Restoring abundant, self-sustaining fishable populations of salmon and steelhead
Jan 24, 2022 6:40 PM
Joseph Bogaard of Save Our wild Salmon Coalition
Restoring abundant, self-sustaining fishable populations of salmon and steelhead
Joseph Bogaard is the executive director of Save Our wild Salmon, a coalition of northwest and national conservation organizations, recreational and commercial fishing associations, clean energy and orca advocates, businesses and citizens committed to protecting and restoring abundant, self-sustaining fishable populations of salmon and steelhead to the Columbia-Snake River Basin for the benefit of people and ecosystems.
 
Joseph will provide Rotarians new perspective on the Columbia-Snake River Basin, once the most prolific salmon landscape on the planet – experiencing returns of adult wild salmon and steelhead exceeding 16 million fish annually. He will explain how populations have plummeted, due mainly to the scores of large dams built on the Columbia and Snake Rivers last century. Thirteen populations are listed under the Endangered Species Act. All four remaining salmon and steelhead populations in the Snake River Basin are at risk of extinction.
 
Joseph began working for Save Our Wild Salmon in 1996. He first got hooked on Northwest salmon restoration efforts while in graduate school where he authored a paper in the early-1990s, exploring the then-relatively recent Snake River salmon listings under the Endangered Species Act, and how it might impact the region and its federal lands and dams. Before joining the SOS team, Joseph spent many years teaching and working in the forests and mountains of the West. Today, Joseph lives on Vashon Island with his wonderful wife Amy and two children Liesl and Jeremiah.