the story about fish and farms is about food and families.
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The Pacific Northwest is characterized by its beautiful natural resources. But salmon are in serious trouble--the threats are many and well documented.
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Now, a new troubling plan by Washington State leaders would divide our community in a courtroom and leave urgently-needed restoration work deadlocked for decades. But there is a much better way to solve water and fish problems.
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Urbanization threatens both fish and farms.
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Salmon are most threatened by loss of habitat and pollution coming from urban areas. As more land is paved over, more fish-killing urban pollution reaches our streams, and there's less room to rebuild fish habitat.
Research shows that salmon are doing much better in areas where farming can serve as a buffer from urban pollution sources and make habitat restoration possible. |
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In just the last 70 years, urban expansion has swallowed over half of the Puget Sound area’s farmland.
What’s worse, farmland that is no longer growing food is over 70 times more likely to be developed. Our community needs to band together to preserve both our salmon and farming. |
fish won't survive without farms.
farms won't survive without water.
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One of the biggest threats to farms right now is a plan by our state to create a fight over water, using antiquated laws and outdated systems to pit communities against each other over who has the right to use water in court.
If this happens, many farmers will likely lose the ability to use water to grow crops, and if they can’t count on having access to enough water to grow their crops, most farmers will decide that they cannot continue to farm in Whatcom and Skagit counties. This will, in turn, put fish at that much more risk. |
how you can help:
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Tell local and state leaders that salmon don’t have time to wait for decades of lawsuits. Fish urgently need the community to come together to support recovery efforts. In the state's proposed plan to force our community into a conflict over water, fish and farms--food and families--lose.
Most importantly, salmon need healthy local farms to provide room for habitat restoration and provide a buffer between fish and urban pollution. The farming community wants to be able to continue the stream restoration work it has already been doing.
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When the community works together, fish win.
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There is a much better way to protect fish and water. Join the Fish Need Farms movement now to learn more about how to help protect local salmon and farms from this looming crisis and about the better option that exists. Make sure to sign up for updates and ways to tell our leaders that our futures depend on healthy fish and health farms!
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