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North Fork John Day, Oregon

North Fork John Day, Oregon

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The North American Salmon Stronghold Partnership accelerates protection and restoration in our healthiest rivers and core centers of wild salmon abundance and diversity.

North American Salmon Stronghold Partnership

The North American Salmon Stronghold Partnership unites public and private resources in a voluntary, incentive-based approach to protect the healthiest remaining salmon ecosystems in North America. The Partnership includes local communities, state and federal agencies, nonprofit organizations, tribes, business interests and private landowners who are working collaboratively on salmon conservation and restoration activities across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, and Alaska.

Focusing on Salmon Strongholds

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The North American Salmon Stronghold Partnership complements salmon recovery activities by supporting proactive, collaborative conservation projects, and focusing resources on a network of our most abundant, productive and diverse salmon river ecosystems--America's wild salmon strongholds.

While recovery of threatened and endangered wild Pacific salmon populations is vital, this approach needs to be supplemented with a strategy to conserve the strongest populations of wild salmon to keep them healthy and prevent them from declining. The Pacific Salmon Stronghold Conservation Act introduced in April 2009 will create a new, proactive U.S. policy to focus federal support and resources on the protection and restoration of salmon strongholds, as a complement to recovery.

By working with communities to conserve these key salmon ecosystems, we will ensure these rivers continue to provide sustainable environmental and economic services for generations to come. These services include fresh water, timber, and the fish and wildlife that generate long-term revenue and sustainable recreational and commercial fisheries.

Community-Driven

Local community involvement is essential to long-term salmon conservation and river restoration efforts. In each stronghold basin, the partners determine which populations of salmon and steelhead are strongest, prioritize the actions necessary to keep these populations healthy, and support completion of these conservation actions.

The Stronghold Partnership provides resources and expertise to facilitate high-value conservation action at the basin level and coordinates with multiple agencies and land managers to accelerate complex conservation actions across federal, state, tribal and private lands that would be difficult to handle at the local level. The Stronghold Partnership leverages public and private funding sources, and taps into the expertise of numerous state and federal land agency experts and scientists to create a sustainable, locally-driven, incentive-based approach to salmon conservation.

Endorsed Strongholds

Following a rigorous two year, science-based process, a team of scientists organized by the Wild Salmon Center identified Stronghold populations for wild salmon and steelhead across Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and California. Criteria used to identify strong populations include abundance and productivity (viability), the percentage of natural origin spawners, and life history diversity. See Multi-Species Salmon Population map.

The Steering Committee reviewed requests from local basin liaisons and endorsed nine Stronghold basins:

  • John Day, OR
  • Sandy, OR
  • Siletz, OR
  • Elk, OR
  • Rogue-Illinois, OR
  • Smith, CA
  • Wenatchee, WA
  • Queets/Quinault, WA
  • Lemhi, ID

This initial set of endorsed Stronghold basins represents a diverse array of conservation opportunities that the Steering Committee will consider during development of the Strategic Plan. The Steering Committee intends to focus attention and resources to support conservation, restoration, and protection of these strong populations and watersheds with high intrinsic potential. See North American Salmon Stronghold map.

Partnership Steering Committee

  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
  • US Fish and Wildlife Service
  • Bonneville Power Administration
  • Environmental Protection Agency
  • US Forest Service
  • Columbia Intertribal Fish Commission
  • Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game
  • Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife
  • Washington Salmon Recovery Office
  • Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife
  • Oregon Governor's Office
  • Idaho Office of Species Conservation
  • California Dept. of Fish and Game
  • Northwest Power and Conservation Council
  • Trout Unlimited
  • The Nature Conservancy
  • Wild Salmon Center

Pacific Salmon Stronghold Conservation Act

The Pacific Salmon Stronghold Conservation Act (S. 817; H.R. 2055) will establish a new, proactive U.S. policy recognizing the need for conservation of salmon strongholds as a complement to recovery of federally-listed salmon populations. It will also create a grants program to support cooperative conservation efforts that implement locally-led, high value conservation actions in healthy wild salmon ecosystems across Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, and Alaska.

In April 2009, Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and the entire West Coast Senate delegation introduced federal legislation to protect and restore the healthiest remaining wild Pacific salmon ecosystems in North America—"Salmon Strongholds." A companion bill was introduced in the U.S. House on April 22nd by Representatives Mike Thompson (D-CA 1st) and Mike Simpson (R-ID 2nd), with co-sponsorship from members in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and California.

On June 16th in Washington D.C., the House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans, and Wildlife held a favorable hearing on the Act. Three of our partners, Sara LaBorde (North American Salmon Stronghold Partnership; WA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife), Jack Williams (Trout Unlimited), and Tom Weseloh (California Trout), testified in support of the legislation. The National Marine Fisheries Service's Acting Assistant Administrator and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Director of Fisheries and Habitat Conservation also testified in favor of the salmon stronghold strategy, signaling support from the Obama Administration.

Current Status: H.R. 2055 is currently being debated in the House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans, and Wildlife. The bill has 42 co-sponsors, including members from all five Pacific salmon states and others across the country. S. 817 was referred to the Senate Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard, chaired by Senator Cantwell.

Next Steps: The House bill will undergo a Subcommittee mark-up and will then be referred to the Natural Resources Committee for consideration. A hearing on the Senate bill will likely be held in winter or early spring of 2010.

Bill Status: For the latest Bill Status, go to: http://thomas.loc.gov/ and enter the Bill Number:
S. 817 or H.R. 2055.

Take Action: To learn more about what you can do to support this legislation, contact Laurele Fulkerson at lfulkerson@wildsalmoncenter.org.

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