KETCHUM — Often overlooked in the quest to recover endangered salmon and steelhead in Idaho, the cultural and philosophical significance of Idaho’s anadromous fish will be the focus of a presentation at the Wood River Community YMCA in Ketchum on Thursday, July 29, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Presented by Idaho Rivers United, former Idaho Department of Fish and Game fisheries biologist Bert Bowler and Boise calligrapher Michael Jones, Salmon Quest will offer audiences information about salmon that includes art, history, storytelling and culture in addition to the underlying science of the issue.
“It’s about why we need to continue to work to educate and engage the public in the dialogue about the importance of salmon in Idaho,” said Bowler, who after 29 years with Fish and Game and six years with Idaho Rivers United now works as an independent advocate for salmon and steelhead at Boise-based Snake River Salmon Solutions. “It’s about getting in touch with the fish, why they’re important, why people should care. It goes beyond the raw numbers.”
Bowler said Snake River salmon are in trouble, and there is a lot of work to do to educate people about how they can be restored.
“The challenge we have is to engage and eventually motivate constituencies to support this very important icon, this cultural heritage, this ecological necessity to restore ecosystems,” Bowler said.
Jones, who has created more than a dozen pieces of salmon-centric calligraphy, said his salmon work has accumulated over the course of three to four years.
“My approach is not as a scientist, but as someone who lives in the Northwest and who feels a strong connection to the ecosystem I live in,” he said. “The salmon have historically been such an important part of life in the Northwest. I feel culturally, emotionally and philosophically motivated to encourage people to recognize the importance of salmon to our lives in this part of the world.”
Jones said cultural and philosophical points of view often seem out of place in scientific and political discussions, “but I think it’s really important to have them as part of those perspectives.”
Born and raised in Caldwell, Idaho, Jones left his native Idaho for a while before returning and embracing some of the state’s natural resources political discussions. In addition to his involvement with salmon recovery, he was co-founder of the Snake River Alliance in 1979.
When Lewis & Clark passed through Idaho, salmon ran up the Columbia and Snake Rivers by the millions—2.5 million fish returning from the ocean to the Snake River basin each year.
Salmon are a historic Idaho icon—they have fed families, boosted the economy, challenged determined anglers, and have been the ecological cornerstone of Idaho's treasured wild places for centuries.
Idaho’s Sockeye salmon were listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 1991, and Idaho’s chinook salmon were listed as threatened in 1992. Steelhead, an ocean-going breed of trout, were listed as threatened in 1997.
All of Idaho’s endangered anadromous stock remain protected by the Endangered Species Act today.
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