Take Action: Our Southern Resident Orcas Urgently Need Your Help Now

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May 30

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The Washington legislature passedand funded several bills that support orca recovery. Bills passed addressedtoxins in the Sound, noise abatement, oil spill prevention, and recoveringsalmon, but they don’t go far enough. Refusal to provide full funding forsalmon habitat acquisition and restoration projects was the legislature’sbiggest failure. Orcas are starving to death. Unless bolder steps are taken, weare watching the last generation of the Southern Residents and this is notacceptable. What you can do now is contact your elected officials in the otherWashington. Why now? The Puget Sound Partnership (PSP) and other pro-orcaorganizations were just in DC discussing funding for the continued restorationof Puget Sound. OC supports this effort and we are asking you to step up andhelp save this iconicspecies. Below is a list of talking points and contact information for WAfederal senators and representatives.

Talking Points

Please let them know that you strongly supportthe work of the PSP, especially the benefits for Southern Residents. Let themknow that you are proud of the WA state legislature for providing funding forthe stakeholder forum which allows Washingtonians to determine next steps ifthe Lower Snake River (LSR) dams are breached.
Ask them to support funding for salmon habitatacquisition and restoration to ensure the success of salmon and SouthernResident recovery, rebuild the fishing industry, create jobs in ecotoursism,and honor treaties with Native Americans, to cover the shortfall in statefunding,
Ask them to support actions to mitigate theimpact of breaching the Lower Snake River dams on the people of EasternWashington, such as improving transportation infrastructure and adaptingirrigation systems to function in the absence of the dams. This offers the mostpromise for restoration of wild chinook salmon, the Southern Residentspreferred food, in the Pacific where most Southern Residents spend most of theyear
Tell them how excited you are by the commentsmade by Representative Mike Simpson, (R) Idaho, stating the “what if”discussions need to start taking place, becausewe have wasted over 16 billion dollars pursuing ineffective approaches to savethe salmon since the LSR dams went up, rather than breaching them.