Why Should You Care? Salmon populations having been dropping in the Columbia River Basin from the estimated 16 million to 8 million that returned annually 150 years ago. In the Pacific Northwest as a whole, 106 salmon stocks have become extinct. Fish are gone entirely from almost 40 percent of their historic rivers. Most of the others are at risk. Salmon numbers are severely depressed from San Francisco to the Canadian border. Wild stocks dropped so far that, beginning with the Snake River sockeye salmon in 1991, 13 species of salmon were listed as threatened or endangered. In addition to sockeye, Chinook and Steelhead have also been listed as threatened. The Pacific Northwest has been plagued by 150 years of promises, half-baked theories, fights, lawsuits and wishful thinking about salmon, a legacy as complex and convoluted as thinking about race in the South. Salmon negotiators come to the table burdened with as much history and politics as those in the Balkans, the Middle East or Ireland. That has forced the Pacific Northwest to restrict all sorts of activities that harm salmon, including irrigated farming, fishing, logging, streamside development and barge transportation. Most of all it has focused attention on the hydroelectric dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers that have been among the most prolific juvenile salmon killers. Some salmon are chopped up or injured in the hydroelectric turbines of the dams; others are eaten by predators in the slow-moving reservoirs created by the dams. Some are threatened by GMO modified farmed salmon being released into the wild and mating with native salmon, thereby weakening the species. Some juvenile fish are scooped up and loaded onto barges and hauled below the last dam on the Columbia River and die in transit. Some have been affected by logging, farming, streamside development and urban pollution. Some have been affected by overfishing. What it all boils down to is that what man has done, man can undo, and we just have to take action. Now. First of all, no one else has published this type of book, with this type of appeal to a global audience in over 15 years. Most of the books published are technical and while they are technically great, they can not engage a variety of people. This book would engage people from children to senior citizens, people who are highly educated, to grade school children. That is our goal, total engagement. Secondly, why shouldn’t I? Honestly? I have roots in the Pacific Northwest. Having lived up there a number of years I was blessed with the opportunity to not only witness several salmon seasons, but to watch Orcas hunt salmon across Puget Sound. That’s an experience that everyone should get to have in their lifetime. I also believe that GMO farm raised salmon have no place in our rivers and oceans. This is one place Monsanto does not belong. Farmed salmon is being fed GMO feed. When they are released or “escape” they mate with native stock and weaken it dramatically. When larger predatory animals eat this GMO salmon they too are affected. The poisoning of native stock and larger predators has to stop. This is just one of many topics that we will cover in the book. But in order to make this book a reality….we need your help. What we need from you! It is time to bring to a wider audience the issues facing the salmon populations of the world. We need your support to make this happen. While we have all contributed time, talents and our own money to this project, we would like to get more people involved. We have plans to distribute this book free of charge to schools, and distribute any profits made from the book directly back to organizations dedicated to saving the salmon of the world. So, donate what you can, spread the word on our project and help us educate people on the dangers facing our salmon, before they too are extinct. Here's the link!! http://igg.me/p/156367?a=551162