You’re invited to SOS' 2025 Webinar Series

This year, Save Our wild Salmon Coalition is hosting a new webinar series: RECIPROCITY! It focuses on respecting and caring for salmon and their special relationship to the health of ecosystems, our lands and waters, and other species and people.

We will spend time with experts and storytellers who share their experiences, collaborative work, and stories of reciprocity to help recover healthy and abundant salmon populations in the Columbia-Snake Rivers and the benefits they bring to the Northwest and the nation. SOS is grateful to the Natural Encounters Conservation Fund (NECF) for their generous support of this webinar series. Thank you all for joining the spring webinar series, and we hope you will join us in the fall (September - November) as we continue with the series!

Watch the past webinar recordings here: 

RECIPROCITY: Envisioning a Healthy and Restored Columbia Basin

The Columbia River Basin once annually sustained over 10-18 million salmon, steelhead, and native fish, and was rich in diverse native wildlife, plants, and healthy rivers. However, the Basin has experienced significant changes in the past 150 years, pushing salmon to the brink of extinction. Restoring the Columbia Basin offers opportunities for communities to connect with a thriving ecosystem, healthier rivers and salmon, and a balanced web of life.

Our featured guests spoke to their unique relationships to the salmon and the Columbia and Snake Rivers and share their perspectives on what a restored and healthy Columbia Basin would mean to them and the entire Pacific Northwest.

Thank you to our featured presenters:

Take Action:

Historic progress is underway to implement the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative (CBRI)! As members of Congress begin the Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations process, we urge them to include robust funding for key federal programs that support the restoration of salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin.

Please join us and ACT NOW to urge your members of Congress to include funding to recover salmon and invest in our communities—moving everyone forward together!

Learn more and Take Action

Resources:

 

RECIPROCITY: Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative 

On April 17th, Sierra Club and Save Our wild Salmon co-hosted the second installment of RECIPROCITY. We were honored to have representatives of the Six Sovereigns present on the development, purpose, and goals of the groundbreaking, collaborative, and comprehensive plan—the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative (CBRI).

Thank you to the Six Sovereigns — the four lower Columbia River Treaty Tribes (Yakama, Umatilla, Nez Perce, and Warm Springs) and the states of Oregon and Washington — for their leadership to ensure our region is on a pathway to recovery, resilience, and a just and prosperous future. With the solutions outlined in the CBRI, we can restore salmon and other native fish to healthy and abundant levels, ensure a clean and socially just energy future, support local economic resilience, and honor federal commitments to Tribal Nations. Watch the webinar recording to learn more about the CBRI. 

"This has been a long and beautiful journey. In this important moment, we are united together, as we all should be on important issues. We need everyone to help with this effort to show the region and our future generations that this is possible. It's very emotional to our communities that still acknowledges this way of life. It's meaningful, and it's about our youth, it's about our children, their grandchildren, the ecosystem, and the different animals that rely on these native anadromous species."—Jeremy Takala, Chair, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission

Thank you to our featured presenters:

Take Action:

Please join Save Our wild Salmon and Sierra Club and TAKE ACTION in support of the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative, and oppose legislation that undermines important solutions and progress.

In January, Sen. Jim Risch (ID) and Rep. Dan Newhouse (WA-4) introduced legislation, “Northwest Energy Security Act,” that undermines important salmon recovery efforts in the Columbia River Basin. Please ACT NOW to urge your members of Congress to oppose the Northwest Energy Security Act and to strongly support the implementation of the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative to recover imperiled salmon populations with solutions that replace existing dam services, creates jobs, and invests in clean energy and modern infrastructure.

TAKE ACTION

Resources:

  • Learn more about the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative at: critfc.org/cbri
  • CBRI: A New Opportunity to Restore Salmon, Honor Treaties, and Invest in the Northwest PDF
  • Sierra Club: Pathway to Action: “Six Sovereigns” Comprehensive Plan PDF

 

RECIPROCITY: Advancing Sustainable and Just Energy AND Healthy, Abundant Salmon 

The March RECIPROCITY: Advancing Sustainable and Just Energy AND Healthy, Abundant Salmon webinar covered the historical context of the Northwest energy landscape, the opportunities to address the historical harm to Tribes, salmon, and our ecosystem, while advancing clean renewable energy. Our guests spoke on the urgent need for Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) to choose the right energy market in order to ensure a resilient energy future for all in the Northwest.

Our guest speakers included:

  • Nancy Hirsh, Executive Director & Ben Otto, Consultant from NW Energy Coalition
  • Britt Freda, Creative Director of NW Artists Against Extinction
  • Jess Ludwig, NextGen Salmon Collective leader

Take Action:

BPA has published a draft decision to join an energy market, Markets+, which will create significant problems for regional electric prices, decarbonization, and salmon recovery. We need your help to urge BPA and Northwest elected officials to unify the west and choose an energy market that fosters reliability and affordability for customers while also protecting our environment—including the salmon that define our Northwest way of life.

TAKE ACTION

Resources:

Artwork: © Annie Brulé, Heritage Species 

 

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