Headed up the Selway River one afternoon, we skidded to a stop along the narrow gravel road after catching the sight of salmon slowly making their way upstream. I’d never seen anything like that before in the Idaho mountains, and we all stood there watching them in awe.

A few miles later, still buzzing from that rare encounter with a Northwest icon, we stopped to check out Selway Falls. At the base of the impressive falls, a couple of guys who later introduced themselves as Nez Perce Tribal members were down near the water fishing. Within a couple minutes, one of them pulled a massive salmon out of the water. He stood there along the river with mist from the falls rising behind him as he held the fish up. “A wild fish for a wild Indian,” he said grinning.

That moment, with the roaring sound of the falls pounding in our ears, I felt hopeful, like a wild salmon renaissance was afoot. Those incredible experiences were over two decades ago and the plight of Northwest salmon has tragically gotten worse.

In 2019, fewer than 4,000 wild spring chinook salmon made their way back to Idaho from the Pacific. For historical context, millions of wild fish once returned in good years. It’s realities like these that can make the situation for salmon feel hopeless at times. How could we have let such an amazing animal, such an incredible cultural and economic resource, nearly come to an end here in what was once a rich, vibrant inland salmon and steelhead fishing region? The looming prospect of extinction is an epic moral failure of our time.

Every once in a while there is a bit of news though that shines rays of hope for the future. One of those moments materialized when Idaho Representative Mike Simpson recently announced a proposal for a Columbia Basin Fund that could keep salmon from going extinct. Surprising to many, the Idaho Republican’s plan calls for breaching the four lower Snake River dams in Eastern Washington.

Scientists believe those dams are the biggest cause behind dwindling salmon and steelhead runs in the Snake River basin that includes pristine rivers in Idaho, NE Oregon and SE Washington. It would also ensure that energy, transportation, and agricultural priorities—as well as local community development projects throughout the region—were funded through $34 billion in thoughtful infrastructure investments. It includes funds for upper Columbia River fish passage as well. 

Part of the deal, which was crafted after 300 meetings with a wide range of stakeholders over three years—would also take away conservation groups’ ability to file the lawsuits they’ve been using to leverage salmon protections for the next 35 years. A lull in litigation, Simpson insists, would give a wide range of interests more certainty when making long-term economic, management, and investment decisions.  

It’s not a perfect first draft and improvements should and can be made. But Simpson’s comprehensive proposal just might be the magic mix that ends the salmon wars with a happy ending instead of extinction.

So far Simpson’s plan has support from interests with serious skin in the game, from tribes and conservationists to electric utilities and shippers. For many, Simpson’s efforts seem to be a better solution than the status quo that has spent billions of dollars on salmon recovery and management efforts while fish numbers continue to decline.            

When the Lower Snake River dams were built, there were winners and losers, and day-to-day life and business as usual changed for the good or bad for a lot of people and communities. Simpson’s efforts could flip that dynamic around by making sure we do the right thing by saving salmon for the future without leaving impacted communities and interests behind.

Check out his proposal at Simpson.house.gov. Call and email your U.S. Senators and Representatives from Washington, Idaho, and Oregon and urge them to get behind this once-in-a-lifetime proposal to save Inland Northwest salmon while we still can.

Derrick Knowles is managing editor and co-publisher. He co-edited the book Holding Common Ground: The Individual and Public Lands in the American West (Eastern Washington University Press, 2005) along with Paul Lindholdt. Previously, Derrick worked for the non-profit environmental group Conservation Northwest.

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One of the hopes of conservation and recreation advocates and public land managers who fight for and manage our public lands and trails daily is that the COVID-spurred increase in public lands visitations will translate into more support for those lands. Lasting public support for future land, water, and wildlife conservation efforts as well as funding for the maintenance of our existing parks, trails, trailheads, and other recreation facilities and their management could be at least one positive outcome of the pandemic.   

A sign that we may be headed in that direction is the recent passage of the Great American Outdoors Act by a bi-partisan majority of the U.S. Senate. The legislation, which still needs the support of the U.S. House of Representatives before being signed by the president, which he has indicated he will do, could provide billions in needed deferred maintenance funds for our National Parks. Those funds would pay for things like trail and facility maintenance that have been neglected for years, and the bill would also provide permanent funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).

The LWCF is one of America’s most important conservation programs that’s been responsible for protecting parks, wildlife refuges, and other public lands and trails across federal, state, and local levels for 50 years. The fund provides crucial funding for conservation and recreation projects as well as the historic preservation of iconic national landmarks, all without tapping into taxpayer coffers; the LWCF is instead exclusively funded from a small portion of revenues from offshore oil and gas royalty payments, which for years have not been making it to the LWCF as intended. The Great American Outdoors Act would put an end to Congressional poaching of these dollars meant for our public lands. 

This isn’t a time to be cynical and hold off on calling your representative because you think they hate nature. (Click here for a directory of U.S. Representatives.) This legislation has broad, bipartisan support from a wide range of outdoors lovers, from hunters, anglers, and ATV riders to bird watchers, mountain bikers, and backpackers, along with many other diverse user groups with varied political convictions. Call or email them regularly until this thing passes so those of us who love the outdoors can all have something big and positive to celebrate together. Learn more about our public lands and the LWCF here to help inform your comments to Congress: Lwcfcoalition.com.

Also, stay tuned for the next issue of Out There, our September/October issue, which will be our first annual Public Lands issue. Email me for public lands related story pitches, advertising inquiries, or to financially support our effort to make our first and hopefully annual Public Lands issue a reality.

Derrick Knowles is editor-in-chief and co-publisher. He has spent more than 30 years exploring the Inland Northwest’s trails, mountains, lakes, and rivers. He lives in Spokane with his wife, Shallan, co-publisher and visual editor of OTO, and their young son.

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Traditional travel corridors for many wildlife species have been blocked or are under threat. Agriculture and urbanization account for over 43 percent of the earth’s land, and the remaining habitat is intersected by roadways and resource extraction. In some cases this has led to fragmentation or decline in populations. 

Wildlife use corridors to move from areas of low resources to areas of high resources. Elk, pronghorn, caribou, and other large mammals travel hundreds of miles from lower elevation winter grounds to higher summer ranges. These summer grounds are abundant in food with enough resources to rear offspring and store calories for the winter. The almost 200,000 member porcupine caribou herd is one of the only barren-ground herd that is thriving. These animals travel 1,500 miles, the longest mammal migration on Earth, from their calving grounds on the coastal plains of Alaska’s Beaufort Sea Arctic (parts of which are in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) to their winter shelter of the boreal forest of northwest Canada.  

Movement through these corridors allow for genetic diversity. Animals can find mates outside their family group, reducing issues that stem from low genetic diversity—including more susceptibility to diseases and populations being unable to cope with changes to their environments. One of the struggles to grizzly bear recovery is the movement of animals between different recovery zones where they can find mates and broaden their gene pool. 

There are several nearby projects that are helping to enhance wildlife movement. Just east of Snoqulamie Pass is an overpass designed to move animals, not cars. This area of I-90 sits in the middle of the North Cascades and creates a blockage for many animal species, not to mention collisions with wildlife. The overpass is planted with native vegetation and fences paired with an underpass crossing lets animals move north and south along the mountains.  

In the greater Spokane area, the work of Spokane’s Inland Northwest Land Conservancy helps to maintain habitat and connect corridors. The Rimrock to Riverside project is working to connect land between Palisades Park to Riverside State Park, allowing animals like moose, mule deer and coyotes to travel from the river to upland habitats. Hikers, runners, and mountain bikers will also take advantage of such corridors. 

Maintaining and creating wildlife corridors is a way we humans can support healthy wildlife populations, but they also give us green zones and trail connections to recreate and enjoy nature.

Adam Gebauer enjoys running and biking along his local wildlife corridors and his dog enjoys that deer use them too. He last wrote American white pelicans. 

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The Commute Smart Northwest program encourages commuters to use smart commuting options including walking, bicycling, teleworking, riding the bus, carpooling and vanpooling. Partnering with over 130 employers throughout Spokane County, the Commute Smart program reduced over 6,200 cars from the roads every day before COVID-19. “That number has increased substantially with so many people teleworking, biking and walking now,” notes Yamamoto. “Commute Smart participants on average save between $100 to $200 a month on their commute,” she adds. Find out how much you can save with the organization’s Commute Cost Calculator and start logging your Commute Smart trips for the chance to win monthly prize giveaways.

Learn more at CommuteSmartNW.org. 

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Eventually, Spirit Lake was stabilized with an 8,465-foot-long gravity-feed tunnel that cut through Harrys Ridge to South Coldwater Creek. Unfortunately, that ridge has continued to move each time Mount St. Helens moves throughout the decades. Twelve faults and sheer zones have squeezed and buckled the tunnel, causing engineers to close it several times for repairs. During one closure in the winter of 2016, Spirit Lake rose more than 30 feet. “It was definitely a wake-up call,” says Chris Strebig, a project director with the U.S. Forest Service, the agency that oversees the national monument. 

Rather than wait for a crisis or emergency, the Forest Service has decided to open up a second tunnel. This requires the Forest Service engineers and scientists to drill into the debris field to find the best option, and they need a road in order to move equipment around the debris field. But some ecologists, scientists, and conservation groups oppose the road. It was in a large part at their urging that the federal government created the monument in 1982, setting it aside as a place for “geologic forces and ecological succession to continue substantially unimpeded.” Many plots and experiments from 1980 are still studied today. In many minds, if you drop a road over the Pumice Plain, the research there would effectively be reduced to how life responds after a road is built. And the friction between the two sides is heating up with each new proposal from the Forest Service. Developments and plans have been put on hold for the moment, but it looks like Mount St. Helens could be the epicenter of another flare-up in the coming months.

Click here for more information on the new proposal.

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• Washington Trails Association
• Idaho Trails Association
• Evergreen East Mountain Bike Alliance
• Inland Northwest Land Conservancy
• Dishman Hills Conservancy
• Friends of the Bluff
• Idaho Conservation League
• Save Our Wild Salmon
• Backcountry Hunters and Anglers
• Kootenai Environmental Alliance
• Inland Northwest Wildlife Council
• The Lands Council

Short on cash? Write a letter to your elected officials or submit comments in support of a good cause like this one provided by Save Our Wild Salmon’s Inland NW Director Sam Mace.

Originally published as “Give Back to Mother Nature” in the April 2020 issue in the Social Distancing Survival Guide feature section.

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By Sam Mace, Save Our Wild Salmon’s Inland NW Director

It’s not news that our Snake River salmon and steelhead runs are in steep decline, with the last few years being particularly devastating.  Fish biologists, anglers and conservation groups have long advocated for removal of the four lower Snake River dams in southeast Washington as a necessary action to restore healthy, harvestable runs.   

A month ago, under court order, the Trump Administration released its draft plan for restoring Columbia-Snake salmon. Called a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), it includes six different alternatives, including a dam removal option (which the judge requested). While admitting that dam removal was the best action for salmon, the agencies punted in favor of business-as-usual.   

While required by law to provide 90 days for public comment, the agencies released the 4000-plus page DEIS with a mere 45-day comment window. Then they refused to extend it past April 13 despite the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Even with the administration’s lackluster approach, there is hope! Benefits from these dams have been in steep decline for 20 years while their impacts to salmon and steelhead grow. Communities and businesses dependent on fisheries for jobs, tourism, and recreation are becoming strong voices for dam removal, while orca scientists urge it as a necessary action to get starving Puget Sound orcas more food. Responding to constituents, decision-makers are beginning to support discussions around dam removal and what it would mean for salmon and the Northwest.  

Washington Governor Inslee funded a stakeholder process to ask the “what if” question in 2019. Oregon Governor Brown supported that effort in a letter to Inslee, noting that the science supports a free-flowing river. And last year Idaho Republican Rep. Mike Simpson publicly called for putting dam removal on the table and looking at transportation, energy, and economic investments that can benefit our region far more than four aging concrete plugs in the river. 

The politicians are listening. The salmon, steelhead, and orca need our voices. Quarantined at home? Go to Wildsalmon.org and click on the resource page for information and to submit a comment. You can also review all the DEIS documents (and send comments) at Nwd.usace.army.mil/CRSO. 

And then take the most important action: Send your comments to your elected officials. We know the Trump Administration will not solve our salmon crisis. We need to call on our Northwest governors and members of Congress to lead.

For more information contact Save Our Wild Salmon’s Inland NW Director at sam@wildsalmon.org. 

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Fresh victory for the PCT hot off the press:

Seattle Wash., October 18, 2012 – Today, The Trust for Public Land announced that 808 acres of private lands along the Pacific Crest Trail in Kittitas County, Washington have been protected and added to the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie and Wenatchee national forests.

The two properties, owned by Plum Creek Timber Company, include 1.5 miles of trail and provide striking views of the Cascade Range. Protecting the land consolidates “checkerboard lands,” a checkerboard pattern of Forest Service ownership and land that was originally granted to the Northern Pacific Railroad.  Consolidating these lands will enhance recreational access and protect scenic views and habitat for a variety of threatened and endangered species.

The Trust for Public Land worked with Plum Creek to secure the lands and funding for its protection.

“The Pacific Crest Trail is a very popular hiking destination and a place many go to view wildlife and enjoy the outdoors,” said Mike Deller, The Trust for Public Land’s Washington State Director.  “We have been working for over a decade to help consolidate these checkerboard lands to protect the trail and provide better access for the public and will continue to do so.”

The $1.126 million to purchase the two properties came from the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), the federal government’s main source of money for protecting land.  The source of the money is royalties paid by energy companies for offshore oil and gas drilling.

U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and U.S. Representative Dave Reichert support LWCF and the effort to protect land along the Pacific Crest Trail.

The Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail spans 2,650 miles from Mexico to Canada through California, Oregon, and Washington.  Acquiring these lands has been a priority for both the Pacific Crest Trail Association and the U.S. Forest Service.

This part of the trail is just north of the Norse Peak Wilderness Area.

“This means a lot to those of us who want to provide the natural experience in the Pacific Northwest,” said Mike Dawson, trail operations director for the Pacific Crest Trail Association. He said volunteer groups such as Backcountry Horsemen and North 350 Blades do hard manual labor to keep the trail open to the public. “This makes their work so much more valuable,” he said.

The I-90 Wildlife Bridges Coalition and Forterra also supported the protection of these two properties.

The Trust for Public Land is a national land conservation organization which preserves land for people to enjoy as parks, greenways and wilderness areas. Founded in 1972, TPL has protected more than 3 million acres in 47 states. www.tpl.org

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Contact: Karen Macdonald, The Trust for Public Land, (206) 587-2447, karen.macdonald@tpl.org

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Conservation efforts protect forest and farm land in Cougar Bay

Another 119 acres in the Cougar Bay area are now permanently protected from unwanted development. Joyce Randall chose to honor her parents, John and Betty Heine, by protecting her family’s historic dairy land overlooking Cougar Bay near Coeur d’Alene. Inland Northwest Land Trust worked with Joyce Randall to create aconservation easement that permanently restricts development and subdivision so the land will for ever remain as for est and meadow.

The Heine property is the latest achievement in the ef for t to protect Cougar Bay and the surrounding land. Cougar Bay provides important wildlife habitat as well as offers scenic views from Coeur d’Alene. Over the past decade, the Bureau of Land Management, Kootenai County, The Nature Conservancy and Inland Northwest Land Trust have protected over 700 acres in the area.

Ms. Randall’s parents, John and Betty Heine, spent their lives upon the land they loved and expressed their wish to conserve the land in perpetuity. “They loved the land and they wanted to see a healthy for est and wildlife habitat that survived for the future,” said Ms. Randall.

The land provides habitat for black bear, elk, badgers, and porcupine. Also, many birds such as Pileated woodpecker, Junco, quail, Northern Flicker and Swainson’s Thrush nest in the area. The plant and tree life is abundant with ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, shooting stars, glacier lilies, and spring beauties. Ms. Randall recalled, “My father just had such a huge love and respect for the woods. I remember him picking up plants after a washout and marveling at the leaves and roots.”

A conservation easement is a voluntary, legally binding agreement that limits certain types of uses or prevents development from taking place on a piece of property, generally in perpetuity, to protect the property’s ecological and open-space values. The landowner continues to own and manage the land. The Heine property is the 44^th conservation easement that Inland Northwest Land Trust holds.

Formed in 1991, Inland Northwest Land Trust is a local non-profit organization that works with willing private landowners to protect the region’s natural lands, waters, and working farms and for ests for the benefit of wildlife, our community and future generations. INLT has helped protect over 12,000 acres of prime habitat and working forests in eastern Washington and northern Idaho.

According to the Land Trust Alliance’s 2010 National Land Trust Census, organizations like Inland Northwest Land Trust have conserved over 10 million acres since 2005 despite a down economy. The census is online atwww.lta.org/census.

Photos available upon request. Visit our website at www.inlandnwlandtrust.org for a sampling of available images.

For Ms. Randall’s contact information and for more on this story, contact Chris DeForest at 509-328-2939 or cdeforest@inlandnwlandtrust.org or Vicki Egesdal (contact info below).

Vicki Egesdal
Director of Development
Inland Northwest Land Trust
35 W Main Ave Ste 210
Spokane WA 99201
509-328-2939
509-328-4733 fax
vegesdal@inlandnwlandtrust.org
www.inlandnwlandtrust.org

Protecting the region’s natural lands, waters, and working farms and forests for the benefit of wildlife, our community, and future generations.

We’re all about the “nature” in “near nature, near perfect.”

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