We’re thrilled to share Wild Salmon Center’s 30th Anniversary Annual Report! |
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Thirty years ago, our work started with a vision: an archipelago of protected wild salmon and steelhead watersheds spanning mountains, forests, and rivers from Japan and the Russian Far East to British Columbia, Alaska, and the Pacific Northwest.
If realized, our “stronghold” network would represent the most ambitious ecosystem conservation effort ever attempted across the Pacific Rim. Our goal was to secure the “best of the best”—the most productive and ecologically healthy Pacific salmon ecosystems, for salmon and all the wild species and communities they sustain. Knowing that many changes wouldn’t be immediate, we made a multidecadal commitment to each river system.
Today, the stronghold strategy is working. Since our founding in 1992, WSC and our local partners have secured eight new national and regional parks, instituted new riparian setbacks along more than 60,000 river miles, and protected 6.7+ million acres of critical wild salmon and steelhead habitat. We’ve helped transform Russia’s commercial salmon fishing industry, and won successful campaigns to block hydroelectric dams, gold mines, clearcut logging, and fish hatchery expansion. In fact, we have yet to lose a fight to defend our strongholds from major threats.
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Within just this past year, we’ve realized some of the most significant successes in WSC history. In our 2021 Annual Report, you’ll read about our recent work to: -
Make the scientific justification for two new reserves on Russia’s Tugur and Maia Rivers: reserves protecting 3.7 million acres (an area surpassing the size of Yellowstone);
- Convince EPA to restart the process to permanently protect Bristol Bay under the federal Clean Water Act: something our coalition has demanded for more than a decade;
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Broker an unprecedented accord with the timber industry to overhaul the Oregon Forest Practices Act and pass legislation that will better protect wild salmon streams on 10 million acres of private forestland; and
- Advance groundbreaking research on life history diversity and wild genetics for taimen, steelhead, spring Chinook, and more.
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We’ve made incredible progress over the last 30 years. Now we must meet this moment—one of heightened threats from climate change, resource extraction, and geopolitical strife. To confront new challenges and ensure the durability of the stronghold network, we’re scaling up and accelerating our efforts to ensure wild salmon and steelhead strongholds are protected in perpetuity.
We invite you to open our Annual Report to learn where we’re headed next. And as you explore our plans for taking the stronghold strategy to the next level, please know you are the reason that this work is possible. Our hearts are full of gratitude for your support, and full of hope for all that we'll achieve together, in this exciting new chapter of WSC history.
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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/image credits (from top): Bristol Bay (Jason Ching), Alaska salmon (Paul Souders, Getty Images), Bristol Bay sockeye (Jason Ching). |
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Wild Salmon Center
721 NW 9th Avenue
Suite 300
Portland, OR 97209
United States |
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