Much of the funding for salmon restoration and rebuilding projects is guided by the Northwest Power & Conservation Council’s Fish & Wildlife Program. Every five years, the Council updates this program. Unfortunately some of the language in the 2014 draft could unwisely curtail the very techniques tribal programs have been using to achieve success. The petition below is to let the Council know you support the tribal efforts and techniques they’re using to successfully recover wild salmon populations in natural habitat.
Tribal salmon rebuilding and restoration projects are bringing wild salmon back throughout the Columbia and Snake rivers and their tributaries above Bonneville Dam. Just last year, over 21,000 fall chinook spawned in the Snake River Basin thanks to the efforts of the Nez Perce Tribe and its many partners supported by funding from the Bonneville Power Administration. This was a major success considering that in 1990, the return was only 78 fish. This success happened thanks to the Nez Perce Fisheries Department’s habitat improvement projects and innovative salmon propagation techniques like turning traditional hatcheries into wild salmon nurseries.
The Columbia River treaty fishing tribes are using these innovative techniques, which are at risk of being curtailed, to rebuild naturally-spawning salmon populations in many other Columbia Basin tributaries including the Hood, Yakima, Salmon, Clearwater, Umatilla, Grande Ronde, and Wenatchee rivers. Click here to learn more about these successes.
Fill out the petition below to lend you voice in supporting programs and projects that are rebuilding wild salmon throughout the Columbia Basin.
