In the spring and summer of 2022, The Grand Salmon Team kayaked the Salmon River from the source to the sea as a conservation project promoting the removal of the four Lower Snake River dams and a moratorium on the Stibnite Gold Mine. The team of women followed the natural migration of anadromous fish from their spawning grounds to the ocean, stopping in communities along the journey to meet with those who are most impacted by the salmon declines. They are now producing The Grand Salmon Film, which will use the narrative of the 1,000+ mile expedition as a catalyst to tell the story of the declining salmon populations of the Snake River Basin, with a call to action urging Congress to breach the four Lower Snake River dams and place a moratorium on the Stibnite Gold Mine.

Sockeye Salmon are an anadromous fish species, which means they are born at the headwaters of cold mountain streams, but spend the majority of their lives in the ocean. To get there, they migrate downstream from their hatching grounds through the river channels leading to the ocean – sometimes over 1,000 miles. When they are old enough to spawn, or reproduce, they migrate all the way back upstream to where they were born – their spawning grounds. These salmon migrations are vital for salmon species survival, but dams, mines, and other human activities have been threatening these migration paths for decades.

In 2021, there were four wild adult Sockeye Salmon that survived the migration back to their spawning grounds at the headwaters of the Salmon River in central Idaho. Scientists blame the high mortality rates in Snake River Basin salmon on the four Lower Snake River dams that quite literally have the salmon running into walls.

In April, 2022, The Grand Salmon team set off on an expedition from the headwaters of the Salmon River to the Pacific Ocean, following the natural migration of these anadromous fish. Each woman on the team brought an academic background in environmental or fisheries science, plus careers as professional whitewater kayakers and river guides.

The women spent 79 days skiing, whitewater kayaking, and sea kayaking 1,000+ miles source-to-sea through Idaho, Oregon, and Washington as a conservation campaign promoting the removal of the four Lower Snake River dams, in order to save the rapidly dwindling Snake River Basin salmon populations from extinction.

They timed their expedition to follow the natural outward migration path of the juvenile salmon smolts on their way from their hatching/spawning grounds to the Pacific Ocean, and spent a significant portion of the expedition campaigning via social media and grassroots events for dam removal. The team reached over 300,000 people via social media, 1,200 people at in-person events, and sent 350 postcards to Congress. They arrived at the ocean on July 15th, around the same time the salmon smolts reached the ocean, and around the same time the White House Council on Environmental Quality released a statement urging Congress to breach the four Lower Snake River dams! The team was recently named Idaho Rivers United's 2022 Salmon Advocates of the Year.

The Grand Salmon team has beautiful footage from the expedition, and even better stories to tell. The short film they are producing will use the expedition narrative as a catalyst to tell the story of the declining salmon populations of the Snake River Basin, and how the communities surrounding the river are fighting for their restoration. The journey that the women traveled, following the natural migration of anadromous fish, will weave together the knowledge that exists in the communities most impacted by the declining salmon populations throughout the entire watershed - from source to sea. The film will be a call to action encouraging Congress to breach the four Lower Snake River dams.

Support for this project will allow the team to finish producing The Grand Salmon Film!