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Idaho's wild salmon are unlike any other in the world. They migrate from the ocean to their spawning beds farther (up to 900 miles) and higher (more than 6,000 feet) than any other species of salmon on Earth.
You can help today to prevent these magnificent fish from disappearing forever.
Adapting to survive
For thousands of years, salmon and steelhead (a type of salmon) have lived in the Snake River, the largest tributary of the Columbia River, which drains the Pacific Northwest. The massive Snake River system runs much of the length and breadth of Idaho, from its headwaters in Yellowstone country, through the agricultural fields of southern Idaho, to the spectacular scenery of Hells Canyon.
Historically, the Snake River and its tributaries supported nearly half of the spring and summer chinook and summer steelhead in the entire Columbia River basin. Idaho's salmon are uniquely adapted for Idaho's habitat. They can grow and thrive in the cold, high water of our alpine lakes and streams, and are genetically adapted to travel the long distance between Idaho and the Pacific Ocean.
That's why the threat of salmon extinction in Idaho is particularly chilling. Since Idaho's wild salmon are uniquely adapted to travel further and higher than any other salmon species in the world, they cannot be replaced with salmon from other rivers. Extinction would be forever.
Valuable contributions
Spring and summer chinook, which can grow to 50 pounds while maturing in the ocean, carry an exceptional amount of body energy in the form of oil and fat reserves. This reserve is essential because the fish do not eat on the journey from the ocean back to the rivers and streams where they were born. These fat reserves also are highly valuable to people, wildlife, and the ecosystem.
Many of our major rivers and streams drain from the Idaho batholith, the granite foundation of mountainous central Idaho. This rocky alpine landscape leaves waterways starved for nutrients. Thanks to decomposing salmon carcasses, our rivers, meadows and forests are fertilized by huge amounts of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus compounds) from the ocean.
Wild salmon are revered by Native Americans as an essential food source to this day. And Idaho salmon once supported a thriving commercial fishery in the Columbia River, where they were caught in prime condition fresh from the ocean. Although they are increasingly unavailable, tasty Snake River spring chinook fetch the highest price in the fish market.
Idaho's high-quality habitat
Out of thirteen stocks of salmon that are listed as endangered or threatened in the Northwest, four of those species are Idaho's fish. But our fish are, in a sense, the most important. Habitat for many other salmon species has been severely degraded over the past century. Idaho has the last large stronghold of pristine habitat -- the Snake River drainage currently supports about 70 percent of the remaining habitat in the entire Columbia River basin for spring and summer chinook and summer steelhead. That's because our wilderness and roadless areas provide more high quality habitat than anywhere in the Pacific Northwest. No other state in the lower 48 even comes close to having this kind of resource.
Idaho's free-flowing rivers provide thousands of miles of prime spawning and rearing habitat for wild salmon. If we could allow salmon to migrate successfully from this pristine habitat to the ocean,we'd have hundreds of thousands of adult salmon returning to Idaho each year.
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