The Save Our wild Salmon Coalition is working on a collaborative approach to save endangered salmon in the largest, most-intact salmon watershed in the United States: the Columbia-Snake River Basin.

The wild salmon and steelhead of the Columbia and Snake Rivers have swum our rivers and oceans since the time of dinosaurs. Swimming farther and higher than any other migrating fish, the rivers in our backyard also once boasted one of the largest salmon populations on Earth. Salmon are a cultural icon, an economic resource, a healthy food source, and a way of life for communities from California to Alaska.

But the wild salmon of the Columbia and Snake are now endangered with extinction, due to dams and other human actions.  Federal management of salmon has failed to follow the science and has been ruled illegal in court four straight times. Tribes, fishermen, and conservationists have fought for and won several measures that have helped salmon but it is not enough to avoid extinction for these fish. Stakeholders in the watershed must sit down and talk through the available alternatives to the four deadly and outdated dams on the lower Snake River.

The Nez Perce Tribe and the State of Oregon – along with fishermen, conservationists, and businesses – have proposed a new approach:  a collaborative forum that brings everyone together to build shared solutions based on science. 

Our project will help begin this much-needed new approach before it’s too late.