A Special Wild Salmon Center Series on Spring Chinook

In the Pacific Northwest, spring Chinook transcend the iconic. Bright, plump, and full of fight, this early-returning salmon is the beating heart of complex food webs that reach far into interior forests, sustaining species from raptors to resident orcas, and centering salmon communities like the Karuk of Northern California.

Yet after 150 years of growing threats, spring Chinook are on the brink of extinction. How we got here is a complicated story, full of dramatic roadblocks and scientific discoveries, hard realizations and reasons to hope. We tell this story below in First Salmon, Last Chance, our special series on why spring Chinook are king, and how we can save them, before it’s too late.

Part I - The Urgency of Now
For millennia, spring Chinook returned in staggering numbers to rivers from the Klamath north to the Fraser in Canada. Their early return is part of a bold, unique survival strategy that we're just now beginning to understand. On California's Salmon River, scientists pray this knowledge doesn't come too late.

Part II - If the Dams Fall
For too long, key decisions impacting Klamath River salmon have largely been made without input from Tribes like the Karuk, who managed these runs for generations before Western contact. Now, the Karuk and others are leading a game-changing campaign to empower Indigenous knowledge—and tear down the Klamath's dams.

Part III - The Key in the Code
Genetic science has come a long way since the mid-2000s. Back then, Dr. Michael Miller was still a doctoral student searching for clues in salmonid DNA. What he didn't know: he was on the cusp of a discovery that rocked our scientific understanding of spring Chinook and racheted up the pressure to save them.

Part IV - Orcas and Actions
Southern Resident orcas rely on Fraser River spring Chinook to survive—a terrifying fact for salmon managers and orca advocates tracking both species' decline. Experts say there’s still time to save Chinook in the Fraser and beyond. But first, we must reckon with our own role in these complex food webs.

Your support helps us protect wild salmon

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

Photo/image credits (from top): spring Chinook illustration (Kate Spencer, modified); spring Chinook (John McMillan); Reed family dip netting in the Klamath River (Noel DiBenedetto); Dr. Tasha Thompson collecting samples (Mikal Jakubal); Southern Resident orcas (Alamy).

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