Strongholds for the future

See what’s possible when people across the North Pacific work together to protect the world’s last, best salmon rivers. “Strongholds for the future,” our 2024 Impact Report, tells the story of Wild Salmon Center’s stronghold strategy in action.

The stronghold strategy has been our guide for 25 years. We built this strategy to ensure that salmon can continue to thrive for generations, and us alongside them. By proactively protecting our greatest salmon rivers, we also protect global food security, biodiversity, and climate resilience.

The stronghold strategy rests on three pillars: protections for land and water, wild salmon diversity, and local stewards. In our new report, we show how this unique approach is making an impact across the planet.

Report Highlights

In Alaska, long-standing federal law protects millions of public acres from mineral, oil, and gas development—including in iconic salmon watersheds like the Copper and Bristol Bay. We’re defending these land and water protections alongside business owners, Tribes, hunters, anglers, mushers, and outdoor enthusiasts.

In British Columbia, we’re advancing the science to better understand—and protect—wild fish diversity through technologies both new and ancient. Projects like Salmon Vision are now expanding to rivers across the province and accelerating the transition to data-rich, selective fisheries.

In Oregon and Washington, a growing network of local stewards share our vision of salmon rivers fully restored. With these partners, we’re scaling our whole-watershed restoration plans to 21 river systems in the next five years.

This past winter, in the scientific journal Fisheries, we published insights from decades of practical application of the stronghold strategy, so that conservationists and fisheries managers around the world can build on our experience, successes, and lessons learned.

Now, we share these powerful stories with you: from the sweeping land protections our coalition helped to secure in Alaska to our painstaking coho recovery campaign in Oregon.

Wild salmon and steelhead represent endurance, interconnection, and hope. We need the story of salmon more than ever. As you read through our new Impact Report, we hope you share our pride in how far we’ve come together, along with a renewed sense of resolve for the work ahead.

If you’re inspired, please make a gift today to help protect the wild salmon rivers of the North Pacific. Together we can ensure they endure for generations to come.