Modest Progress but Challenges Remain
Salmon have shaped the Pacific Northwest for millions of years. They are vital to Tribes and Treaty Rights, the economy, the health of waterways, orcas and other wildlife, and Washington’s way of life. Few other species are so deeply embedded in the culture, so connected to the land and water, or invoke such inspiration through their long-distance migrations from mountain streams to the Pacific Ocean and back again.
Salmon are resilient creatures. They have endured through a century and a half of obstacles from habitat loss, blocked migration, overharvest, and polluted waterways. Today, salmon continue to persist in the face of past and current challenges including climate change and population growth. Their resiliency has given them a chance at recovery.
While far too many salmon species still are in crisis across the state, there are signs of modest improvements for some salmon species. This is good news and suggests that progress is possible. The question is whether these modest improvements can be sustained for those species and whether progress is possible for other species in the state.
Salmon throughout Washington are making modest progress but many challenges remain.
Salmon Recovery in Washington
In response to the federal Endangered Species Act listings in the 1990s, Washington State passed the Salmon Recovery Act in 1998 and crafted a first-of-its kind statewide salmon recovery strategy in 1999 called Extinction is Not an Option. Washington took a unique approach and based its plan around watersheds and local communities. Washington is the only state in the country where the federal Endangered Species Act recovery plans were developed locally by regional salmon recovery organizations and approved and adopted by the federal government. The regional salmon recovery plans guide state, federal, and local salmon recovery efforts.
This locally led effort during the past three decades brought thousands of people across the state together with state and federal agencies, Tribes, regional recovery organizations, lead entities, and nonprofits to recover salmon stream by stream, watershed by watershed.
In 2021, the State updated its statewide salmon strategy and reconvened the Natural Resources Subcabinet to coordinate state agency implementation of the strategy. The Legislature directed the Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office to develop a biennial work plan that aligns state agency priorities with the statewide strategy, regional salmon recovery plans, and Tribal priorities. This work is ongoing and informs state budget and policy priorities for salmon recovery.
Washington is the only state in the country where the federal Endangered Species Act recovery plans were developed locally by regional salmon recovery organizations and approved and adopted by the federal government.
The video on the home page is by David Hahn and is part of a video series on wild, native salmon in Washington’s Sol Duc River. Filmed in Barking Dog Hole on the Olympic Peninsula in summer 2016, the video was created for Forks Intermediate School’s sixth-grade science classes.
The banner photograph on this page is of a chum salmon in McAllister Springs in Thurston County by Roger Tabor, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The middle photograph of a Chinook salmon in the Cedar River was taken by Jess Newley, Friends of the San Juans. The bottom photograph is of Icicle Creek near Leavenworth taken by Marc Duboiski, formerly of the Recreation and Conservation Office.