Local rivers and the magnificent fish in them have been top of mind recently. On Monday night we attended a World Affairs Council-sponsored series of talks by professional river savers at the EcoTrust Building in the Pearl District.
We enjoyed hearing from Jeremy Five Crows of the Nez Pierce tribe and the Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission. He educated us on the Columbia Basin Fish Accords, an historic collaboration between the four tribes in the Columbia River basin and the federal government. At the heart of the Accords is a 10-year, $900 million agreement to restore salmon habitat. Five Crows mentioned that the tribes can’t advocate for dam removal during this 10-year term, which I found interesting. He didn’t say anything about the rest of us pursuing that particular goal.
Today, while doing my internet rounds, I happened upon Rivers in Demand a project from media advocacy group, Epicocity. Here’s a sample of their mission-driven work:
As you can see in the video above, the Rogue’s 40 anniversary of protection under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act was greeted by a proposal to log in its basin. Thankfully, a coalition of concerned groups, called Save The Wild Rogue, is working to extend Wild and Scenic protection to the Rogues tributaries, which would stymie the logging plan.
Kavita Heyn of American Rivers (where I once worked!) and Stephanie Tidwell of Klamath-Siskiyou Wild are helping to lead the charge for the Rogue.