Upcoming Events

The health of neighbors, fishing families, and recreational users of Seattle's Duwamish River is directly affected by the legacy of toxic dumping in the river and surrounding areas. The river was listed as a "Superfund" site requiring cleanup in 2001, but EPA regulations do not account for the cumulative impact of residents' exposures to pollution in the river, air, and neighborhood soils that plague the Duwamish Valley. This talk will examine how local residents, tribes, and immigrant fishing families in this "environmental justice" community are collecting their own data and advocating for a health protective cleanup of their land, air and water, as well as challenging the environmental policies and institutions that have failed to protect them throughout history.

In western North America, many salmon and steelhead stocks remain at historically low abundances.  For example, to date, none of the distinct population segments designated as either threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act have recovered to the point of de-listing, across the major river basins of California and the Pacific Northwest.  At the same time, coastal patterns of human migration, urban/suburban/exurban growth, and associated development are accelerating.  These changes in land cover and land use are increasing non-point source pollution to river networks and estuaries, particularly in the form of toxic runoff from the transportation grid.  Motor vehicles are sources of thousands of distinct chemical contaminants, many of which remain unknown or poorly characterized in terms of impacts to salmonids (direct and indirect). Nevertheless, recent advances in technology (analytical chemistry, molecular biology, informatics, modeling) are rapidly restructuring how we think about the chemical dimension of salmon habitats.  This presentation will revisit the long-held assumption that salmon need adequate supplies of cool, clean water to survive and thrive.  Specifically, how a canonical understanding of “clean water” in the traditional spheres of salmon management (recovery, regulation, and restoration) can be expanded, to keep pace with recent and rapid advances in modern ecotoxicology.