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Federal Legislation Protects "Salmon Strongholds"Press Releases

West coast senators introduce bill to protect healthiest Pacific salmon rivers.

Thursday, U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced federal legislation to support protection and restoration of the healthiest remaining wild Pacific salmon ecosystems in North America--known as "Salmon Strongholds." The bipartisan bill will complement efforts to recover threatened and endangered salmon populations by directing additional resources toward voluntary, incentive-based conservation efforts in stronghold basins across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, and Alaska.

"While current federal salmon recovery efforts focus on recovering salmon listed under the Endangered Species Act aiming to restore what we've lost, the Salmon Stronghold Act aims to protect what we already have," said Cantwell. "This legislation complements ongoing recovery efforts to ensure the future viability of healthy wild Pacific salmon runs for generations to come."

The Pacific Salmon Stronghold Conservation Act will provide federal support and resources for proactive, collaborative conservation projects in a network of the most abundant, productive, and diverse wild salmon ecosystems.

The primary purposes of the bill are to:

• Provide statutory direction to focus resources on protecting healthy salmon ecosystems;
• Promote enhanced coordination and cooperation of federal, tribal, state and local governments, non-governmental organizations, and private landowners in implementing high value salmon conservation projects in salmon strongholds;
• Leverage private funding to support cooperative conservation in stronghold basins;
• Protect key production zones for commercial and recreational salmon fisheries, thereby sustaining thousands of jobs and maintaining a source of sustainably harvested local seafood; and
• Save billions of dollars in future restoration and stock rebuilding efforts by protecting our healthiest remaining wild salmon populations now.

"This legislation will accelerate voluntary, public-private efforts that are currently underway to protect salmon strongholds," said Greg Block, Vice President of Conservation for the Wild Salmon Center. "Healthy wild salmon ecosystems provide clean water, thriving food webs, and increased economic and cultural opportunities for our communities."

"This bill is an excellent complement to the Endangered Species Act and international salmon treaties," said William D. Ruckelshaus, chairman of the Puget Sound Partnership. "By protecting the best remaining Pacific salmon ecosystems throughout their range, wild salmon cannot only survive, but thrive, for generations to come."

Partnership Supports Salmon Strongholds

The North American Salmon Stronghold Partnership is a voluntary, public-private effort between state and federal agencies, tribal governments, non-governmental organizations, fishing associations, and private landowners working together to protect and restore the healthiest remaining wild Pacific salmon ecosystems in North America. The Partnership works with local stakeholders to accomplish salmon conservation goals and taps into the expertise of numerous state, federal, and tribal land managers to accelerate complex, high impact conservation actions that are difficult to handle at the local level.

"This initiative will help provide local salmon leaders with the tools and incentives they need to maintain our healthy salmon ecosystems," said Sara LaBorde, Special Assistant to the Director of Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife and Chair of the North American Salmon Stronghold Partnership. "It will enhance state, federal and local coordination and help streamline the delivery of vital resources to these communities."

"Identifying and protecting the best of what we have is one of the fundamental tenets of conservation biology," said Alan Moore of Trout Unlimited. "This bill paves the way for securing those protections for strongholds of Pacific salmon and steelhead across their native range, and should complement many of the ongoing restoration and recovery efforts already underway."

Based on expert scientific opinion, the North American Salmon Stronghold Partnership has identified core centers of wild salmon abundance and diversity--salmon strongholds--that will serve as a basis for where resources are allocated. Currently identified salmon strongholds cover approximately 20 percent of the existing range of Pacific salmon in the lower 48 states. Focusing on this 20 percent could conserve nearly half of the total abundance of salmon in this region.

Related Links

• Pacific Salmon Stronghold Conservation Act 2008
• Background on Legislation