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Wild Salmon Center Newsletter September - October 2005

Dear Wild Salmon Center Friend

I've recently returned from a visit to Sakhalin, a Russian island spanning over 30,000 square miles which divides the Sea of Japan from the Sea of Okhotsk. This area faces serious threats and is the site of some of the Wild Salmon Center's most exciting conservation initiatives.

Currently we're working with the Sakhalin Energy Investment Company (SEIC), local and regional governments, international financial institutions and other conservation organizations to ensure that international best practices are employed during the construction of a pipeline that will cross over hundreds of pristine wild salmon rivers.

While in Sakhalin, I had a chance to see some of these rivers and meet with Ian Craig, the CEO of SEIC. I was also able to sit down and talk with Sakhalin's Vice Governor, Viktor Vasilievich Nagorny with whom we will be working to implement our multi-stakeholder conservation effort, the Sakhalin Salmon Initiative. Later, I met with Andrei Dmitrievich Ageenko, Director of Fisheries Inspection on Sakhalin, and two representatives from SakhNIRO, Dr. Vladimir Radchenko and Dr. Victor Lapko. The visit culminated with the second annual Sakhalin Salmon Festival, an event originally inspired by a local salmon festival in Oregon meant to engage children and communities in salmon issues.

Throughout our program areas in the Russian Far East, native salmon are threatened with illegal poaching — and the reorganization of the fisheries enforcement department has led to increased concerns. To address this situation, the Wild Salmon Center's Vice President of Conservation Programs, Greg Block, and the Director of the Kamchatka Salmon Biodiversity Program, Andrei Klimenko, will be meeting in September with key Moscow officials and other conservation groups to develop a comprehensive anti-poaching strategy

Below you'll find brief reports on our work in Kamchatka, the Olympic Peninsula, Oregon's 5-million acre John Day basin, as well as an update on our Atlas of Pacific Salmon.

Thank you all for your continued interest in our work.

Sincerely,

Guido Rahr

Guido Rahr, President and CEO

In this issue

Wild Salmon Center in the News

Guido Rahr, Wild Salmon Center President and CEO was quoted in a recent Oregonian article entitled: Saving Salmon Means Change, which provides an overview of the Salmon 2100 Project where scientists, researchers and salmon specialists come together to share ideas about the future of Pacific Salmon. Salmon 2100 Project participants, including Guido Rahr and Dr. Xanthippe Augerot, Wild Salmon Center's Director of Science Programs, will present their paper at the upcoming American Fisheries Society conference in Anchorage Alaska, September 15th.

The John Day Basin in Oregon

The John Day River is the second-longest undammed river in the American West and is one of the few rivers in the vast Columbia River Basin that still supports healthy wild salmonid populations. The Wild Salmon Center is supporting the development and operation of the John Day Basin Trust, a locally organized and community-based organization. Its mission is to protect and restore John Day River basin ecosystems and the wild salmon and steelhead that thrive there. The John Day Trust recently brought two new members onto their Board of Directors, and led a site-visit with key potential funders.

Kol River Biostation

The Wild Salmon Center's Kol River Biostation located in the Kol River Salmon Refuge in Kamchatka

Kol River Biostation Nears Completion

Russia is nearing completion, just in time for its first Russian winter. Research buildings serve as a gathering place for the world's leading salmonid biologists to study native, wild salmon in one of the best salmon ecosystems on earth

State of the Salmon

Since our last update, our Atlas of Pacific Salmon has continued to receive praise from fellow scientists, book reviewers and, most recently, from the Russian Ambassador to the United States. Congratulations to our Director of Science Programs, Dr. Xanthippe Augerot.

Tillamook

At the request of the Wild Salmon Center and other conservation groups, Governor Ted Kulongoski sent a letter to the Oregon Department of Forestry urging them to reject unsustainable logging rates in the Tillamook and Clatsop forests in northwest Oregon. (Please see The Oregonian article entitled Governor Defies Forest Note.)

The Tillamook and Clatsop forests are one of the most important strongholds for wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest.

Hoh River Trust Hires Director

The Board of Directors of the Hoh River Trust has hired a community-based land manager as well as its first full-time Director. Phil Davis will lead a Board whose members include representatives from the Western Rivers Conservancy and the Wild Salmon Center. Davis joins the trust after a successful career in the private sector. Originally planning to retire, his commitment to conservation and love for the outdoors brought him to the non-profit sector. The Hoh River Trust oversees some of the most important salmon rearing tributaries and off-channel habitat remaining in the continental United States.