U.S. federal partnerships are key to salmon conservation

It’s been a head-spinning few weeks as a new U.S. Administration and Congress take the reins in Washington, D.C. Tens of millions of federal dollars earmarked for salmon conservation are under scrutiny. The future of critical habitat restoration and salmon research—and the agencies that support them—are in question, as this administration reviews bedrock laws and widely accepted policy decisions that defend wild salmon rivers.

All of this means we need to lean harder into restoring and protecting strongholds: the North Pacific’s most beautiful and productive salmon rivers. They are too important to the U.S., and to the planet. Throughout Wild Salmon Center’s 30-year history, the U.S. government has been a key partner—because what we do matters to families, livelihoods, and communities across salmon country.

We have no intention of giving up on this bipartisan effort. As we talk about the impact of salmon conservation with federal leaders, you can help by speaking up for this work with the people around you. Start here.

Wild Salmon Center Hires Greg Knox as our first British Columbia Director

Wild Salmon Center has hired Greg Knox to serve as our first program director for British Columbia. Knox has served as the Executive Director of SkeenaWild Conservation Trust for the past 18 years, and has been a core WSC partner for the past decade. As our new B.C. Director, Knox will direct our expanding work to bolster wild fish, protect key salmon habitats, and limit damaging development in wild salmon and steelhead strongholds across the province, including in the Skeena, Babine, and Dean Rivers.

Freshwater species are at risk. Salmon strongholds can help reverse the decline.

A new scientific threat assessment of the world’s freshwater fauna is out, and its findings are startling. Of 23,496 IUCN Red List threatened freshwater species analyzed, one quarter are at risk of extinction. “This is the most rigorous global assessment to date of extinction risk for freshwater species,” says Wild Salmon Center Science Director Dr. Matthew Sloat, one of 45 scientists to co-author the Nature-published paper. “Our paper signals an alarming level of stress to the rivers and streams that sustain us all. But it also shows a path towards conservation.”

As America reckons with dams, Mongolian scientists take note

In October 2024, Wild Salmon Center and a delegation of Mongolian scientists toured the recently undammed Klamath River Basin as part of a week-long knowledge exchange facilitated by WSC’s International Taimen Initiative. Mongolian rivers are home to taimen—the largest salmonids on earth. But these same rivers could also help the Asian nation meet its growing energy needs. The Klamath’s legacy of hydropower development offers lessons that our Mongolian partners plan to share back home.

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The mission of the Wild Salmon Center is to promote the conservation and sustainable use of wild salmon ecosystems across the Pacific Rim.Photo credits (from top): Olympic Peninsula restoration work (WSC staff); Wild Salmon Center British Columbia Director Greg Knox (courtesy SkeenaWild); Skeena watershed (Ken Morrish @FlyWaterTravel); California’s Klamath River (WSC staff); steelhead (David Herasimstchuk).

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