“If salmon are running, God knows that all is well in His world…the health of the environment is good if the salmon are around. It is that simple.”     –  former Oregon Governor Tom McCall

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2014 - THE YEAR IN REVIEW

The late governor was right of course. In addition to being awe-inspiring, river-ocean-river explorers, salmon and steelhead are barometers of the health of our lands and waters. Policies protecting salmon also protect rivers and watersheds. And salmon abundance creates thousands of jobs in tribal and non-tribal fishing communities across the Northwest.

The recent abundance of fall chinook and sockeye pouring into the Columbia River from the Pacific Ocean is no accident. It’s result of both “human forces” like court-mandated salmon spill as well as natural forces like favorable ocean conditions.

Working together, SOS, the State of Oregon and Nez Perce Tribe fought for and won one of our region's most effective salmon recovery policies (short of dam removal) - court-ordered spill at eight federal dams on the lower Columbia and Snake rivers every year since 2006. It has helped all dam-passing salmon and steelhead populations in the basin - stabilizing many of the endangered stocks and boosting the Columbia’s fall chinook and sockeye runs in recent years.

The combination of successful litigation, mobilized people, and political impact patiently and persistently applied by SOS, Oregon, and Tribal allies since 1995 is the main reason that:

• Court-ordered spill every spring and summer since 2006 is delivering young salmon more quickly and safely to the ocean. Aided by favorable ocean conditions:
  • Spill has helped to dramatically increase Columbia River sockeye and fall Chinook returns in recent years.
  • Spill has helped re-establish naturally spawning Snake River sockeye salmon.
  • Spill – coupled with impressive Nez Perce Tribal projects – is helping to give Snake River coho, declared extinct 35 years ago, a new fighting chance.
• Up to half of Snake River salmon are now migrating in the river, not in barges or trucks.
• There are thousands more fishing jobs today than in the 1990s - a decade of severe job losses and fishing closures.
• Working with Columbia Basin Tribes, SOS helped secure a Regional Recommendation supporting “Ecosystem Function” as a new third purpose in a modernized Columbia River Treaty.

Bonneville Power Administration and other federal agencies would have done virtually none of this work without the constant pressure of litigation, people and politics – organized, coordinated and advanced by SOS and our allies. Your active support of our steady work to repair Northwest rivers, salmon and communities form the foundation of our success to date.

While Governor McCall surely would celebrate the fall chinook and sockeye that roiled the Columbia’s waters recently, he would also recognize that not ‘all is well’. Despite our significant successes, much work remains.

Columbia/Snake River salmon have not recovered and our job is not done.

Save Our wild Salmon is the Northwest’s only coalition of conservationists, fishing people, clean energy advocates, and businesses fighting to restore health to the Columbia and Snake rivers and their endangered wild salmon and steelhead.  With your support, we’ll continue our fierce advocacy for abundant wild salmon and healthy rivers, and our effective coordination of a diverse, dispersed coalition and its allies on critical litigation, policy and outreach initiatives.

On behalf of our staff and board, I want to express our deep appreciation to you for being part of the SOS family. Your active involvement and generous support is essential to our continued success. Thank you.

Here’s a list of some key 2014 achievements and a view of what’s ahead in 2015.

Thanks to eight years of court-mandated spill, newly-restored access to habitats, and a productive ocean, this year’s return of 1,000,000+ fall chinook and 500,000+ sockeye to the Columbia River delivered a tremendous slug of all-important ‘marine-derived nutrients” to the region’s wildlife and ecosystems and a big boost to the Northwest fishing economy, These abundant returns demonstrate salmon’s astonishing resilience - when we give them what they need.

Looking forward into 2015, SOS objectives remain unchanged: to win wild salmon-sustaining operations of federal dams and reservoirs on the Columbia River, and to remove the four costly, deadly, out-dated dams on the lower Snake.

SOS will continue to fight for expanded ‘spill’ and a lawful federal salmon plan:   Salmon and fishing advocates and the State of Oregon fought long and hard with BPA and the other agencies in 2014 – urging them to heed the advice of many regional federal, state, and tribal scientists to give salmon and steelhead more of a good thing: spill! The agencies, however, would not budge.

When faced with this year’s recycled and spill-reducing Federal Salmon Plan, SOS groups, Oregon and the Nez Perce Tribe were left with little choice but to return to court - to hold foot-dragging agencies accountable and insist again that they follow the law and craft an effective legal plan that truly protects and restores Columbia/Snake Basin salmon and steelhead to abundance. We expect a court ruling in mid-2015.

SOS will continue building momentum to restore a free-flowing lower Snake River:  This year, SOS organized more than two dozen DamNation screenings before thousands of people in the Northwest and Washington D.C. – in partnership with Patagonia, and many businesses and organizations. If you have not yet seen it, you should! DamNation is compelling – an inspiring film about America’s growing movement to remove obsolete dams, repair damaged rivers and restore fish and wildlife. DamNation has won over a dozen awards and the filmmakers were recently nominated as 2015 National Geographic Adventurers of the Year. This outstanding film continues to foster a critical conversation over the future of the lower Snake and other dammed rivers across the country.

We’ll continue to host DamNation screenings in 2015 - kicking off with a Patagonia-sponsored screening in Washington D.C. We’ll spend a week this winter in our nation’s capital promoting the film and meeting with members of Congress and Administration officials to explore opportunities for restoring the Snake River and its endangered salmon and steelhead. We’re still hatching plans for additional Northwest screenings, so stay tuned. And - regardless of where you live – contact us if you have ideas for screenings or would like to host a screening in your community. We welcome your ideas and energies!

SOS will continue working to prevent harmful dredging and wasteful spending on the lower Snake:  For the last two years, SOS has helped lead an alliance of groups and talented local leaders to block the Army Corps of Engineers’ expensive, destructive plans to dredge the lower Snake River. In November, SOS member groups and the Nez Perce Tribe filed a lawsuit to invalidate the Corps’ "sediment management" plan and block dredging on the lower Snake River this winter.

We’re pointing a spotlight at this economically unsustainable, unjustifiable “waterway to nowhere”. With independent analyses and public scrutiny, we’ll continue to challenge the Army Corps’ unsupported assertion that the Northwest can’t live without this aging, costly and little-used transportation corridor. In truth, we can no longer afford to maintain it. SOS will also continue its outreach to local farmers and other stakeholders and support continued expansion of local rail networks – an efficient transportation alternative to a costly waterway-in-decline.

Finally, SOS will continue to co-lead a diverse coalition to modernize the Columbia River Treaty:   Allied with Columbia Basin Tribes, First Nations and faith communities, SOS will lead conservation and fishing advocates in 2015 to bring the U.S.-Canada Columbia River Treaty into the 21st Century. Only a modernized Treaty can right historic wrongs and help to restore the river’s health and rebuild fish and wildlife populations. A modernized Treaty should also help our two nations promote the development of new sources of clean non-hydro, salmon-friendly renewable energy.

2015 will be a very important year. We face big opportunities as well as challenges. With your support, we’ll solidify the progress we’ve made to date and expand it across the basin – especially for the endangered stocks in the Snake River and its tributaries.

Please give as generously as you can.

From all of us at Save Our wild Salmon - thank you!

PS: We have a lot of irons in the fire. Take a look at our website to learn more about our programs and accomplishments. Please reach out to me directly (joseph@wildsalmon.org / 206-300-1003) if you’d like to discuss our work or have any questions about year-end giving. Thank you again. Take care - JB

The newly restored Elwha River cutting its way through the former reservoir. Photo courtesy of John Gussman.

Here's a list of companies that match employee donations:


Listed below are some larger companies that match employee donations to non-profit organizations like SOS. If your company is not listed, you can find out from your human resources office if your employer offers a matching gift program. If you are eligible for an employer matching gift, we hope that you will request an application from your human resources office!

Matching gifts often double and sometimes, even triple your donation to SOS.



National companies with employee matching programs:


3M Foundation
Abbott Laboratories
ACE USA Group
ADP
AETNA
AIG (American Intl Group)
Air Products and Chemicals
Albertsons
Alcoa
Alliance Capital Management
Allstate
Altria/Phillip Morris
AMD/Adv. Micro Devices
Ameren Corporation
American Express
American Electric Power
American International Group, Inc
American Standard Foundation
AON Corporation
*APS
*Arizona Republic/Gannett
Argonaut Group
ATMI
AT&T
Automatic Data Processing Inc
Auto Nation
Auto Owners Insurance
Avon Products
AXA Financial
Bank of America
Bank One
Bard Medical
Barnes Group
BAX Global
Baxter Healthcare
Best Foods
BF Goodrich Aerospace
Black & Decker Corporation
The Boeing Company
Bridgestone/Firestone
Burlington Northern Santa Fe
Cable One
Cadence
Carter-Wallace
Cendant Corp
Charles Schwab Corp.
Chevron/Texaco
Circuit City
Citgo Petroleum
CitiGroup
CAN (Insurance & Financial)
Coca-Cola Company
Compaq Computer
ConocoPhillips
Costco
Countrywide Financial
Delta Air Lines
Dial Corp
DirectTV
Duetsche Bank/Alex Brown
Dunn & Bradstreet
Dupont
Eli Lily & Company
Enterprise Rent Car
Equifax
Equitable
ExxonMobil
Fannie Mae
Farmers Group (Insurance)
FedEx
First Data
Follett Corporation
Ford Foundation
Fortune Brands
Frito Lay Corporation
Gannett
Gap Stores
General Dynamics
General Electric
*General Mills
General Motors
Gillett company
Glaxo SmithKline
Harcourt
Harris Trust
Hewlett Packard
Home Depot
Honeywell Hometown Solutions
Household International
IBM
IKON Office Solutions
In-N-Out Burger
Intel
International Paper Company
ITW/Illinois Tool Works
John Hancock Life Ins. Co.
Johnson & Johnson
JP Morgan Chase (Tempe)
Kaplan Educational Centers
Kimberly-Clark
KRAFT Foods
L’eggs
Lehman Brothers Investments
Lockheed Martin
Lowes Home Improvements
Lojack
Macy’s West
March & McLennan
MassMutual Financial Insurance
MasterCard International
May Company
Maytag
Mazda North America
McDonald’s
McKesson (Phoenix)
Medtronic
Merrill Lynch
Met Life
Microsoft Corporation
Mitsubishi International
Mobil Retiree Program
Monsanto
Morgan Stanley
*Motorola
Nabisco
National Computer Systems
Neiman Marcus Group
Nokia
Northern Trust
Northrup/General Signal
Northwest Airlines
Northwestern Mutual
OCE Digital Document Service
Oracle Corporation
*Pacific Life
Pearson NCS
Pepsico
Pfizer
Phelps Dodge
Piper Jaffray
Pitney Bowes
Procter & Gamble
Prudential
Qwest
Radio Shack
Rain for Rent
Ralston Purina
Robinson’s May
Raytheon
SAFECO Insurance
Sallie Mae
Salomon Smith Barney
Sara Lee Corporation
Sealy
Shaklee
Shell Oil Company
Siemens Energy & Automation
Simplex Grinnell Fire System
Sony Music Entertainment, Inc
Southwest Gas
Sprint
Square D
SRP
Starbucks
Starwood Foundation
State Farm
Subaru of America
Sun Micro Systems
Texas Instruments
Ticketmaster
Time Warner
Toys R Us/ Babies R Us
Traveler’s Express
T. Rowe Price
TRW
Tyco International
UBS
Unilever
UPS - United Parcel Service
United Space alliance
United Technologies
UnumProvident
US Airways
US Bancorp
USAA
Vanguard Group
Verizon
Viad
Vulcan Materials Company
Wachovia
Washington Group
Washington Mutual
Wells Fargo
Weyerhaeuser Company
Whirlpool
Wrigley Mg. Co.
Wyeth Corporation
Yum Brands

Companies That Are Based in or Have Offices in Washington and Oregon:
Aetna
Allstate Insurance Company
American Express
Ameriprise Financial
Applied Materials
AT&T
Autodesk, Inc.
Bank of the West
Bi-Mart
Cardinal Health
Charles Schwab
Chevron
First Independent
Gap, Inc.
Hewlett-Packard
HSBC
Hunter-Davisson, Inc.
Iberdrola Renewables
Intel
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Kaiser Permanente
KPMG, LLP
Liberty Mutual
Merck
Microsoft
Morgan Stanley
Nike
The ODS Companies
PGE
Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield
REI
Safeco Insurance
The Standard
Symantec
Umpqua Bank
Wells Fargo

A SPECIAL EVENING WITH DR. DAVID MONTGOMERY AT THE BURKE MUSEUM

UW PROFESSOR, MacARTHUR GENIUS GRANT RECIPIENT, AND ACCLAIMED AUTHOR OF KING OF FISH

FEBRUARY 27, 2014

RESERVE YOUR TICKETS HERE

Plus awards and appreciation for Sara Patton and Bill Arthur - 
two Northwest champions of wild salmon and clean energy.

A special benefit for the SAVE OUR WILD SALMON COALITION

When: Thursday, February 27 - 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Where: The Burke Museum on the UW Campus in Seattle.
Suggested donation: $25 per person

Reserve your tickets here. Space is limited.

With delicious food and drinks courtesy of 
blueacre seafood, Fremont Brewing Company, and Waterbrook Wines.

Doors will open at 6:30; the Program will begin at 7:30 pm.

This event coincides with the Burke Museum's exhibit Elwha: A River Reborn, based on the book by Seattle Times reporter Lynda Mapes and photographer Steve Ringman. The exhibit will be available for viewing during this event.

An Evening with David Montgomery is a fundraiser in support of SOS' work to protect and restore wild salmon and steelhead, and the rivers and watersheds upon which they depend.

Donations in excess of the ticket price gratefully accepted.

Space is limited. Reserve tickets now: joseph@wildsalmon.org, 206-300-1003

Special thanks to Plauche and Carr LLP for sponsoring this event.

2013 was a pretty good year for Northwest rivers and wild salmon and steelhead. And there's more work ahead in 2014!

We achieved some very important milestones for rivers, wild salmon and steelhead, and communities in the Northwest in 2013. It was an exceptionally busy year, and 2014 has started off equally action-packed. On behalf of our staff and board, I want to express our deep appreciation for your support of Save Our wild Salmon. Your involvement is essential to our collective success. We can't do it without you! Thank you.

DONATE ONLINE HERE...

Here’s our 2013 Report on SOS accomplishments and Northwest wild salmon and steelhead, followed by our sense of what we're facing in 2014.

First, more than a million fall chinook returned to the Columbia Basin this year. While many are hatchery-origin, endangered wild fall chinook enjoyed higher numbers as well.  This prolific run provided a much-needed boost to the NW fishing economy. And while the Basin's many other wild runs are still in trouble – thirteen Endangered Species Act-listed populations remain at risk – it's wonderful news for fall chinook and a testament to salmon’s astonishing resilience if we give them what they need. In addition to good ocean conditions, free-flowing habitat in the Columbia River's Hanford Reach, and just four dams to pass en route to and from the ocean, fall chinook have now benefited from court-ordered salmon spill every year since 2006.

Second, SOS led a regional alliance that stopped the Army Corps’ of Engineers’ plans to dredge the lower Snake River this winter, an action that would harm salmon and their habitat along the WA-ID border. And we’re continuing to build public recognition that the lower Snake waterway no longer makes economic sense while working with growers to deliver sounder transportation options.

And we’re aiding the Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho Rivers United, and other local citizens to stop Big Oil from transforming the lower Snake and Idaho’s historic Highway 12 and adjacent wild and scenic Lochsa River into an industrial corridor for transporting ‘megaload’ equipment to the destructive, climate-warming Alberta Tar Sands in Canada.

Third, we built more popular support to remove costly, out-dated dams. The Northwest is taking huge steps forward: Dams have disappeared from the Elwha and White Salmon rivers in Washington State and salmon are already finding their way back to ancestral habitat. SOS sponsored award-winning reporter-author Lynda Mapes’ Elwha - A River Reborn book tour as she shared stories and insights based on years of research and interviews.

Fourth, we’re organizing conservation and fishing advocates to modernize the U.S.-Canada Columbia River Treaty by including “ecosystem function” as a primary Treaty purpose. Thanks to work by 15 Columbia Basin Tribes as well as SOS groups, the federal agencies’ draft recommendation for an updated Treaty now supports that inclusion.

Fifth, SOS has helped grow support for a regional collaboration to tackle the shared challenges facing salmon, energy, and farms in the Columbia Basin. Earlier this year, NOAA-Fisheries initiated a "stakeholder assessment" as the necessary first phase of an inclusive, solutions-driven collaboration. As part of the NOAA assessment, facilitators interviewed 200+ stakeholders to better understand the suite of issues linked to salmon restoration efforts in the Basin. A final report is due this fall, and we'll do all we can to ensure the Obama Administration takes the right next step forward early in the new year.

We endured a setback too.

This year’s big disappointment: the Draft Federal Salmon Plan for Columbia and Snake rivers released in September. With its proposal to roll back the most effective near-term protection measure – spill - and its failure to adequately address shortcomings cited by the court in 2011, the federal agencies seem intent on thumbing their nose at law, science, fishing communities, and, of course, salmon. As we have with the four previous plans, conservation and fishing advocates will work very hard in the months ahead to secure a lawful, science-based plan that expands spill and includes other needed measures. And we’ll need your help!

Sharing dam removal success stories. Modernizing the Columbia River Treaty. Stopping damaging dredging. Making the river safer for salmon with increased spill. Fighting for a lawful salmon plan and a stakeholder collaboration. With your support, we’ve made important progress challenging business-as-usual, improving policies, and moving both politics and popular opinion in the direction of wild, abundant salmon and healthy rivers.

With your support, we’ll continue our successes in 2014. SOS' board has approved a game plan for next year. We’ll keep fighting to ensure that wild salmon and steelhead get the help they need now while we work toward an authentic stakeholder collaboration where all credible recovery options – including Snake River dam removal – are on the table.

We are excited about the coming year. The fundamentals of law, science, and economics remain strongly in our favor. Energy, transportation, fiscal trends and popular opinion portend further positive change and new opportunities for our coalition of conservation, clean energy, fishing advocates, and businesses.

But we can't do it without you!

Please give as generously as you can. We have both tremendous opportunities as well as challenges ahead.

From all of us at Save Our wild Salmon - thank you!

Joseph Bogaard
Executive Director
Save Our wild Salmon Coalition
206-300-1003

PS - We’re gearing up to co-sponsor an exceptional, inspiring dam removal film tour in Spring 2014. DamNation is the latest project from the highly acclaimed makers of Red Gold about Bristol Bay’s Pebble Mine. This new film explores the growing movement nationally to restore rivers and remove defunct, outdated, and costly dams - with a special focus on the Northwest and the lower Snake. Your generous year-end contributions will help ensure we have the resources we need to put this excellent film in front of as many people as possible and maximize its impact with the public and decision-makers. Thank you again for all your generous support! Click here to make a donation.