Seattle Times editorial.
----------------------
More broken promises from the Army Corpsby Dr. Steve Bruce, Op-ed in the Idaho Statesman [Excerpt]
January 26th, 2010
I am very familiar as a fisherman with another promise the Army Corps made when it built the lower Snake dams: that Idaho's great wild salmon runs would survive them. That is a promise that has been broken. Idaho's wild salmon and steelhead are endangered with extinction. Read more of Bruce's op-ed.
4. Reaching out: SOS visits Outdoor Retailer Show in Utah and Fly Fishing Shows in New Jersey and Massachusetts
In late January, Save Our Wild Salmon's Communications Manager, Emily Nuchols, along with Anna Brones from Under Solen Media and Jeff Cole of Idaho River United, attended the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market in Salt Lake City, Utah. Around the same time, Bobby Hayden, Save Our Wild Salmon's National Representative, was on the east coast visiting Massachusetts and New Jersey for two events put on by the Fly Fishing Show. These events provided us a great opportunity to check in with many of our business partners and allies.
At the Outdoor Retailer show, Save Our Wild Salmon connected with industry leaders and long-time supporters, including the Conservation Alliance, Patagonia, Osprey Packs and Black Diamond. These businesses have stood with salmon for years — last year, along with hundreds of other businesses they called on President Obama and Congress to step in and provide science-based solutions to the Columbia-Snake salmon crisis.
“Conservation is a core priority for the outdoor industry, and wild salmon play an important role in the recreation economy. We simply can’t afford to lose them,” said Lisa Pike-Sheehy, Patagonia’s Director of Environmental Initiatives. “We need updated, comprehensive and unbiased information so we can evaluate, on a level playing field, all potential salmon recovery options, including lower Snake River dam removal."
In Massachusetts, we met with regional businesses to discuss Senator Kerry's congressional and personal connection to wild salmon recovery. We also met with several conservation leaders, including Peter Schilling, past President of the Massachusetts - Rhode Island Council of Trout Unlimited.
In New Jersey, we had a booth at the Fly Fishing Show in Somerset - talking to hundreds of attendees and businesses. Rich Torraca, a Newark-based staff member for Senator Lautenberg, visited the SOS booth and discussed Senator Lautenberg's key role on salmon recovery with Bobby and several leaders with the New Jersey Council of Trout Unlimited. We're asking Senator Lautenberg to push for a hearing in the Senate's Water and Wildlife Subcommittee on the questionable science of Obama's Salmon Plan. (please remember to take action on this important issue!).
Stay tuned for more action from our business partners in 2010. To get your business involved, please contact Emily Nuchols: emily[at]wildsalmon.org, 503.230.0421 x15
4. The Fly Fishing Film Tour visits the NorthwestOver the next few weeks, Save Our Wild Salmon will be joining the Fly Fishing Film Tour folks for several dates in February. In just their fourth year, the Fly Fishing Film Tour has become one of the best fishing entertainment events of the year. The Film Tour will be seen in well over 80 cities in 2010 and will showcase some of the best independent outdoor film makers. The goal of the Fly Fishing Film Tour is to energize the industry and inspire film makers to create new cutting edge films to both entertain and educate outdoor enthusiasts. Come see us at the following places or check out the Film Tour's schedule here.
Feb 8 / WA Spokane - The Bing Crosby Theater
Feb 10 / WA Seattle - The King Cat Theater
Feb 12 / OR Portland - McMenamins Bagdad Theater
Feb 16 / OR Eugene - The Shedd
Feb 18 / OR The Dalles - Granada Theatre
Feb 10 / WA Seattle - The King Cat Theater
Feb 12 / OR Portland - McMenamins Bagdad Theater
Feb 16 / OR Eugene - The Shedd
Feb 18 / OR The Dalles - Granada Theatre
