White Salmon River Education and Outreach

Through the course of this grant, the White Salmon River (WSR) Experiential Learning Project team provided a rich variety and saturation of education to local schools and the community communicating Condit Dam’s history, its decommissioning, and the restoration of the White Salmon River.
Watershed educators for this grant provided over 50 presentations and 42 field trips between spring 2011 and fall 2013 in both Oregon and Washington to 17 schools and institutions reaching over 2311 students, 85 teachers and adult (chaperones, volunteers, aides, etc.). Four 7th grade classes (92 students total) also received training on and conducted water quality testing in the WSR related to the dam removal (Oct. ’11 and April ’13).

Workshops & Events:
• Underwood Conservation District presented 5 public workshops on watershed and land use best management practices to local landowners with a total of 78 attendees (2011).
• Staff took part in Art & Wine Fusion Event in downtown White Salmon (one-day event 2011 included parade, kids’ art activity and WSR info booth; 2012 kids’ parade, “Welcome Home, Salmon!” banner and giant salmon “float”);
• Hood River County Fair (2011 & 2012 info booth staffed for two days);
• Trout Lake Arts Festival (info booth staffed 1 day), month-long display at White Salmon public library (through October 2011);
• Jane Goodall “Roots & Shoots” students’ presentation/poster in Salem, OR in October 2011;
• month-long “Welcome Home, Salmon” art show/ awareness-raiser featuring salmon art (Sept. 2012) at WS Library;
• White Salmon River Homecoming Celebration community event (rafting, speakers, info displays/booths, salmon bake, Sept. 29th, 2012) in Husum, WA;
• presentation to Portland State Univ. Ecosystem Services IGERT graduate cohort on cultural significance of White Salmon, meaning of the dam removal and YN restoration (once each year 2011-2013 at former reservoir and once at PSU);
• presentation to Cabin-Owners of Northwestern Lake Association (CONLA) about YN restoration project adjacent to Northwestern Park;
• presentation about the project at Klickitat & White Salmon Rivers Fisheries & Watershed Science Conference in The Dalles, OR (March 2013);
• formation in 2012 of SHARE the White Salmon River education & outreach campaign (comprised of local stakeholders) which rolled out an informational display and presentations and a panel discussion related to protecting/restoring the river at the White Salmon Riverfest & Symposium (July 2013);
• additional presentations on the White Salmon River restoration at “Sense of Place” series lecture & float (Sept. 2013), Univ. of Oregon Journal of Environmental Law & Litigation Energy Symposium (video link below--Oct. 2013), Native Plant Society of Oregon--Col. Gorge chapter (Nov. 2013);
• WWRI restoration site volunteer work days (Oct. & Nov. 2013).

The White Salmon River is home to ESA-listed (“threatened”) Middle Columbia River steelhead, Lower Columbia Chinook, coho and Columbia River chum salmon. A collaborative team of fisheries and natural resource professionals with a background in education (USFWS Columbia Gorge Information & Education office staff, Yakama Nation Fisheries education & outreach, Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group, Underwood Conservation District and others) teamed up to reach out to the local schools and greater community to help engage people in their local watershed and encourage them to support future restoration and preservation actions that will benefit the listed species resident in the White Salmon, and hopefully will motivate them to be good stewards of the fisheries (and other natural) resources. A better understanding of ecosystem processes that affect salmon and other species may inform and effect human behaviors that can impact the watershed and its fish populations.