As members of the North Olympic Orca Pod and water protectors, we support native tribes in their endeavor to protect important cultural lifeways like chinook salmon and the Southern Resident orca.
Not only do we respect and honor native treaty rights, we support the tribes in exercising their treaty rights for years to come.
If salmon and orca become extinct that will be impossible.
How can Derek Kilmer stand by and let these two iconic species become extinct on his watch?
The science is clear; the fastest and best way to increase chinook salmon vitality is to return the Snake River to its free-flowing status and let the chinook salmon regenerate, which will feed the orca.
Since 2019 the Southern Resident orca population has decreased from 76 to 73 individuals.
Orca are sentient beings, just like humans, with hearts, minds, families, personalities and spirits.
Watching the orca die is like witnessing family members pass away for so many people in the Pacific Northwest; we feel connected to these sentient beings like ourselves.
Now isn’t the time for bureaucratic procedures. It’s time to step in and save the Southern Resident orca and chinook salmon.
Kilmer needs to respond to the current crisis; we don’t have time for another scientific study.
North Olympic Orca Pod (NOOP) members and residents of Port Townsend, East Jefferson County, Sequim and Port Angeles approved this letter: Maria Mendes, Debra Ellers, Carol Sword, Julia Cochrane, Yerda Yearsley, Rick Rupp, Holly Hallman, Kate Storey, Lys Burden, Terry DuBeau, Phil Myers.
Barbara Jo Blair
Port Townsend