|
As Lewis and Clark completed their trek across the Bitterroot Mountains and caught the westward-flowing currents of the Snake and Columbia rivers, they witnessed one of the planet's great animal migrations. At the time, salmon by the millions took a once-in-a-lifetime journey from the ocean back to the very streams where they'd hatched three to five years earlier. There, they would spawn and expire, leaving the next generation behind as bright orange eggs in clean gravel beds.
The profusion of salmon left the men in awe. The Corps’ journals are filled with stories about them, from the different techniques Native Americans used to dry them to their confusion of why seemingly hardy fish were dying. The men also write about the rivers’ clear, pure waters and the many rapids — both critical to salmon health.
The Native Americans encountered by the Corps were among the wealthiest tribes in North America, with an economy built on the abundant salmon resource. Salmon could be dried and stored for winter use and also was traded far and wide. The explorers saw stacks upon stacks of dried salmon lining river banks in places, and Clark estimated one stack alone contained 10,000 pounds of salmon.
The seasonal migrations of salmon were central to the traditions of many Native Americans living in the Pacific Northwest. They still are. And not just for tribes. Many residents across the Northwest have begun referring to their homeland as "Salmon Nation."
Scientists believe about 16 million salmon returned each year to spawn in their native streams throughout the Columbia River Basin. Today, annual runs of wild salmon have declined to about 3 percent of their historic abundance. As the Columbia Basin was developed into one of the largest hydropower and irrigation complexes in the world, vast changes to lands and waters have taken their toll on salmon.
Among the challenges salmon face today are the dozens of hydropower dams, which powered economic development in the Northwest. Dams block salmon from about 50 percent of their historic freshwater range, while even the dams that provide fish
|
In Their Own Words... |
|
“I observe great numbers of Stacks of pounded Salmon neetly preserved in the following manner ... thus preserved those fish may be kept Sound and sweet Several years, as those people inform me."
~ Clark, passing through the Northwest after a Salmon run | | passage are not harmless. Clear, cold water torrents that use to flush young salmon to sea now are warm, slow-moving lakes. On the land, agriculture, timber harvest and urban development have altered stream habitats by withdrawing water for irrigation, removing shade from streambanks, adding pollutants and producing sediments that smother salmon eggs laid in river gravels. Hatchery-raised salmon compete with and genetically weaken wild salmon, and harvests by sport and commercial fisheries have not always been sustainable.
The complex and widespread nature of today's hurdles for wild salmon require equally complex and comprehensive solutions involving government, tribes, businesses, non-profits and individuals. The Nature Conservancy is working with partners in some key places to preserve the lands and waters salmon need to survive. For example:
- In the shadow of urban Portland, Ore., Sandy River Gorge Preserve protects excellent spawning habitat for native runs of chinook and coho salmon and steelhead trout.
- In Washington, the Conservancy is working with partners in the Skagit River basin to preserve critical habitat. This is the state’s second-largest watershed and most-important salmon-producing river in the Puget Sound.
To learn more about salmon’s complex life cycle, click here.
| 
