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SOS Blog

Save Our Wild Salmon

A Tale of Two Rivers is speaker series hosted by Save Our wild Salmon and a number of its conservation, fishing and business partners in January 2018 that featured Lynda Mapes (author and reporter for the Seattle Times) and Rocky Barker (author and reporter for the Idaho Statesman). This series was held at University of Washington’s Burke Museum in Seattle (1.24.2018) and the Cracker Company Building in Spokane (1.25.2018). The discussion focused on the historic dam removal/river and salmon restoration on the Elwha River on the Olympic Peninsula and the status of various factors in play surrounding the salmon and dams of the lower Snake River in southeast Washington.

This page accompanies the series and provides additional resources on these issues and renowned Northwest writers.

Special thanks to Lynda Mapes, Rocky Barker, Jeff Renner, Ken Workman, and Eli Francovich, and to our conservation and business partners on this project: American Rivers, American Whitewater, Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, Mountaineers Books, National Wildlife Federation, Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment, NW Energy Coalition, Sierra Club, Spokane Falls Trout Unlimited, Wild Steelhead Coalition and Duke's Seafood and Chowder, Fremont Brewing Company, Benziger Family Winery, Kop Construction, Auntie's Bookstore, and EcoDepot.

(1) Rocky Barker’s recent coverage in the Idaho Statesman, including the multi-part, multi-media 2017 series focusing on salmon and orca, communities and economics, energy and climate change:

The fate of the Northwest’s largest energy provider may decide future of our salmon (Dec. 2017)I.S.RockyB

Taxpayers paid $14 million for an Idaho hatchery — and all its fish have been dying (Nov. 2017)


Boise State Public Radio: The future of salmon in Idaho tied to the four lower Snake River dams (Oct. 2017)

Acidic Oceans and warm rivers that kill Idaho’s salmon might be the norm in 50 years (Oct. 2017)

5 things we’ve learned about the Pacific Northwest’s endangered salmon (Oct. 2017)

Everything we’re doing to save vanishing salmon might be killing them off faster (Sept. 2017)

Fate of Northwest orca tied to having enough Columbia Basin salmon (July 2017)

Warm Pacific continues to chop salmon numbers, affecting Idaho, Northwest (April 2017)


Super Fish? Salmon may surprise you, but they’re in peril and need our help (Video, Oct. 2017)

(2) Lynda Mapes recent coverage in the Seattle Times - on the Elwha River, Southern Resident Orca, and the lower Snake River - its dams, salmon and communities:



Elwha Resurgent
 - A special project by the Seattle Times (2016)book.reborn

Dam Removal: The Grand Experiment
 - A special project by the Seattle Times (2011)

Elwha: a River Reborn
By Steve Ringman  and Lynda Mapes
. Published by Mountaineers Books 


Seattle Times: Orcas headed to extinction unless we get them more chinook and quieter waters, report says (Oct. 2017)

Seattle Times: Warm-water conditions in the Columbia and Snake Rivers are challenging cold water salmon and steelhead — and the problem is likely to get worse because of climate change. (Aug. 2017)

Seattle Times: Snake River barging drop: new factor in dams debate? (2013)

(3) Additional links:
Climate Risk Assessment for the Pacific Northwest from Washington Department of Natural Resources (2017)

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