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“What’s good for salmon will ultimately be good for all those living things that depend on these rivers and estuaries — including humans and their livelihoods.”— Mark Tercek |
To my mind, there are few natural wonders as astounding as the life cycle of salmon. Reared in remote headwaters, they swim hundreds of miles downstream to the sea. There, after years of avoiding predators and feeding on organisms of the continental shelf, the surviving adults somehow battle their way back up the rivers of their birth to spawn and die, beginning the cycle all over again.
But how many of us who enjoy a salmon steak on the backyard grill or savor salmon sushi in a restaurant are aware of that life cycle and, more so, how that species feeds not only our families but entire ecosystems. In the still-unspoiled salmon rivers of the north Pacific Rim, those fish transport tons of ocean-born nutrients inland and across the landscape to the benefit of countless other animals and plants.
In Alaska, many indigenous and traditional communities still rely heavily on the bounties and patterns of salmon for their livelihoods, sustenance and ways of life. Working with such communities, The Nature Conservancy is employing a range of strategies — negotiating conservation easements and informing government policy with scientific research — to keep these salmon rivers and streams healthy in the face of tremendous pressure to develop the state’s vast reserves of energy, minerals and other resources.
Yet protecting salmon means not only safeguarding pristine streams and rivers but also tackling the more complicated and expensive task of restoring health to places already damaged by unwise development. Thus our work on streams flowing into Alaska’s Bristol Bay goes hand in hand with a broader, concerted effort in watersheds throughout the Pacific Northwest — from California’s Sacramento River through Oregon, Washington, Idaho and British Columbia to the northern limit of the fish’s range. And the knowledge gained in this vast North American landscape is being shared with those working to safeguard salmon rivers across the Bering Sea in Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula.
Our work on salmon, in fact, provides an interesting prism through which to understand what sets The Nature Conservancy apart as a conservation organization. Instead of focusing on single species or “hot spots” where rare species are currently most abundant, we seek to ensure the health of whole communities of plants and animals, and to do so in enough places to maintain their health well into the future.
What’s more, we believe the needs of people and nature can coexist, and through sound science, diverse partnerships and careful compromise, balance can be restored. What’s good for salmon will ultimately be good for all those living things that depend on these rivers and estuaries — including humans and their livelihoods.
When I visit Nature Conservancy projects, whether in the Americas, Asia-Pacific or Africa, I am always struck by the sharp focus of our staff and partners on the wildlife and people in each place. But invariably as we talk, I quickly see how their focus is informed by a bigger picture. They know that their work on one prairie is part of a strategy to safeguard grasslands on a global scale. Lessons learned on a salmon stream in Alaska inform efforts on rivers all along the Pacific coast.
With a global, ecosystem-based approach to conservation honed over nearly 60 years, The Nature Conservancy understands that to have maximum impact at one spot on the globe, you must understand its place in the whole. And that ability to be big and small at the same time is, I contend, The Nature Conservancy’s great strength.
Mark Tercek
President and CEO
The Nature Conservancy
Summer 2009
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