Open Space for the Future of Salmon in the Pacific Northwest

Conference planning group

The problem

People of the Open Space community, the Northwest Cluster, the Seattle Community Network, the local Seattle cell of the Fast Company Friends, and other citizens of the Northwest are invited to produce, and participate in, a regional Open Space on The Future of Salmon Habitat in the Northwest.

As a result of recent EPA decisions, a lot of money is about to be thrown at the problem of Salmon restoration, but everyone I have spoken with in the Northwest is of the opinion that when the money is gone, the Salmon will be worse off than ever. I have spoken to about two dozen people who have some involvement in eco-organizations and governmental agencies. I don't see any significant arena for regional discussion on this yet. (If I'm wrong on this point, please fill me in.) This conference is conceived to provide a regional exchange of expertise, information, and opinion addressing the needs of Salmon. To be effective, the conference will need to include a broad cross section of our communities.

The context

Impending climate changes are going to make it even tougher in the next 30-50 years to restore Salmon populations. See www.climatesolutions.org by Patrick Mazza. Dams on the Columbia and Snake will have to modified or removed to avoid extinction of Salmon runs there within two decades. This in itself poses many problems for people in those watersheds. Plans for real estate development, for forest harvesting, and for industrial siting, and industrial practices regulation will all be affected by any solution that works for the Salmon in these valleys. Opinions can be expected to be hot around issues of private property rights versus our collective rights to a healthy commons, and, of course, the rights of the other species involved.

This is an issue which reaches so deeply into our culture, habits, and technologies, that it seems nothing short of a cultural revolution will do the trick. So we can expect the Open Space on this theme to be as wide ranging as anything we could come up with, and yet also carry an urgency that will nowhere be denied.

I expect this conference to be sheer no-holds-barred fun.

What we need now:

At this point there are a few people who have spoken up, offering some limited time, energy and resources.

1. We need people and resources that can help put it together.
2. We need to extend the list of people who should be invited.
3. We need to figure the best way to do structure the conference. It may be appropriate to break it up into smaller watersheds.
4. We need participants.
5. We need Open Space facilitators to hold the spaces.
6. We need ideas about how set it up so the results cannot be ignored.
7. We need some online maps created by a GIS which break this region into several watershed groups of a workable size.

I have created a listserv for the purpose of organizing this event.
If you want to see what is going on and participate in growing this process, sign up below.

Rhodes Hileman
date: 9/9/99

You can join our planning group by entering your email address in the form above. Wait a day before expecting membership to be completed. The list membership is restricted, so introduce yourself to me by email at the same time that you sign up. I will be moderating the list if it proves necessary.