Dear Friend,

Salmon in the lower Snake River are at the doorstep of extinction. With them could go our unique Puget Sound orcas, which need Chinook salmon to survive. Now, after decades of advocacy to protect these species, we have the Biden administration’s attention and a chance to save these treasured Northwest icons.

I have been fortunate to lead our work to restore the Snake River and its wild salmon for more than 25 years. And after more than 35 years as an attorney at Earthjustice, I know for a fact that we have come to this pivotal moment because supporters like you believe in our work — and our ability to drive change through unflinching dedication.

I will be retiring this summer, but my colleagues will continue our work to restore wild salmon and protect orcas without let up. Please, donate to support this work and your gift will be matched $2:$1 to keep fights like this going.

Four dams — Ice Harbor, Little Goose, Lower Monumental, and Lower Granite — block the lower Snake River, one of the largest tributaries to the Columbia River as it flows to the Pacific Ocean. Historically, the Snake River spawned more than half of the millions of Chinook salmon that once flooded the ocean from the Columbia Basin. Today, these dams prevent fish from swimming upstream to the best remaining spawning habitat in the lower 48 states, and they are lethal to more than half of the young fish as they try to make their way downstream to return to the ocean. 

As the salmon populations have dwindled, we’ve seen heartbreaking scenes of Puget Sound’s orcas starving, unable to find the salmon they need to survive. 

A 2007 joint analysis by federal, state, and tribal scientists concluded that dams and reservoirs kill more that 70% of the Snake River salmon that die due to human activity. Restoring the lower Snake River by taking out the four dams there is the single best thing we can do to save the salmon, as well as the orcas.

We have support from Washington state elected officials, and the Biden administration has committed to developing and implementing a comprehensive plan to restore healthy and abundant salmon in the Columbia basin. Thousands of Earthjustice activists have submitted comments calling on the administration to restore the lower Snake River and breach the dams there as an essential piece of this comprehensive plan. Supporters have given gifts of every size to fuel this effort and hundreds more important cases.

We are positioned to finally restore these salmon populations and save Puget Sound’s orcas, but we need your help. When you donate today, your gift will be matched $2:$1 to sustain these important fights.

END OF FISCAL YEAR MATCH: YOUR GIFT TRIPLED
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In partnership,
Todd True
Senior Attorney, Earthjustice


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