Part I - Source to Sea Adventures - THE GRAND SALMON

There was a time when I thought it would be cool to embark on a long, multi-week, or months-long exploration of a large river system. However, once I finished graduate school and kayak racing, I was quickly consumed by my career and other paddling endeavors. And honestly, after reading about the experiences of those who have taken on such a challenge, I am not sure I was ever made of the right stuff. 

Fortunately for our reading and viewing pleasure, others do have the talent and the grit, and through their exploits, they help us all better understand and engage in the importance of protecting the world's watersheds. This blog is about one such team.

In 2022, Libby Tobey, Brooke Hess, and Hailey Thompson of the Ripple Skip Collective embarked on a 1,000-mile source to sea expedition through the 258,000-square-mile Columbia River Watershed. For 79 days, they followed the hatching salmon smolts migration path from their birthplace in the Salmon River headwaters, reaching the Pacific Ocean in the Columbia River estuary around the same time as the intrepid little fishes. 

The Grand Salmon Source to Sea Route

The Ripple Skip Collective embarked on this expedition as a conservation project in coordination with the non-profits Idaho Rivers United and Rivers for Change. The goal: to educate and inspire a call to action to promote the removal of the four lower Snake River dams (marked by blue pins on the above map) in order to save the rapidly dwindling Snake River Basin salmon populations from extinction. Twenty of the seventy-nine days spent on the expedition were spent in numerous towns along the way, giving presentations on the issues and actions that could be taken to save the salmon. 

THE ISSUE: The Columbia River Basin, which once produced between 10 and 16 million salmon annually, now only supports 1 to 2 million per year.

All Source to Sea adventures invariably include a significant amount of time enduring what can only be called a sufferfest. As a recreational sport, river runners choose a curated list of river segments to visit for their paddling pleasure. River reaches are selected for their high quality whitewater, scenery, and accessibility, in relatively pristine environmental conditions.  However, exploring a river from its beginning to its end requires a highly diverse skill set and a tolerance for exploring the ugly bits, as well as the recreational jewels.

The Ripple Skip Collective had the skills to explore numerous miles of the dynamic and pristine whitewater runs in the Salmon River headwaters. They also had the athletic stamina and mental fortitude to grind out forty days of exploration in sea kayaks on the lower flatter reaches of the Snake and Columbia river, portaging dams, fighting winds, and increasingly surrounded by the visual and environmental impacts of industry, agriculture, and urban development. And finally, they had the talent to produce a documentary of their efforts, now making its way across the country at numerous outdoor film festivals.

Directed and Edited by Jess Weingardt

When asked if it was worth it and if she would do it again, team member Brooke Hess replied, "Absolutely." She and her team had the right stuff for paddling, advocating, and producing compelling art to inspire citizen action. 

So, while dam removal on the Snake is a bigger and more complex endeavor than the groundbreaking accomplishments that occurred on the Klamath River last year (see my September blog post), there is a viable path, and the efforts of this team help spread the word. 

Following this expedition, the 2023 Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative (CBRI), developed by the states of Washington and Oregon, and four Columbia Basin Tribes, provides a comprehensive new roadmap for salmon recovery, including a call to replace the energy, transportation, irrigation, and recreation services provided by the lower Snake River dams so they can be breached. 

The Biden administration supported this bold new blueprint with federal commitments and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) pledging to continue working together on next steps.

Now, dear reader, I know you did not miss the fact that this MOU was entered under the Biden administration. And so you probably will not be surprised that while the link to the MOU still work (because this copy is housed on a non governmental website) the link to the White House press release now says PAGE NOT FOUND. 

As we all know, we are in for the long haul on this and many other fronts under the current administration. Therefore all of us that give a crap about such things have to prepare to be on an environmental advocacy source to sea journey, using skills and grit to see it through. We can still have fun visiting the jewels, but use those experiences to be inspired to travel through the ugly bits after we are back home.

Another fun bit you can do right now is check out the Grand Salmon Source to Sea website and find a screening to view the film the Ripple Skip Collective produced of their journey, The Grand Salmon, currently scheduled for California, Colorado, and Washington.  https://salmonsourcetosea.com/. 

I also plan to bring this film to a Women's Paddling Arts and Culture Festival I am in the early stages of planning for October 2025 in Coloma, CA, which will include an in-conversation event with filmmakers as well as a film screening.   

The next step you can take is to visit the website https://www.idahorivers.org/ to find out more about the topic and become more engaged in the effort if you are so inspired. 

Of course, since I tend to geek out on this kind of stuff, I found it fascinating to learn from this website that the four Lower Snake River dams only produce about 4% of the region's power generation. Idaho Rivers United is supporting efforts as a member of the Hydropower Reform Coalition to replace hydropower generation with a diverse set of clean energy technologies that are better able to fill future regional energy needs.  

This, by the way, is a similar story playing out across the country. Including the recently removed dams on the Klamath River, and Glen Canyon Dam where because Lake Powell is inexorably creeping towards deadpool the region is already developing alternative energy sources. Sources that I believe will ultimately turn out to be cheaper and more resilient, with less adverse environmental impacts.

And so I close with some info on the incredible women who inspired this blog. Keep an eye out for these river warriors and their work, combining their talents in athleticism, science, and art, to make a difference.

Libby Tobey began working on the Middle Fork of the Salmon in 2019 after nearly a decade as a river guide and whitewater kayaker domestically and abroad. She has a Master’s in International Conservation and Development with a focus on international climate policy and the loss and damage that results from climate change. Libby’s lifelong love of rivers keeps her searching for ways to bring research and recreation closer together, particularly close to home in the Western US.

Brooke Hess is originally from Montana and is a former USA Freestyle Kayak Team member. She has her Master’s in Journalism with a focus on Science Writing and has an academic background in Fluvial Geomorphology. Her career has allowed her to work with various agencies, including NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, to condense complex scientific concepts into simplified topics to convey important findings to general audiences.

Hailey Thompson grew up on rivers and paddled for the US National Whitewater Slalom team before rivers led her to the ocean. She graduated from the US Coast Guard Academy with her degree in Fisheries Biology and Physical Oceanography and has spent the last decade working as a ship driver and fisheries expert in Alaska and beyond. Hailey is a professional artist and she strives to create art that emanates a love for wild spaces and a passion to conserve them.