New Video Emphasizes Why Salmon Are Important to Washington State

By Dustin Bilhimer, Water Quality Program

Photo Credit: Lloyd Moody

Earlier this year, the Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office (GSRO) published the 2012 State of Salmon in Watersheds Report describing the importance of improving salmon habitat, water quality, and salmon populations in our state. GSRO recently produced an excellent, 10-minute video titled “State of Salmon: Restoring a Washington Icon” (now available on YouTube) about why salmon are important, and it includes perspectives from tribes, agencies, scientists, public citizens and other salmon recovery partners working to bring salmon back from the brink of extinction.

The video from GSRO does a fantastic job of highlighting some of these successes, and has interviews with salmon recovery partners who explain not only why this work is important for recovering salmon and restoring a part of our shared natural heritage, but also why it is good for the economy and people too. Salmon recovery is a part of our State’s economic recovery.

There are many different organizations and people that contribute to the recovery work, including the Department of Ecology. You can read about the water quality improvement work in the State of Salmon Report as well as on Ecology’s web pages for monitoring data and water quality improvement projects.

While all this work has resulted in some successes, there are still many more improvements needed. Partnerships, science-based management approaches, continued funding, and dedication from the people working to improve salmon populations are the ingredients necessary for successful recovery. However, the biggest variables in the recipe for salmon recovery and water quality improvement are the actions each of us can take to reduce our pollution impacts on our rivers, lakes, and the Puget Sound.

Here are some links to further information on ways to reduce pollution:

• How Ecology implements water quality improvements through regulations and financial assistance
• How Landowners can protect water quality
• What you can do to make a big difference

Be sure to check out this inspirational video! There are also additional 2-3 minute videos with extended interviews from some of the key leaders shown in the longer video available from the Washington RCO YouTube channel.

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