Fisheries Service Proposes New Rules to Safeguard Puget Sound’s Killer Whales

NOAA’s Fisheries Service is proposing new rules on vessel traffic aimed at further protecting Southern Resident killer whales in Washington’s Puget Sound. These large marine mammals, the subject of intense curiosity from kayakers to tourists crowding the decks of commercial whale-watching vessels, were added to the Endangered Species list in late 2005.

The proposed rules would prohibit vessels from approaching any killer whale closer than 200 yards and forbid vessels from intercepting or parking in the path of a whale. In addition, the proposed regulations would set up a half-mile-wide no-go zone along the west side of San Juan Island from May 1 through the end of September where generally no vessels would be allowed.

“The idea here is to give these remarkable animals even more real, meaningful protection,” said Barry Thom, acting head of the agency’s Northwest regional office. “Without it, we would undercut the hard work we are all doing to recover the species by improving the sound’s water quality and recovering salmon, the killer whale’s primary food.”

The fisheries agency said there would be exemptions to the rules for some vessels, including those actively fishing commercially, cargo vessels travelling in established shipping lanes, and government and research vessels. The no-go zone would also have limited exceptions for land owners accessing private property adjacent to it.

While Southern Resident whales are also threatened by degraded water quality in the sound and lack of prey, primarily salmon, biologists have known for years that vessel traffic may be tied to their low numbers.

The whales, which depend on their highly sophisticated sonar to navigate and find food, can be affected by underwater noise from boats and disturbed by vessels that approach too close or block their paths. The population peaked at 97 animals in the 1990s and then declined to 79 in 2001. It currently stands at 85 whales. The agency’s recovery plan, released in early

2008, calls for actions to reduce disturbance from vessels.

If adopted, the earliest the rule would take effect would be May 2010. The agency said it will hold public meetings Sept. 30 in Seattle and Oct. 5 in Friday Harbor for people to learn more about the proposed rules. The public comment period on them closes Oct. 27. You can view the proposal and make and make comments here.

UPDATE ON THE CURRENT STATE TO THE PROPOSAL:

Postcards From Friday Harbor: Porposed Vessel Impact Regulations: Let Your Voice Be Heard

EPA Approves Puget Sound Action Plan with Funding to Follow

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave its "stamp of approval" on July 15 for the Puget Sound Action Agenda under the National Estuary Program (NEP), paving the way for the agenda to continue to receive federal funding. This move also indicates that the agency is fully committed to helping carry out an agenda to protect an restore the Puget Sound.

"I'm pleased to announce our approval of the Action Agenda," said Michelle Pirzadeh, EPA's acting regional administrator in Seattle. "This makes official what has been true all along: EPA is fully committed to bringing our resources to bear on the critically important work of protecting and restoring our treasured Puget Sound. We pledge to continue to act hand-in-hand with our partners—the state, tribes, local governments and citizens -- to ensure a healthy Sound for future generations."

Federal endorsement of the action agenda under Section 320 of the Clean Water Act means a common plan will guide restoration and protection efforts and provides access to federal funding, including $20 million in 2009.

Puget Sound is a national priority in EPA's Strategic Plan, on par with other great waterbodies and national treasures like the Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes and is recognized as one of 28 estuaries of national significance under the NEP. Since 1995, more than $60 million in EPA appropriations have gone to Puget Sound estuary projects. The Action Agenda was announced last December by the Puget Sound Partnership and Washington Governor Gregoire. The ambitious agenda focuses not only on Puget Sound itself but also identifies actions in upland watersheds that will improve the health of the Sound.

The Action Agenda seeks to: Improve water quality in the Sound and nearby watersheds, Aid the recovery of species affected by pollution, Restore impaired water quality at beaches and shellfish beds, and Develop strategies to control toxic and bacterial contamination.

The plan also highlights the need to carefully consider the effects of development and population growth on Puget Sound. The EPA has also made a call for citizen input and is allowing comments on their site.

Please take the time to visit and provide your thought about what you think are the highest priorities to help protect Puget Sound. Your input will help guide efforts to implement the Puget Sound Partnership Action Agenda over the next two years. You may use the provided form below, or email your suggestions to Daniel Steinborn at steinborn.daniel@epa.gov. The feedback period will end July 31, 2009 and the EPA asks you to focus on:

• What general issues or types of projects should be given higher priority?
• Are there subregions or specific locations within Puget Sound that need priority attention? If so, where are they and what do they need?

California water plan aims to save Puget Sound orcas

WASHINGTON — A plan to restore salmon runs on California's Sacramento River also could help revive killer whale populations 700 miles to the north in Puget Sound , as federal scientists struggle to protect endangered species in a complex ecosystem that stretches along the Pacific coast from California to Alaska .

Without wild salmon from the Sacramento and American rivers as part of their diet, the killer whales might face extinction, scientists concluded in a biological opinion that could result in even more severe water restrictions for farmers in the drought-stricken, 400-mile-long Central Valley of California . The valley is the nation's most productive farm region.

The plan has faced heated criticism from agricultural interests and politicians in California , but environmentalists said it represented a welcome departure by the Obama administration from its predecessor in dealing with Endangered Species Act issues.

The Sacramento plan, they add, is in sharp contrast to the plan for restoring wild salmon populations on the Columbia and Snake rivers in Washington state and Idaho . That plan, written by the Bush administration, essentially concluded that the long-term decline in those federally protected runs didn't jeopardize the killer whales' existence because hatchery fish could make up the difference.

The 85 orcas of the southern resident killer whale population travel in three separate pods, spending much of their time roaming the inland waters of Washington state from the San Juan Islands to south Puget Sound . During the winter they've been found offshore, ranging as far south as Monterey Bay in California and as far north as British Columbia's Queen Charlotte Islands. Each orca has distinctive markings, which allows them to be tracked.

In the mid-1990s, there were nearly 100 orcas in the three southern resident pods. The population fell to fewer than 80 in 2001. In 2005, they were granted federal protection as an endangered species. They've been studied closely for only 30 years or so, but historically there may have been up to 200 southern resident orcas.

Researches think that the decline has resulted from pollution — which could cause immune- or reproductive-system dysfunction — and from oil spills, noise and other vessel disturbances, along with a reduced quantity and quality of prey.

With the largest 27 feet long and weighing 10,000 pounds, orcas are constantly on the prowl for food. They've been known to hunt in packs. Their meal of choice: salmon, particularly chinook salmon.

By some estimates, the orcas eat about 500,000 salmon a year.

"We are trying to figure out how killer whales fit in," said Bradley Hanson , a wildlife biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Services in Seattle who studies orcas. "We don't have a lot of information on the movement of southern resident whales down the coast. We don't have a lot of information on adult salmon movements off the coast."

Before 2000, Hanson said, no one was quite sure where the killer whales went when they went to sea. It was a surprise when they showed up near Monterey Bay , he said.

The Sacramento and American river systems combined were once among the top salmon-spawning rivers on the West Coast , trailing only the Columbia and Snake rivers.

Prompted by lawsuits, the National Marine Fisheries Service last month published its latest plan for the Sacramento and American rivers' winter and fall chinook salmon runs. Without further curtailments of water for the federal Central Valley Project — a several-hundred-mile network of dams, canals and pumping plants — and the California State Water Project — the nation's largest state-built water and power development and conveyance system, which supplies water for 23 million Californians — the two runs are in jeopardy of extinction, the plan said.

Without changes, the southern resident killer whales, a run of steelhead and a population of North American green sturgeon almost certainly would disappear, according to the plan.

The killer whale population is extremely fragile, and scientists said the loss or serious injury to just one could appreciably reduce the odds that the southern resident pods would recover or survive.

The scientists who wrote the Sacramento plan also said that hatchery-raised salmon couldn't be counted on to sustain the killer whales' survival.

"Healthy wild salmon populations are important to the long-term maintenance of prey populations available to southern residents, because it is uncertain whether a hatchery-only stock could be sustained indefinitely," the scientists said.

Not only are there concerns about long-term funding for the hatcheries, but scientists also have questions about whether hatchery fish are as genetically strong and healthy as wild ones. Though changes to the hatcheries could improve the fish they produce, there's no agreement on what needs to be done and no guarantees that the changes would work.

The latest plan for the Columbia-Snake wild salmon runs concluded that continued operation of the federalhydroelectric dams on the two rivers was "not likely to adversely affect" the killer whales. Earlier, federal scientists found that "perhaps the single greatest change in food availability for resident killer whales since the late 1800s has been the decline of salmon from the Columbia River basin."

Despite the decline in wild runs, the scientists who worked on the Columbia plan concluded that hatchery fish would be able to make up any deficit in the orcas' diet.

Though the Columbia-Snake salmon plan acknowledges the potential problems with hatchery fish, it dismisses, at least for now, their impact on killer whale food supplies.

Lynne Barre , a National Marine Fisheries Service scientist in Seattle who helped write both plans, downplays any differences.

"I think we say the same thing in both opinions," Barre said, adding that both plans recognize that hatchery fish could be a short-term substitute for wild fish but that there were concerns about whether hatchery fish could be a long-term food source for orcas. "The general principles are similar."

Environmentalists, however, say that the differences couldn't be more obvious.

"The contrasts are striking," said Todd True , a lawyer for the Seattle office of Earthjustice, which has challenged the Columbia-Snake plan in a lawsuit in federal court in Portland, Ore.

True said the Sacramento salmon plan was a "candid piece of work that had a strong independent review and the absence of political interference." As for the Columbia-Snake plan, True said that it "pretends there isn't a problem."

The judge in the Portland case has given the Obama administration until Aug. 15 to indicate whether it'll stick with the Columbia-Snake salmon plan written during the Bush administration or offer a new one. True said he'd raise the orca issue again.

Other environmentalists said that Jane Lubchenco , who heads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration , which includes the fisheries service, must be aware of the differences in how the two salmon plans addressed killer whales. Lubchenco is a marine biologist who taught at Oregon State University .

"They need to decide which of the contradictory statements are correct," said Pat Ford of Save Our WildSalmon.

$11 Million Dollars Allocated For Salmon Recovery and Estuary Restoration in the Puget Sound

HOT OFF THE PRESSES FROM THE PUGET SOUND PARTNERSHIP

MEDIA CONTACT
Katy Johansson
360.725.5442
katy.johansson@psp.wa.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
05-29-2009

Partnership approves $11 million in critical recovery, protection projects

OLYMPIA – The Puget Sound Partnership this week approved several salmon recovery and estuary protection projects throughout the Sound worth nearly $11 million. 

“Salmon recovery is essential to the overall recovery of Puget Sound, and vice versa. We won’t achieve one without the other,” said David Dicks, the Partnership’s executive director. “The projects we have endorsed advance the priorities of the Action Agenda and our overall mission to bring the Sound back to health.”

The projects are supported by two separate appropriations the Partnership fought for this legislative session in the 2009-11 state capital budget, signed into law last week by the governor.

The budget includes a $33 million appropriation for Puget Sound Acquisition and Restoration (PSAR). The Partnership’s Leadership Council on Wednesday supported five PSAR projects, totaling almost $4.3 million, as part of an accelerated funding round in the PSAR grant program.

“These ready-to-go projects will create much-needed jobs right now, during the 2009 construction season,” Dicks said. The PSAR projects leveraged $766,797 in local matching funds, “demonstrating local support for salmon habitat acquisition and restoration in Puget Sound,” Dicks added.

The capital budget also includes $7 million for the Estuary and Salmon Restoration Program (ESRP). The Leadership Council approved a spending plan for nine top-priority nearshore and estuary protection and restoration projects. While that spending plan totals $9.7 million, three of the projects are alternates and one is only partially funded, bringing the spending total closer to $6.6 million. 

The Leadership Council endorsed the following projects:

PSAR (Request total: $4,274,849)

•    Tatrimima Shoreline Protection: This project will acquire for permanent protection approximately 30 acres of shoreline property along the Nisqually River.

o    PSAR request: $334,922 

o    Project sponsor: Nisqually Land Trust

o    Lead entity: Nisqually River Salmon Recovery

•    Nisqually River Knotweed Control: This project will preserve and improve riparian habitat function on the lower watershed of the Nisqually River and in the priority sub-basins of the Nisqually. 

o    PSAR request: $66,500

o    Project sponsor: Pierce County Noxious Weed Control Board 

o    Lead entity: Nisqually River Salmon Recovery

•    Mashel Eatonville Restoration Phase II: This funding will implement the second phase of a project that includes: installation of engineered logjams to restore and improve in-stream habitat and protect eroding banks; restoration of the riparian buffer; and the acquisition of up to 5 acres of healthy riparian and floodplain forests.

o    PSAR request: $1,165,573

o    Project sponsor: Nisqually Indian Tribe

o    Lead entity: Nisqually River Salmon Recovery

•    Little Quilcene River Delta Cone Removal: This project, the fifth in a series, will remove aggraded sediments to reconnect tidal and freshwater hydraulics, restore 7 acres of salt marsh and place four woody debris jams at the mouth of the Little Quilcene River.

o    PSAR request: $1,007,854

o    Project sponsor: Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group

o    Lead entity: Hood Canal Coordinating Council

•    Skokomish Estuary Island Restoration: Part of a greater effort to restore natural tidal hydrology to the entire Skokomish Estuary, this project will obliterate island dikes and levees, roads and borrow ditches – improving salmonid refuge, water quality and dissolved oxygen, and reducing flooding.

o    PSAR request: $1.7 million

o    Project sponsor: Skokomish Indian Tribe

o    Lead entity: Hood Canal Coordinating Council

ESRP (Spending plan total: $9,740,740. Total project spending: $6.58 million. List presented in ranked order. Please note project 6 is only partially funded and projects 7, 8 and 9 are alternates.)

•    1. Nisqually Refuge Restoration: This project includes the construction of setback dikes, enhancement of wetlands and completion of work necessary to restore tidal influence to 762 acres of tidal marsh and swamp at the mouth of the Nisqually River.

o    Project amount: $200,000

o    Project sponsor: Ducks Unlimited

•    2. Lily Point Acquisition Phase II: This project will expand on the successful protection of the southern portion of Lily Point by purchasing and permanently protecting the remaining northern portion of Lily Point – a 146-acre parcel that includes 4,200 feet of natural shoreline and 92 acres of tidelands.

o    Project amount: $860,000

o    Project sponsor: The Nature Conservancy

•    3. Smugglers Slough Tidal Reconnection: This project will use self-regulating tide gates and levee breaches to restore tidal and flood inundation and enhance habitat in 620 acres of the Nooksack-Lummi delta.

o    Project amount: $1,933,200

o    Project sponsor: Lummi Nation

•    4. Smith Island Estuarine Restoration Project: This project will design, permit, construct and monitor the restoration of approximately 400 acres of tidal marsh on Smith Island in the Snohomish Estuary – with the construction of setback dike and removal of existing levee along Union Slough.

o    Project amount: $2.6 million

o    Project sponsor: Snohomish County

•    5. Red Salmon Slough Levee Removal: This project will remove historic levees and dikes within tribal ownership on the Nisqually Delta to restore unconstrained flood water movement and associated alluvial processes across the eastern half of the delta.

o    Project amount: $214,000

o    Project sponsor: Nisqually Indian Tribe

•    6. Livingston Bay Nearshore Acquisition (partially funded): This project will acquire and protect 43 acres of ecologically important nearshore and marine riparian habitat in northwest Port Susan Bay and restore a 10-acre barrier lagoon.

o    Project amount: $1,350,000 (NOTE: only some of this amount will be awarded to the project)

o    Project sponsor: The Nature Conservancy

•    7. Kiket Island Conservation Acquisition (alternate): This project will purchase 95 acres of waterfront property with more than two miles of high-quality, near-pristine shoreline habitat to protect it from development and expand Deception Pass State Park.

o    Project amount: $2 million

o    Project sponsor: Washington State Parks and Recreation

•    8. Gull Harbor-Cushman Easement Acquisition (alternate): This project will provide the balance of funding needed to purchase a conservation easement on the last major unprotected parcel in Olympia’s Gull Harbor, one of the last nearly pristine estuarine areas remaining in Budd Inlet. 

o    Project amount: $350,000

o    Project sponsor: Capitol Land Trust

•    9. Stavis NRCA Boyce Creek Seawall Removal (alternate): This project will remove 550 feet of seawall on Hood Canal and restore 800 feet of stream channel on a DNR-managed property.

o    Project amount: $233,540

o    Project sponsor: Department of Natural Resources

“The Leadership Council and I appreciate the hard work and support of Gov. Gregoire and the Legislature, who, in difficult economic times, demonstrated their continued support for the recovery of salmon and Puget Sound by providing funding for these crucial projects,” Dicks said.

The remainder of the $33 million PSAR appropriation will be awarded to priority Puget Sound salmon recovery projects proposed in future funding rounds for construction in 2010 and 2011.

ESRP will be working with project sponsors to write contracts, which they hope to have in place by early this July.

Despite facing an unprecedented budget deficit, the Legislature demonstrated stalwart support for the protection and restoration of Puget Sound during the 2009 regular session. This continued commitment will help ensure economic, environmental and social benefits, and create and sustain new green jobs in the state’s difficult economy.

“It is gratifying to know that even under such dire economic circumstances, Puget Sound recovery remains a top priority of the Legislature,” said David Dicks, the Puget Sound Partnership’s executive director. 

The Partnership is responsible for overseeing the implementation of its recently adopted Action Agenda to recover the Sound and reporting progress back to the public.

“Thanks to the hard work of Governor Gregoire and Legislature, the Partnership is able to move forward on implementing critical actions identified in the Action Agenda to help bring the Sound back to health,” Dicks said. “The projects they supported this session will result in badly needed green jobs throughout the region, and will help ensure the region’s overwhelming desire to pass on a legacy of a healthy Puget Sound to future generations becomes a reality.”

The Legislature passed capital and operating budgets, and a handful of policy bills, that support the Partnership’s core functions and will help implement key recommendations of the Action Agenda.

###

 

Postcards From Friday Harbor: The Anatomy of An Art Show

Postcards From Friday Harbor: The Anatomy of An Art Show

The Anatomy of An Art Show

On my last post I covered the upcoming San Juan Island Artist's Studio Tour. And it amazes me that the show is right around the corner- in only 5 days we will be meeting and greeting art enthusiasts from around the region- opening up our studios and hearts (not to mention tender egos) to the public. This will be my very first "show," and I am in part looking forward to witnessing the event and in part apprehensive about opening my soul to total strangers for their critique. But as Dr Seuss says, "Did you ever fly a kite in bed?"

So, what exactly goes into making an art show an art show. The recipe follows:

YOU WONT FIND THIS ON EPICURIOUS.COM!

100 tubes (give or take) of watercolor, varying hues and tints

22 paint brushes, varying sizes and shapes

1 Canon EOS 30D (which has been now replaced by the EOS 50D! WOO HOO)

175 sheets of archival art paper

1 Tin Box Set of Prisma Colored Pencils

10 gallons of water

10 25 pound bags of cement

6 months of contracted building of the studio

6-14 creative minds (depending on the day)

1 solid year of work

Many cups of love and fortitude

__________________________________________________________________________________

Stir all ingredients well. This may involve several rigorous games of Rock, Paper and Scissors- but it should all eventually work out. Adding brandy or red wine will certainly help in the process. Remember, this is a delicate mixture of ego, talent and will. Remain calm and attentive and savor the creativity of your work.

Once the mixture has gelled adequately (you'll just know, trust me), begin to form a bond with the ingredients that is strong and true. These ingredients are going to last you a lifetime, so treat them with the love and respect they deserve.

This is the tricky part. Now that the ingredients are ready, just try and get 6-14 creative minds to actually come to the studio and hang their work in preparation. Not. This will be the hardest step of your recipe- focus. While this is a featured recipe, it is like baking bread- you'll have to remember that everyone is kneaded out of the same dough but not baked in the same oven.

Bake for 1 year. Test with a toothpick. Sounds great, but in reality you must learn what constitutes 'doneness', and use your own judgment. Sprinkle with sugar and a little bit of fortitude. Serve lukewarm, with smiles and love.

So here's the update on the studio tour...we've been working diligently to prepare Michelle's studio- some pics follow and I would love to see you there!!!

San Juan Island Artists' Studio Tour 2009

Well, it is that time of year again!!! The whales are back, making close passes at the lighthouse, poppies are blooming all over the island, fox pups are bounding on the sides of the roads and the 18th Annual San Juan Island Artists' Studio Tour is just around the corner. Between June 6th and 7th, the Island artists will be offering free self-guided tours of 17 studios featuring 39 local artisans. And it is all free!

The studio tours started back in 1991 and has become a popular island event for both residents and visitors. The tour is completely self guided and allows visitors to see many different types of art as well as interact with the artists in their galleries. Lots of GREAT spaces, art demonstrations and door prizes- during a time when the island itself is in full bloom. Participants will have an opportunity to see a wide variety of artwork including paintings, fused glass, jewelry, pottery, sculpture, photography, furniture, and textiles. And I am absolutely honored to have been invited as a guest photographer in Michelle Shober's studio (#11 on the map)- and simply cannot wait to spend the weekend meeting everyone!  We've been working on the Studio of Collaborative Creation to get it ready for the guests- lots of hangings and creativity going on right now. 

A bit about the art group who meets there- can you say talent?  Each Sunday we gather together at Michelle's studio to focus on what art truly means in our lives as well as sharing great conversation, dreams, ideals and good old fashioned friendship. Different artists visit throughout the months, but the core group includes Bobbi Hamilton, who is an extremely talented graphite and colored pencil artist, Marsha Ashbrook- an extremely patient and incredibly artistic graphite artist, Katy Barsamian (loves the color purple and can design anything in lilac- even a flamingo) Gretchen Allison (owner of The Duck Soup Inn and a fantastically creative painter), Midge Patterson, Diana Sheffer and myself (although throughout the summer my attendance is completely whale dependent!). I really find this group defining- there is such a huge collection of talent (and one would think egos but that is not the case) in one room, each with varying strengths and weaknesses.  But there is a distinctly common factor. We have become friends, keeping us sane and allowing us to laugh while being who we each need to be. There is a distinct empowerment in that - we empower each other in our mutual appreciation for what each of us brings to the table. Perhaps when no one else will. We share ourselves, our successes, our fears and our love for one another, allowing us to grow together in both our art and in ourselves. It's really quite amazing- it is such a safe place full of trusting, honesty and creativity.

So when Michelle opened her new studio this winter, we all decided to create a "studio warming" gift. Since Michelle has ALWAYS loved flamingos- what else could possibly be better to design? We had alot of fun over the next few weeks designing special birds that represent us- each of us adding a flamingo to the studio presence. I thought you might like to check some of them out---and be sure to visit in June!!!!









The studios on the tour will be open 1:00pm to 5:00pm both days---and there is absolutely no charge to tour the studios and enjoy this popular event. All anyone needs is a map (see above) and the time wander the from studio to studio enjoying both the art and the scenery of San Juan Island. Hope to see you on the island!!!!

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Dog Apparel: It's A Dogs Life

I don't usually spend much time promoting "stuff to buy" on this blog, but today I just had to "break the rules." Zazzle, an online POD site that has the artistic community in a creative frenzy,  has recently begun showcasing a new line of apparel for man's best friend- and their ever cheeky designers have stepped up to the challenge. If you love dogs, you just have to check out some of these absolutely ADORABLE pup related clothes and designs- some of them had me rolling on the floor laughing this morning! Enjoy some light humor this Saturday morning while we wait for the whales to return (hopefully later today!!!)

DOG APPAREL THAT IS TOO CUTE TO MISS

I've shown the dogs wearing them in the first row only, but all are actually dog shirts!! LOL

		FETCH! Dog Shirt by

Custom Stamps for All Occasions!: Damask Diva Custom Wedding Stamps and Stickers Now Online!

Custom Stamps for All Occasions!: Damask Diva Custom Wedding Stamps and Stickers Now Online!

Action For Salmon Restoration Initiative

Neither the 20th century nor the last half of the 19th have been kind to Pacific Northwest salmon runs. The Columbia-Snake Basin was once the most productive salmon watershed in the world, but today salmon returns number just 1% of its historic salmon and steelhead populations — severely reducing fishing opportunities and fishing economies for scores of communities across the Pacific Coast and inland West. Overfishing, degradation of habitat and the building of the Columbia River system dams have all helped devastate not only the salmon but concurrently, the entire natural ecosystem. For too long the fate of salmon and the salmon economy has been in the hands of a federal bureaucracy that has been unwilling to consider many options for recovering the various endangered species of Pacific Northwest Salmon, even going so far as to ignore science, filter results and establish means by which to ignore both the endangered species act and citizens concerns. In the interim, salmon and the region have continued to pay the price.

This year, many have looked toward the Obama administration to craft an effect plan to reverse this alarming trend. And in a potentially historic move this week, the federal government has sought a delay of up to two months as it develops a plan to save salmon in the Columbia River Basin from extinction.  In a letter to a federal judge, the Obama administration said top officials want more time to "more fully understand all aspects" of the salmon restoration and recovery plan.

The Northwest and the nation need a new way forward for Columbia & Snake River salmon that will restore science to decision-making, protect the integrity of the Endangered Species Act, and wisely invest American taxpayer dollars into revitalizing our communities. A lasting solution will recover salmon, create jobs, and help build a clean energy future. With science leading the way, the hope of real salmon abundance can be realized.

Organizations such as Save Our Wild Salmon, have been leading the way in the fight to save the Pacific Northwest Salmon since 1991. A nationwide coalition of conservation organizations, commercial and sportsfishing associations, businesses, river groups, and taxpayer advocates make up this group, working collectively to restore self-sustaining, abundant, and harvestable populations of wild salmon and steelhead to rivers, streams and oceans of the Pacific Salmon states.

With the Obama Administration clearly indicating they want the time to review the science to develop appropriate protocols going forward, now is the time to impress Washington with the plight of the salmon.  You can click here to TAKE ACTION or read the letter below being circulated by conservation organizations.

"Wild pacific salmon are a national treasure - an awe-inspiring symbol of healthy rivers, good jobs, nutritious food, and thriving communities. The Snake and Columbia Rivers were once home to the largest salmon populations on the planet.

Today, however, many of these populations are facing extinction. The latest federal plan for the Columbia-Snake Basin perpetuates decades of ineffective federal policies and billions of taxpayer dollars that have failed to protect salmon and steelhead from declining toward extinction. We are in urgent need of a new approach that is firmly grounded in both good science and fiscal responsibility. 

Four federal dams on the lower Snake River prevent salmon from surviving to return to some of the biggest, wildest, highest, coldest, healthiest and best-protected habitat remaining in the continental United States. These dams make the downstream migration of young salmon an untenably lethal one, killing as much as 90% of these Snake River fish before they ever reach the Pacific Ocean.

The science and economics are clear: any effective salmon plan must include the removal of these costly and out-dated dams. The federal government's current approach, which ignores the science supporting lower Snake River dam removal as part of a comprehensive suite of recovery measures, fails endangered salmon, fishing communities, and American taxpayers. 

I strongly urge your leadership in Congress to craft legislation authorizing the removal of the four lower Snake River dams. This action must be part of a scientifically sound and fiscally responsible plan that will restore wild salmon, create jobs, save taxpayer dollars, revitalize communities, and ensure the survival of this national treasure for future generations. I look forward to hearing from you about your efforts to safeguard imperiled wild salmon. Thank you."

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