The Biggest Threat to Salmon.

Nothing threatens the salmon’s future more then human development. Stream channels, road construction, timber harvesting, and mining all degrade salmon spawning and rearing habitats. Salmon stocks have drastically declined because of these. Logging areas around streams where salmon live reduces the shade and nutrients that salmon eggs greatly need, so starving the developing eggs. Also it increases the amount of silt in the water which chokes the developing eggs and reduces young salmons’ survival during their migration to the ocean. Controlling all these things will help the salmon make a drastic comeback.
The biggest threat of all to salmon is dams, which kill 50% of young salmon and 20% of adult salmon. Dams and reservoirs make salmon journeys even harder and more hazardous and block the movement of salmon which is the main reason why stocks have declined. They have to navigate through spinning turbine blades and high water pressure that kill and injure salmon. Salmon can also get lost in reservoirs which can make a 2-week journey into a 3-month journey. In Washington’s Snake and Columbia rivers, salmon must pass through 8 dams which kill 80-95% of salmon! Also 70% of these two major rivers which is about 482 miles have been converted into reservoirs! Most scientists agree and I think you will too, that removing dams is the only option to save salmon stocks. So by controlling salmon habitat degradation, improving water flow speeds, lowering water temperature, and removing dams the salmon are sure to have a brighter future ahead.

This is why the Rogue Waters project is critical. We have got to start educating and informing people of the dangers of total salmon decimation.

However, salmon do not transport nutrients unidirectionally from oceans to fresh waters as adults returning to spawn. The migration of salmon smolts from fresh waters to the ocean represents a flow of nutrients from fresh waters to the ocean. The term smolt refers to juvenile salmon that have undergone the physiological and behavioral changes that occur prior to migration to marine or estuarine ecosystems (Groot and Margolis 1991). Juveniles of some species and populations of salmon migrate out of fresh waters immediately after emerging , while other species and populations spend up to several years in fresh waters prior to migration (Groot and Margolis 1991).

This aspect of nutrient transport by anadromous salmon is usually ignored (e.g., Larkin and Slaney 1997; Gresh et al. 2000), or dismissed by citing that from 95% to over 99% of the mass of anadromous salmon is acquired in the ocean, implying that smolt nutrient export from fresh waters is inconsequential. However, this assumes that the number of smolts leaving fresh waters is equal to the number of adults returning to fresh waters, even though ocean mortality of smolts is often substantial (e.g., >80%; Burgner 1991). To the best of our knowledge, no study has systematically analyzed the export of nutrients from freshwater systems by

smolts across systems and years. However, in previous studies of a specific system it has been estimated that smolts export from 6.7% to 24.2% of the nutrients that their parents imported (Donaldson 1967; Naiman et al. 2002). Thus, how much of the nutrients imported to fresh waters by returning adults is exported by out-migrating smolts remains unknown. In other words, while previous studies have quantified the nutrients that adult salmon transport to fresh waters (Larkin and Slaney 1997; Schmidt et al. 1998; Gresh et al. 2000), we do not know how salmon impact net nutrient transport. For these reasons researchers quantified the relative magnitudes of nutrient transport by out-migrating smolts and returning adult sockeye salmon. Using historical smolt and adult escapement data from four major sockeye salmon nursery systems in Alaska, there researchers calculated the amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus that anadromous sockeye salmon import to and export from fresh waters, using a total of 76 years of data from four different systems. Based on these calculations, we found that sockeye salmon are consistent net importers of nutrients to fresh waters, but that out-migrating smolts often export a substantial fraction of the nutrients that their parents imported, and that the percentage exported varies considerably across space and time. 

Long story short, the salmon are the honey bees of the rivers, streams and estuaries. Without them nutrients are not carried where they are needed. Man is their greatest threat.Shouldn't we then be their greatest hope?

Creating a non-profit

To make Rogue Waters a true conservation effort, we are beginning the process to make it a 501©3 non profit! Those fees will come to about $1000, and include all filing fees as well as attorney and tax consultant fees!


I think I just may pull my hair out and go bald!! I never knew these forms were so intensive and in depth! And the questions! EEK! 


However, THIS will be for the salmon. For the rivers, streams and oceans. For the wildlife. For the future. For my children's children to be able to marvel at and enjoy. 


Future generations, people, it's all about future generations.


Much love, 

Angela

Saving the Salmon on a Monday.

Oh dear. I cleaned house all day long, did a few light promotions of Rogue Waters http://www.indiegogo.com/roguewaters?a=551162

But it was the cleaning. I kid you not. The back room, my mudroom, looked like a bomb had went off. There were dust bunnies and small piles of cat fur everywhere. My kitchen floor looked abysmally filthy.

So, I began. I cleaned the mudroom. 45 minutes for a 10x8 room.

The kitchen took 2 hours. I had to get on my hands and knees. With a magic eraser. And Scrubbing Bubbles.
Then, I tackled the bathroom. Simply hideodorous.

Then, I tried to vacuum. The darn thing wouldn't pick up a feather! So, I checked the bag. PACKED AS FULL as a 5 lb bag of sugar! DISGROSTING!

Ok, well all of that got worked out and now, I'm waiting on Hawaii 5-0. Book me Dan-O

Why not me? Why not now? Why not!

Hitting our goal

If we hit our target we'll give Rogue Waters: A Salmon Journey to schools across America.

We've decided to give copies of Rogue Waters to schools across the country. If we hit our funding target we'll send a copy to every school that requests one. Schools will be free to use it in classroom activities and share the book with families.

I have probably got anywhere between 50 and 500 people who support me and my ideas, now it is my turn to show them why they put faith in me and deliver my project to the best of my ability and deliver every single pledge that I have made. This is my contract with my supporters and I don’t have the excuse that I don't have enough funding yet. I am going to enjoy my project, excel myself, and repay the community that is helping me achieve this!!

Please, go check out this site and help fund the project!

http://www.indiegogo.com/roguewaters?a=551162

The project, an overview.

ROGUE WATERS - a pictorial/editorial book.

A wonderful, moving journey, documented in pictures and editorial, about the endangered and threatened salmon of the Pacific Northwest; reclaiming their natural environment, creating new habitat, and ensuring that these iconic emblems of the Pacific Northwest are safe from extinction, and that their habitats are encouraging the Salmon's reclamation of their natural territory.

INCLUDED IN THIS PROJECT: 

• The basic spawning cycle of salmon in the Columbia, Snake, and Klickitat rivers. 

•  The big three, major salmon of the Pacific Northwest all of which are listed as endangered or threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

Chinook Salmon, listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as endangered and threatened. Also known as King salmon, the largest of the species, can live up to seven years, spawn most often in large rivers or streams in deep, fast water, they are the least abundant of the North American Pacific Salmon.

Coho Salmon, listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as endangered and threatened. Also known as Silver salmon, spend one to two years in freshwater before migrating to sea, require small headwaters streams for pre-migration, were one of the originally most commercially sought after species; now depleted in many areas. 

Sockeye Salmon,  listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as endangered and threatened, and also known as Red salmon. The darkest of the species, that spawn not only in rivers but in lakes, the ones who have become landlocked are now known as Kokanee salmon.

• What is the impact of man-made dams on the salmon population in the Pacific Northwest?

• Thousands of miles of rivers and streams in the Pacific Northwest are losing Clean Water Act (CWA) protections in the wake of Supreme Court decisions, how does that impact the salmon?  

• What are the prospects and ecological significance of their recovery across the Pacific Northwest?

• Exploration of  the cultural significance of this aquatic icon across the Pacific Northwest. 

This book will be written as not only a photographic journey of the salmon  across the Pacific Northwest, but of  their impact, including ecological, cultural, and economic across the Pacific Northwest. How their demise can lead to the collapse of the food chain and demise of other species such as Orcas and bears.

SALMON FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS 

The Salmon of the Pacific Northwest have played an enormous role in not only the cultural practices of native peoples, but also in the ecological assurance of food sources for the Killer Whales of the Puget Sound. Additionally, how will the introduction of commercial fishing seasons impact the salmon population? 

Re-establishing the Salmon in the Pacific Northwest is a timely subject, crossing not only ecological issues, but cultural ones as well.

Legislation is also impacting the salmon and the ecosystem in which they live. Without intervention from Congress or the Administration to restore Clean Water Act protections for waters that were protected prior to 2001, these Pacific Northwest will continue to be polluted and destroyed. 

PULLING IT ALL TOGETHER

Pulling together all the information to tell this story will involve, extensive literature research, interviews with experts in the field, expeditions across the region to the places where the Salmon have all but disappeared, and to the places where they are coming back into their habitats in larger and stronger numbers. 

Field research will take place all over the Snake, Columbia and Klickitat Rivers as well as the Puget Sound. Along with the production of a photographically rich book, articles, and presentations from this project will be used to promote awareness and conservation of the Pacific Northwest Salmon.

SUPPORT FROM YOU

Your support, will help secure equipment needed for field work and photography, defray travel costs, and help underwrite the research (both historical and current research) and the cost of production expenses. The project is expected to take 16 months for me to review, edit, and compile the original manuscript and photos, as well as coordinating educational events, speaking engagements, and other publicity opportunities.

Your support here will ensure that I have the committed funds to successfully carry out the research, photography, and writing for the book and the other elements of this project!

The Salmon are an integral part of the Pacific Northwest. They are one of the most widely recognized icons in the world. Your generous support will further the cultural and ecological education surrounding the endangered and threatened Pacific Northwest Salmon.

It's REAL!

The Kickstart project has been approved! I am polishing it, prettying it up, putting on the final touches before I publish the page.

So now, I offer up a little prayer, "Great Spirit, take my project to the right eyes, the right minds, the right hearts and grant me this funding so that this project can leap off of the ground and into production within the next 31 days. So It is willed, so It shall be done."

Make it so.