A Call to Action
This Strategic Plan represents a collective call to action for a collaborative initiative addressing the shared habitat and water challenges facing Pacific salmon across the United States and Canada. We see a shared responsibility to respond urgently, collectively, and adequately.
Driving Positive Change
Our theory of change is that by leveraging our collective assets, we can align through improved connections and communication to drive increased investments toward actions on land and in water that will achieve our vision.
Geography
The Initiative’s geography spans from California through British Columbia, the Yukon Territory and Alaska, inland to Idaho, and out to nearshore ocean habitats. Climate change is affecting salmon and their ecosystems throughout their range. To build resilience in salmon and in all impacted ecosystems and human communities, multiple scales of thinking and acting are required. We believe that we can learn together and leverage each other’s work to accelerate action across the region.
Stewardship
Stewardship is a responsibility shared by everyone who is part of the salmon landscape and whose activities affect the environment. Effective stewardship of salmon can be defined as everyone working together to achieve resilient salmon populations that support thriving ecosystems, traditional rights and cultures, sustainable fisheries, and local economies.
Multiple Ways of Knowing
Through this initiative we seek approaches that emphasize holistic and long-term viewpoints that conscientiously braid together Western sciences and perspectives, local knowledge, and Indigenous knowledges, cultures and a seven-generations world view. This will require an openness to different perspectives, continuous learning and unlearning, honest reflection, and a willingness to challenge our existing assumptions.
Taking Action
Our initial Action Plan captures the first two years of the Initiative’s actions needed to begin implementing the goals and priorities identified in RSI’s Strategic Plan.
Four “streams” define the initiative’s scope. For each stream, the Strategic Goals are collectively intended to offer an ambitious long-term commitment to achieve the vision of this Initiative:
- Connect: Local entities and initiatives are connected, effectively collaborating, and fostering diverse knowledge sources to amplify local results and fund and implement collective solutions
- Communicate: The public, major funders, and decision-makers value salmon’s role in supporting ecosystems and human communities and are willing to make difficult decisions with resilience in mind.
- Invest: A new model for increased investment toward advancing innovative ideas to protect and support salmon, their habitats and fisheries, amidst climate change, commensurate changing needs.
- Act: Transformative, coordinated actions are taken to support resilient salmon populations in a changing environment.