The ‘Run for Salmon Runs’ crosses the finish line

This time of year, salmon runs across the Pacific Northwest are making their treks from the ocean upriver to their spawning grounds where they’ll reproduce, die and provide vital nutrients to the surrounding ecosystem. On the Snake River, however, roughly 140 miles of salmon habitat are blocked by four dams. Experts point to this area as one of the main reasons Chinook salmon populations are at a fraction of their historic numbers and restoring these runs would have immediate downstream effects on starving Southern Resident orcas that rely on Chinook salmon as a primary food source.

To build visibility for this issue, we organized the “Run for Salmon Runs“. This seven-day week of movement and action aimed to involve people in our campaign to spotlight the plight of orcas and salmon, and to call for the removal of the Lower Snake River Dams.

Participants pledged to traverse 14 miles of the course of the week, representing one-tenth the distance of river impacted by the dams. Our Oceans Advocate, Ian Giancarlo, also organized seven community runs across Portland in and effort to run 140 miles, representing the full distance of impacted river, and to bring people together.

Now that the week is over, the final numbers are in: dozens of people took action to advocate for orcas and salmon, collectively traversed over 700 miles – the equivalent of running from Portland to Yosemite National Park – and had some fun along the way.

Here are just a few photo highlights from a successful week of advocacy and movement:

However with the “Run for Salmon Runs” crossing the finish line, our work doesn’t stop now. To truly safeguard the fate of Southern Resident orcas and the salmon they rely on, the Lower Snake River dams will need to come down, soon. There’s only 75 Southern Resident orcas left and experts suggest we’re witnessing a “bright extinction“: where an animal is visibly disappearing right in front us and we have solutions to address it.

That’s why we’re continuing to call on our state leaders to support the removal of these dams, which will have positive downstream effects on salmon and the orcas that need them.

You can join us in calling on them to do so.