As climate change warms our world, glaciers melt, snow melt decreases, and the water temperature rises. Salmon have a unique lifestyle: they are born in rivers and streams, travel up the river to the ocean, and then return to their place of birth in order to spawn. While salmon prove to be incredibly resistant, climate change may be too much even for them. When river temperatures raise above 70 degrees fahrenheit, salmon begin to die. While they have evolved and learned how to wait in cooler pools and lakes or to start their journey early, there are other factors that play into the endangerment of salmon. Climate change is also impacting the timing of the current. The peak flows are coming earlier, so salmon eggs are hatching at the most dangerous times of the year for the river. With the harsh current and many bigger predators, less and less salmon are getting to the ocean every year. By breaching dams, living up to native treaties, and opening up and downstream gates as well as doing whatever you can personally do to reduce your carbon footprint and lessen pollutants, wild salmon will be given the best chance possible to survive and once again flourish in our waters.

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