Salmon Spill Victory

In mid-April, Idaho conservation groups (Idaho Rivers United, Friends of the Clearwater, Idaho Sierra Club, Idaho Conservation League, Idaho Wildlife Federation, Snake River Waterkeeper and a north Idaho chapter of Trout Unlimited) called on the federal government to end barging of Snake River sockeye salmon, a practice that harms Idaho’s most imperiled and endangered salmon.

In a letter to NOAA Fisheries and the Army Corps of Engineers—the two agencies in charge of fish passage at dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers—the groups said "artificial transportation of endangered sockeye interferes with the fish’s homing ability, making them even more vulnerable to hot water and other dam-related challenges they face when they return as adults.”

In 2015, 95+ percent of Idaho’s returning adult sockeye salmon were killed before reaching their spawning gravels high in the Rockies due to two months of steady hot water in the Columbia and Snake rivers. Idaho’s sockeye salmon are the most endangered in the Columbia Basin, and any measures we can take to bolster survival are imperative.

“This request is based on NOAA’s own science,” said IRU Executive Director Kevin Lewis. “That science says sockeye that are hauled around dams in barges have a smaller chance of surviving than those left in the river to migrate on their own.”

Sockeye salmon were listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act 26 years ago, in 1991, and 25 years ago a lone sockeye salmon dubbed Lonesome Larry returned to Redfish Lake in central Idaho, drawing attention to the plight of Idaho’s salmon from around the nation.

“Since the 1990s when sockeye populations consistently hovered in the single digits, fish biologists have prevented extinction of the species through a captive broodstock program run by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, but this iconic species is still in big trouble,” said Sierra Club Idaho Director Zack Waterman. “Instead of employing actions like barging, which works against recovery, we should be focusing more on measures like spilling water at the dams, a practice proven to help fish.”

The bottom line (and it should come as no surprise!): the more the river system works and acts like a river, the better wild salmon do.

Press release and link to the letter to NOAA-Fisheries: Idaho groups seek end to barging Idaho’s sockeye salmon

Media Coverage: NWPR/OPB: Conservation Groups Ask To Stop Barging Sockeye Around Dams

3. SOS leaders attend Tribal Treaty Rights Conference in Lewiston Idaho

What does it mean to be an "ethical colonist?" This question was one of several provocative conversations at the Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment conference on March 17. The event explored the role and relevance of treaties in the ongoing environmental battles in which Native Americans and their allies are engaged.

The conference - held ironically in the Red Lion’s “Seaport Club” in Lewiston Idaho - began with a performance by the Lightning Creek Drummers and the presentation of the Eagle staff alongside the flag of the United States. Day One focused first on the history, significance and meaning today of 150+ year old treaties signed by the Native American tribes and the United States goverment. Gary Dorr, a member of the Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) Tribe and a litigant against the Keystone XL pipeline set a tone for the 2-day event as he invoked the Tribes' moral, legal, and political authority in their struggles and guarantees under the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution.

The panel discussion that followed considered the position of Native Americans today. Nez Perce Tribal Chair Mary Jane Miles spoke of the slow movement of her people in a fast-paced world, both as a difficulty when defending their rights against new threats, and a trait that sets Native peoples apart. Activist Jacqueline Keeler communicated confidence and optimism as she discussed the growing power and influence of historic treaties in the 21st Century, non-western ways of thinking, and the new inter-tribal solidarity that the world witnessed at Standing Rock in the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline. A central theme of the discussion was that those of us who came here to occupy land once belonging to the tribes cannot esca

pe our colonial heritage. Despite this history, a new “ethical colonism” is possible, but requires wholly new approaches to working and sharing power with Native people.

The afternoon sessions began with a panel of Earthjustice attorneys who spoke about their work representing tribal interests in court that connect with legal recognition of treaties, and the limited applicability of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the United States has yet to officially recognize this declaration.

Sam Mace led the day's final discussion with Steve Mashuda, Kevin Lewis, John Sirois, Nathan Piengkham and Rebecca Miles. They tackled the state of play in the battle to protect and restore Columbia Basin salmon and to "Free the Snake!" John and Nathan highlighted work using canoe projects as tremendous opportunities to bring tribal people together and build a strong sense of community. Rebecca spoke about the importance of recovering lamprey to the Nimiipuu and other Tribal communities, and Steve recounted key milestones in the legal struggle to restore wild salmon by removing the four lower Snake River dams.

In addition to these and other panels and presentations, the conference brought together more than 150 Tribal and non-Tribal participants to meet, greet and learn from each other.

4. Dam Debate: SOS and IRU go toe-to-toe with Congressman Doc Hastings at WSU.

In September of 2016, the oldest living orca known to science, J2, was photographed near San Juan Island from a drone. Matriarch of the southern residents, a population of killer whales that lives in Puget Sound and is unique on the planet, J2 got her name because she was the second orca to be positively identified by scientists at the Center for Whale Research on San Juan Island during the first census of southern resident killer whales, conducted in 1976. The Center for Whale Research also assigns nicknames, and because J2 was so old when scientists first identified her, the nickname she got was "Granny." "We do not know her precise age because she was born long before our study began," Ken Balcomb, the marine mammal biologist who founded the Center for Whale Research, explained. "In 1987, we estimated that she was at least 45 years old and was more likely to have been 76 years old." By 2016, she was estimated to be somewhere from 74 to 105 years old.

When she was seen near San Juan Island in September, she did not look good. Researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Southwest Fisheries Science Center and Vancouver Aquarium noted J2's "thin body shape" and "relatively poor" condition. One thing that distinguishes southern residents from other kinds of killer whales is that southern residents eat only salmon. In fact, 80 percent of the southern resident diet is specifically Chinook salmon—and just like the southern residents themselves, Chinook salmon is on the endangered species list. There used to be plentiful Chinook salmon in local waters, especially where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean and where the Fraser River meets the Salish Sea, but now wild Chinook is scarce.

Read the full article here.