Last Friday the Chum board of directors attended the first stop of Save Our Wild Salmon's, Wheat, Wine and Wild Salmon event series. Highlighting Northwest food traditions, the series is designed to build public awareness in support of locally grown food and wild salmon.

                      
Former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt lead an inspiring discussion about effective solutions to the Snake River salmon crisis. Babbitt's message was that wild salmon advocates should engage government, agricultural and power interests that have historically been opposed to removal of the 4 lower Snake River dams. Babbitt's own experience found that we shared common problems and concerns with pro-dam interests. By working together we can protect wild salmon and insure a secure economic future for farming communities throughout the Columbia Basin and central Idaho.

"For years, the debate over the future of Columbia and Snake River salmon, and whether to remove the four lower Snake River dams, has been cast as a clash between economic and environmental interests, of fishermen against farmers. But this is a false choice," Secretary Babbitt said. "Removing four dams on the lower Snake River and restoring wild salmon to one of our nation's signature rivers --- if done right --- will leave the Northwest economy and its communities with a brighter future."

The series will move to Spokane for a similar event on October 2nd followed by another two day panel discussion on October 19th and 20th.