Snake River salmon are a "wow" species. They spawn by making a journey of 900 miles, to altitudes of 7,000 feet in the northwestern United States. No other salmon species on Earth goes higher or farther in the name of procreation. But they have to pass through eight dams on their way there ... and most of these magnificent fish don't make it past four of those dams in the lower Snake River. Such is the story of "The Greatest Migration," which could turn into a "What a Shame" extinction if action isn't taken to remove the four structures.
"The Greatest Migration" is a documentary being used by the nonprofit Save Our Wild Salmon to tell the tale of the vanishing salmon, and try and convince the Obama administration to remove the dams.
The documentary was done by EP Films, a group of three adventure/environmental journalists that produces multimedia content for groups like National Geographic, Wend, and the Wild & Scenic Film Festival.
Which brings us to the latest on the movie. It's being featured as part of the film fest's latest tour, which stops on Feb. 24 in West Chester, Pennsylvania, to benefit the Stroud Water Research Center (which gets credit for telling us about this movie). A trailer is below; you also can view the full 20-minute film here.
Think about the numbers again: 900 miles, 7,000 feet. And each one of us has probably turned down sex at one time or another just because we had a headache.
According to wildsalmon.org, the Snake River salmon spawning grounds are "the highest salmon spawning habitats on Earth, and the largest and wildest habitat left in the continental United States."
Marsh Creek. Challis National Forest, Idaho. Photo Credit: Neil Ever Osborne.
And those four federal dams are blocking access to a majority of the salmon, killing them before they make it to the end of their spawning journey. The dams could be replaced with clean, "salmon-safe" renewable sources, Save Our Wild Salmon argues. Climate change also is a threat to the cold-water species. And we've all probably complained about long lines and delays at the airport, too.
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