Elevate is excited to announce our partnership with the Wild Salmon Center! Through our 1% for the Planet commitment and partnership, we are giving 1% of our 2018 revenue to the Wild Salmon Center.

The Wild Salmon Center works to protect key salmon watersheds along the North American and Russian Pacific coasts. Their reputation and results speak for themselves. Why salmon? These fish are remarkable creatures and their well-being provides a simple litmus test for the overall ecology of vast river systems they habitat. When the salmon runs are healthy and intact, so is the forest and wildlife that surround these rivers. Furthermore, commercial, recreational, and subsistence fishing economies heavily depend on these undamaged river systems. They are the life blood of many communities across the Pacific Rim that rely on annual runs of wild salmon to survive (and thrive).

Currently, the Wild Salmon Center has projects in Oregon, Washington, Canada, Alaska and Russia. Most notably perhaps, is a current effort to prevent Pebble Mine from being developed in Alaska. This surface mine would run roughly 3 miles across pristine land and complex wetlands and threatens the highly-productive salmon rivers that drain into Bristol Bay. Correlating fact: Over half of the entire world’s sockeye salmon population is produced in the Bristol Bay watershed. Alaskans on both sides of the aisle are working to stop this project but the developing companies have millions of dollars to push their aspirations. The hope is that a mine won’t ever be developed in this unique environment, preventing a possible repeat of the 2014 Mount Polley mine disaster where over 5 billion gallons of contaminated water and toxic waste spilled into Canada’s Fraser River watershed when a similar mine’s tailings dam broke.

“We have learned from over two decades of work that the most effective protection of a salmon river comes before the damage is done” – Guido Rahr, WSC President and Chief Executive.

Find out more at www.wildsalmoncenter.org.