Russian Government Names WSC an "Undesirable" Organization

On July 18, we received some bad news. After more than 30 years proudly working alongside Russian scientists, governments, and local people to protect salmon strongholds, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation has named Wild Salmon Center an “undesirable organization.” It's a decision built on false pretenses, which we strongly dispute in our formal response. But we also know we're just the latest international organization to make Russia's blacklist. (The World Wildlife Fund, Greenpeace, the Altai Project, and others have also recently received this designation.) Nonetheless, this move saddens us profoundly, as it makes it illegal for longtime partners and friends in Russia to continue working with us. We're keeping them in our hearts, along with the wild salmon they protect. Salmon know no borders. And rest assured that we'll keep fighting for wild salmon across the North Pacific, however we can. 

The Good News: Oregon's Water Future is Looking Brighter. Here's Why.

Early July 2023 brought the planet’s warmest consecutive three days in possibly 100,000 years. In Oregon, this heat coincides with record low stream flows for many salmon systems. “There’s a lot we can’t control out there, but we can do a better job of protecting our home waters,” says WSC Oregon Water Policy Senior Program Manager Caylin Barter. The Oregon Legislature seems to agree. In its recently approved 2023-25 biennial budget, the body approved a whopping $174 million in drought and water security funding, thanks in part to advocacy by the WSC-convened Oregon Water Partnership. For salmon this means tens of millions of dollars for fish passage barrier removal, streamflow restoration, water protection, and river monitoring and modeling. More here about these major wins.

An Epic Evening to Protect Wild Springers

WOW. So many highlights from our sold-out July 12 screening of "The Lost Salmon" at Optimism Brewing in Seattle with co-host Patagonia. More than 120 of you joined us to share in director Shane Anderson's documentary, which beautifully captures the realities of spring Chinook salmon, along with reasons to hope. We also heard powerful testimony from WSC partners William Thoms and Dan Penn of the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, on why we must free Washington's Chehalis River—once a spring Chinook stronghold—from the looming threat of a major dam. Thanks to all of you who showed up for this epic evening, inspiring us to never give up on the strongholds we love.

In Washington, Forging a New Path Forward for Failing Roads 

Back in 2012, the U.S Forest Service created a project list of failing roads within the Olympic Peninsula's steep Sitkum River drainage. These remote, aging, and unstable roads can slump and shed sediment into the Sitkum, making them unsafe for motorized transport. And they can—and do—wash out completely, damaging critical salmon and steelhead habitat downstream in the Calawah River. Now, thanks to our partnership with the Forest Service, we're about to check off  the list's final project: work that's employed dozens of foresters, heavy equipment operators, and other skilled workers on the Washington Coast. Read more here about how we're helping federal and state agencies tackle their growing backlogs of fish passage and restoration projects.

The mission of the Wild Salmon Center is to promote the conservation and sustainable use of wild salmon ecosystems across the Pacific Rim.

Photo/art credits (from top): Zhupanova River, Kamchatka (Guido Rahr); Restoration work in the Siuslaw basin, Oregon (Brian Kelley @brianfilm); from left to right: Dan Penn and William Thoms, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer and Cultural Resource Specialist, respectively, for the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, and Shane Anderson, director of "The Lost Salmon," speaking at our July 12 screening event in Seattle (Dave McCoy @davemccoyewa); Sitkum River subwatershed, Olympic Peninsula, Washington (WSC); Fly fishing (Ken Morrish @FlyWaterTravel).

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