Pressroom
Wild Salmon Center Newsletter November - December 2005
Dear Wild Salmon Center Friend
As I write this letter, the last of the fall salmon migrations are tapering off. The staff of the Wild Salmon Center is finishing their field work in Kamchatka, the Russian Far East, and the Olympic Peninsula and we are now reviewing the results of this seasons work.
Our Russian Far East staff, Dave Martin, RFE Program Director, and Nicole Portley, Program Associate, returned from an expedition to the Samarga River. The Samarga is located on the eastern edge of the Russian mainland, just Northwest of Japan.
The Samarga is one of the last large (2 million acres) roadless river basin in the Sea of Japan region of Russia. It is unusually rich in plant and animal species, including Siberian tigers, brown bears, and abundant populations of masu salmon and Sakhalin taimen. Unfortunately it is about to be logged.
Terneiles, a Russian timber company, has agreed to address environmental concerns. Through our efforts, the efforts of other NGOs, as well as the local and indigenous population, Terneiles has tentatively agreed to set aside a half-million acres in the Samarga Basin for conservation. We are working together with our partners in Russia, at the United States Forest Service, and the University of Montana Flathead Lake Biological Station to study and decide which areas are best for salmon protection. Please see an account of this expedition below.
We have had an amazing year and we depend on your support to protect these beautiful rivers. Please consider making an online donation.
Thank you all for your continued interest in our work.
Sincerely,
Guido Rahr, President and CEO
Samarga River Expedition Report
Dave Martin, Wild Salmon Center's Russia Far East Program Director, reports back from an expedition to the Samarga River. His story includes photos and the executive summary filed by the newest member of the Wild Salmon Center team, Nicole Portley.
Winter Steelhead Observations
John McMillan, Wild Salmon Center's Salmon Ecologist, makes snorkeling in the glacier run-off waters of the North Pacific sound inviting in his narrative on the ebbs and flows of the salmonid life-cycle.