Make a gift today and your donation will be doubled! Thanks to a generous donor, gifts will be matched dollar for dollar up to $35,000. That means your support goes twice as far and together we raise $70,000 for policies that are best for salmon and everything that depends on them.
An opportunity to double your impact to save salmon!
By Brett VandenHeuvel, Executive Director
At one time, more than one and a half million salmon made the 900 mile journey up to the Snake River basin each year. Now they are almost extinct.
Photo Credit: River Snorkeling.
I’m in awe of Snake River fish. Some hardy sockeye and Chinook salmon swim more than 900 miles and climb over 6,000 feet from the Pacific Ocean up the Columbia River to their home in the upper reaches of Idaho’s Snake River Basin. An incredibly athletic feat!
At one time, more than one and a half million wild Chinook salmon made this journey each year. Today, the number of wild salmon that return to the Snake—the Columbia’s largest tributary—are counted in the tens of thousands.
The largest contributing factors to the loss of salmon are warm water and dams, which raise water temperatures, impede migration, and block access to important spawning habitat. As our climate heats up, the river’s temperature continues to rise. We have to act now if we are going to save these keystone species from extinction.
Columbia Riverkeeper is winning in court for salmon and putting pressure on agencies and elected officials to take actions that will protect salmon and everything that depends on them. Would you please make a gift and help win these battles for salmon?
Dams like this one on the Snake River create slow moving water that heats up in the summer.
Advocate for the removal of four lower Snake River dams. Each lower Snake River dam only produces on average 1% of our region’s power, which could be replaced by clean energy. In 2017, Columbia Riverkeeper conducted a study to evaluate the impact of dams on the water temperature of the Snake River. The study showed that a free-flowing Snake River would be cool enough for sockeye to successfully migrate, even during extremely hot and dry years. Today, there is growing political momentum to save salmon and the orcas that depend on salmon. Your gift will support strategic policy work and grassroots organizing to restore the Snake River.
Force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to complete its long-dormant Columbia and Snake Rivers temperature plan. In October 2018, Riverkeeper and allies won a lawsuit that held EPA accountable for failing to complete a plan to address the hot water crisis. The Trump Administration appealed our victory to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Your gift will defend this critical legal victory.
Due to the lack of salmon, orca calves are dying soon after birth.
Empower Washington State to save salmon. Section 401 of the Clean Water Act gives states the power to veto or place conditions on permits issued by the federal government. Riverkeeper’s recent legal victories over the dams gave Washington--for the first time ever--the authority to place conditions on permits for eight Columbia and Snake River dams to protect salmon. But now the Trump Administration is trying to block Washington state’s efforts. Your gift will challenge the Trump Administration’s delay tactics.
The outlook for salmon and orcas is not good unless we take bold conservation steps. Today, all salmon and steelhead populations in the Snake River Basin are at risk of extinction.
Thanks to a generous donor who cares about fish (and fishing!) your gift will be matched dollar for dollar up to $35,000. That means your support goes twice as far and together we raise $70,000 to fight for the policies that are best for salmon and orcas. Would you please help save salmon and orcas by making a gift today?
