There are fewer than 80 Southern Resident orcas left – this small community is living on the edge of extinction.
Southern Resident orcas depend on healthy and abundant wild stocks of Chinook salmon – the largest and fattiest type of salmon. Without enough food, the Southern Resident orcas are starving. To save this unique community of orcas, we must recover the Chinook salmon they rely on, from the Fraser River in Canada to the Central Valley in California. #MigrationNation focuses on smart, strategic solutions to restore salmon in the Northwest and California, and to rebuild healthy ecosystems for the long-term survival of Southern Resident orcas and salmon.
BREAKING: H.R. 3144 is a dangerous bill that would hurt salmon and orcas in the Northwest.
This bill is anti-salmon legislation that would overturn multiple court decisions and undermine major federal laws, including the Endangered Species Act. It stops critical actions to help endangered salmon in the Columbia River Basin - and Southern Resident orcas need that salmon. We beat this bad bill once before, but now we need your help again. H.R. 3144 has already passed through the Natural Resource Committee in the House of Representatives, and could be voted on as early as next week.
The Columbia River system was one of the greatest salmon rivers in the world, home to an estimated 10-16 million fish each year. Today, salmon abundance is a fraction of what it once was, and the majority of fish are hatchery-produced. Wild stocks are continuing to plummet as they try to survive in a river that has been greatly altered from its natural state.
The four lower Snake River dams stand between the Columbia River and the high-elevation, pristine, protected wilderness of the Snake River drainage. Removing these dams restores access to an area salmon experts believe offers Columbia Basin salmon their best chance of recovery. In 2016, a Federal Court ruled that the latest federal plan for protecting endangered salmon in the Columbia Basin was fatally flawed. For the first time in over a decade, the public was able to weigh in on a new plan and insist on real action for salmon in the Northwest. WDC and our allies submitted nearly 400,000 comments requesting the agencies do the right thing to help wild salmon. That's the power of the #MigrationNation!
You can help them!
Call, email, or write your Representatives and Senators and tell them to vote NO on H.R. 3144! This bill is bad for salmon, orcas and the Northwest. Looking for an even easier way to contact your elected officials?
Download the Stance app and record a voice message!
Sign our petition!
[contact-form-7 id="18193" title="SRO petition"]
