In Profile: Saving Alaska's Salmon

A $4.5 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation enabled The Conservation Fund to launch its Southwest Alaska Salmon Habitat Initiative to protect key salmon habitat throughout the 40 million acres of southwest Alaska, the world’s largest spawning ground for wild salmon.

Places I used to go that were wild and natural, now they are high-rises and golf-courses. If people don’t do something about it, this will all disappear in another generation.

- Gordon Moore, founder of Intel Corporation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation

Summary

With support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Fund is pursuing landscape-scale conservation easements on major salmon systems in Southwest Alaska, while conserving Native allotments through acquisition or easement.

Challenge

Although these waterways contain five salmon species and sustain local communities, the vital habitat is at risk from encroaching development.

Solution

A passionate angler, Gordon Moore understands that the benefits of preserving habitat extend far beyond land protection. In 2002 his foundation launched a program to protect wild salmon populations, supporting many projects, including The Conservation Fund’s work in Southwest Alaska to safeguard ecosystems, strengthen fisheries, and preserve the heritage of the indigenous people.

The Fund's work includes strengthening the activities and membership of the local land trust and the Southwest Alaska Conservation Coalition, a coalition of diverse interests and organizations working with the common goal of salmon habitat conservation.

The Moore Foundation grant also carries a significant pledge to obtain matching funding. The Fund is engaging the public, recreational outdoor equipment retailers and manufacturers, and other businesses, to raise funding and support.

Results

With the Moore Foundation’s initial grant, the Fund has focused on the most strategic rivers and streams in Southwest Alaska which support the world’s largest population of wild salmon as well as diverse wildlife, including brown bear and caribou. Matching foundation support with other public and private dollars, the Fund has already protected 60,000 acres along these important waterways.