The Cold Water Connection Campaign aims to remove barriers and reconnect the coldest, cleanest rivers on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula to bring salmon and steelhead home. The campaign has developed a strategic and impactful project list using the best science, spatial models, and field data.
Harder Foundation has supported the development of this program from the very beginning, and this support has helped leverage other private and public funding sources for the campaign. The work has multiple benefits – it addresses high-priority barriers and puts people to work in one of the most economically disadvantaged areas of the state.
Other partners on the project include Wild Salmon Center and Trout Unlimited.
The Washington Coast – spanning nearly 4 million acres of abundant aquatic and coastal ecosystems rich in biodiversity – represents the last best chance for the Pacific Northwest to get salmon recovery right. If we can reconnect the streams to each other and to the sea, the fish will come. Our coastal rivers produce the most abundant and diverse wild Pacific salmon populations in the contiguous United States and are home to 50% of Washington state’s strongest unlisted runs. With our mission to ‘protect the best and restore the rest,’ our work is focused on nurturing and protecting these abundant coastal areas and the economies they support.
Mara Zimmerman, former Executive Director
Coast Salmon Foundation