| Dear activist,
This coming spring, ZERO wild Chinook salmon might make it from the ocean to their spawning grounds in the headwaters of the Willamette River in Oregon. This year it was fewer than 5,000. Seventy years ago it was more than 300,000.
We know how to reverse this trend.
Chinook salmon are disappearing from the Upper Willamette, despite being protected as a “threatened” species under the Endangered Species Act for 19 years. In Oregon, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers knows these fish are dying because of their dams, and it knows exactly how to save them—install fish ladders. Yet, for decades, it has done nothing, and Chinook now teeter on the brink of extinction.
This one public agency is willfully abandoning its responsibility to protect the wild and our shared heritage. This is INEXCUSABLE. And it’s why WildEarth Guardians stepped in and sued the Corps earlier this month.
Support this work with a gift of $50, $100, $250 or more, and ensure Guardians remains agile and hard-hitting in defending those that can’t defend themselves, like the wild Chinook salmon.
Salmon have muscled their way up the Willamette for millions of years, driven by a biological imperative to lay their eggs and protect their offspring until their dying breath. They nourish the Pacific Rim cultures along their path, as well as the bears, bald eagles, cedar trees, and salmonberry plants that call the Pacific Northwest home. But these days, they die before they reach their spawning grounds, victims of the enormous dams that block their way.
When the circle of life is broken—no, shattered—like this, we all lose.
Join me now, and we can protect Chinook and all voiceless species in the courts, in Congress, and in every river basin longing for the return of its beloved fish. Will you join us in the fight to save our salmon? |
John Horning, Executive Director
150billionandrising.com 