Salmon-Safe: Promoting Community Watershed Resiliency pt. 1
July 26, 2024
By Brian Muegge, Salmon-Safe’s Farm Program Manager
Throughout the history of the Pacific Northwest, perhaps no other group of animals has held a greater cultural significance and ecological importance than our endemic salmon species. The Indigenous communities of our region have relied upon their seasonal returns each year to feed their people since time immemorial, as have the myriad of other animal species that depend upon the nutrients that salmon bring back to the ecosystem. From bald eagles and mayflies to forest soils – the web of life that benefits from salmon returning to their natal waters to spawn and die each year is sprawling.
However, the northwest landscapes and waterways that salmon utilize to complete their life cycle today certainly look different than they did in the previous thousands of years. Since the onset of North America’s colonization, starting over 500 years ago, our society has unrecognizably altered our landscapes and waterways to accommodate the expansion of Western human civilization. Runoff from our cities, pollution entering our oceans, hydrological alterations, and other human impacts continue to significantly reduce the amount of cold, clean, and abundant water that salmon require to sustain healthy populations.
Sadly, due to these impacts, a vast majority of our endemic salmon and trout populations are at significant risk of extinction in the near future. How do we, as a greater Pacific Northwest society, come together to address the impacts on these beloved fish and other sensitive aquatic species before it’s too late? The answer – promote healthy watershed-wide stewardship practices through community collaboration.
As an organization, Salmon-Safe was founded by the native fish and rivers advocacy nonprofit Pacific Rivers in the late 1990’s, with the goal of working voluntarily with landowners across the Pacific Northwest to catalyze and transition land stewardship practices towards more watershed-friendly methods. Salmon-Safe, now its own independent nonprofit, works across the Pacific Northwest with landowners such as farmers, developers, city municipalities, and university campuses to provide a scientifically based certification that serves as a framework to better steward our watersheds with salmon and other aquatic species in mind.
Our work began with farmers in the Willamette Valley of Oregon and has now spread to over five western states and over 900 landowners. In addition to providing a robust 3rd-party certification of environmental stewardship for landowners, we also work with retailers who collaborate with our farm partners to ensure supply chain traceability and promote products sourced from growers, taking the extra steps to better steward their lands.
Click here to learn more about Salmon-Safe, and stay tuned next week to see how you can get involved right here in the Inland Northwest!