https://northweststrong.org/home daily 1.0 2021-09-03 https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5fc7fda9bf154d01a0b36521/t/5ffe159d2ba80d3767d454f7/1630706352434/Copy+of+B+%284%29.png Home - Northwest Strong Cultivating Alliances on the Columbia and Snake Rivers We are here to invoke and honor the spirit of the Pacific Northwest, one that is focused on values, community, and common ground. Because it turns out when we talk to one another, we have a whole lot more in common than not. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5fc7fda9bf154d01a0b36521/t/5fc80b675d06c957858b38c0/1607043176016/Upper+Snake+River+Allies.jpg Home - Upper Snake River Allies Flowing from the heart of the Teton Mountains, the Snake River and its legendary tributaries—such as the Salmon, the Selway, the Lochsa, the Clearwater and the Payette—connect high-elevation communities with returning wild salmon that migrate more than 1,000 miles inland and nearly 7,000 feet in elevation. The Salmon River watershed runs through the heart of the 2.5 million-acre Frank Church Wilderness, the largest roadless area and contiguous wilderness—and the best remaining protected salmon spawning habitat—in the Lower 48. Upper Snake River Allies photographed by Becca Skinner. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5fc7fda9bf154d01a0b36521/t/5fc80c050b0ca147a56bb31c/1606945838180/Sammy+Matsaw_Upper+Snake.jpg Home - Sammy Matsaw “Our story, and that of the salmon, is one of perseverance and resilience and thriving. We’re still here and we’re still strong. This is about who we are and who we want to be.” https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5fc7fda9bf154d01a0b36521/t/5fc80c3b0b0ca147a56bc3e0/1606945886592/Anna+Lindstedt_Upper+Snake.jpg Home - Anna Lindstedt "We all share a reliance on the river system and the common responsibility to protect it as a life-sustaining resource for future generations." https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5fc7fda9bf154d01a0b36521/t/5fc80bde723ab40260522e42/1606945783941/Jessica+Matsaw_Upper+Snake.jpg Home - Jessica Matsaw “It goes beyond me. This place is all the things I want for my kids, and all the things I want for the young people of my Tribe. My grandkids are going to know about these relatives and this river.” https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5fc7fda9bf154d01a0b36521/t/5fc80b295d06c957858b2e43/1606945962834/Lower+Snake+Allies.jpg Home - Lower Snake River Allies The Lower Snake is a gateway; coursing through the high-desert rolling Palouse hills of Eastern Washington. This hard-working waterway has helped farmers irrigate farms and deliver their goods to market since the 1960s and 70’s when the Lower Snake River dams were constructed. And since time immemorial, the Lower Snake has welcomed home Snake River salmon, steelhead and lamprey to access Idaho and Northeast Oregon’s cold, clean mountain streams—feeding the human communities and powering a thriving economic engine in the Pacific Northwest for more than 13,000 years. Lower Snake River Allies photographed by Ben Herndon. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5fc7fda9bf154d01a0b36521/t/5fc8088ced5bab3bcc8eb107/1606944340039/Mark+Deming_Lower+Snake.jpg Home - Mark Deming “I can’t in good conscience support dam removal unless I know we’re taking care of our communities here in the Inland Northwest. We need a big, bold solution that moves the region forward, not backward.” https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5fc7fda9bf154d01a0b36521/t/5fc8088ced5bab3bcc8eb104/1606944340035/Julian+Matthews_Lower+Snake.jpg Home - Julian Matthews “I'm making sure that a hundred years from now, those people aren't going to lose out on something that we have today. To get there, we need to remove the four lower Snake River dams. That's why we're really fighting with the salmon.” https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5fc7fda9bf154d01a0b36521/t/5fc8088ced5bab3bcc8eb101/1606944340031/Lucinda+George+Simpson_Lower+Snake.jpg Home - Lucinda George Simpson “The salmon have been a way of life for the Nez Perce for millennia. To us, this is a tribal thing. It's not just one person doing this for themselves. It's us building something for our people and for our community. Without these things that are cultural and traditional, we have no tribe.” https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5fc7fda9bf154d01a0b36521/t/5fc80d483d9ef76cdd351e90/1606946167393/Barrett+Ames_Lower+Columbia.jpg Home - Barrett Ames “We're all stronger together. We have a lot more common ground and we all have way more to gain if we can work together.” https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5fc7fda9bf154d01a0b36521/t/5fc80d183d9ef76cdd3512d5/1606946094556/Amy+Grondin_Lower+Columbia.jpg Home - Amy Grondin “At the heart of it, we want the same thing. We want a job. We want to take care of ourselves, our family and our heritage. We need to get together.” https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5fc7fda9bf154d01a0b36521/t/5fc80d8333333d0cfb3f91c2/1606946208053/Liz+Hamilton_Lower+Columbia.jpg Home - Liz Hamilton “This is common ground for all of us. We all have salmon in common in the Pacific Northwest. This issue speaks to who we are as a society.” https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5fc7fda9bf154d01a0b36521/t/5fc80cd63fd91c1afac4e59e/1607043542294/Lower+Columbia+Allies.jpg Home - Lower Columbia River Allies The Lower Columbia is so connected to the Pacific Ocean that even more than 100 miles from the sea, strong tides push and pull the river’s flow through the city of Portland, Oregon. The mighty Columbia River and its largest tributary, the Snake, historically welcomed the greatest salmon runs on earth. When Lewis and Clark first explored the Pacific Northwest, they wrote about the rivers and streams of Idaho being so thick with wild salmon that you could walk across their backs. It’s no coincidence that wild salmon form the backbone of our culture, economy and ecosystems. Lower Columbia River Allies photographed by Corey Arnold.