Wild Salmon Center Pressroom
Our Newsletter
Volume IV, Issue 4, July - August 2006
Dear Friends and Colleagues
I've been traveling quite a bit this summer; I just returned from a trip to our project sites and biostations in Kamchatka. It was a stunning trip, with smoking volcanoes, brown bears, bright runs of salmon and pristine rivers.
Prior to that, I visited the Koppi River in the Russian Far East mainland, a fascinating and species-rich watershed in the heart of the Sikhote Alin Mountains that flows into the Sea of Japan. It is a major stronghold for Sakhalin taimen, an enormous sea-going species that the WSC and IUCN placed on the international Red List of Threatened Species earlier this year. Read more...
Earlier this summer we received good news from the Samarga River—a pristine watershed just south of the Koppi. In June, representatives of several NGOs met with the Director of the Terneiles logging company to discuss the results of last year's field studies and next steps for implementing our protection recommendations for this 2 million acre watershed. At the end of the meeting the groups signed an addendum to our original 2004 agreement with the company, reiterating all sides' commitment to identifying high conservation value forests and the creation of protected areas for the protection of salmon habitat and other species. Read more...
On this side of the Pacific, my presentation in January at the Salmon 2100 Conference in Portland generated interest from both federal officials and regional government agencies involved in salmon conservation. The Northwest Power and Conservation Council, an organization working to balance the Northwest's environment and energy, asked the Wild Salmon Center to present our salmon stronghold prioritization strategy to the Council in Boise, Idaho in June. Following the presentation, the Bonneville Power Administration and the Council asked that we work together to identify the most important places of salmon biodiversity and strength in the Columbia Basin.
Finally, check out our new web pages for the Russian Far East program and learn more about our Sakhalin Salmon Initiative Conference October 31-November 2. The SSI conference will bring together representatives of local and indigenous communities, government, academia, NGOs, fishing and extractive industries and international institutions to discuss the long-term sustainable use and conservation of salmon on Sakhalin Island.
As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions. We deeply value your continued interest and support.
Best regards,
Guido Rahr, President and CEO