Earth Day 50th Anniversary and the Story of the Siuslaw

This week marks the 50th Anniversary of #EarthDay, a global celebration encouraging education and stewardship of the planet's natural resources. A lot has happened in 50 years.

The Siuslaw Watershed has been shaped by change. Managed and stewarded by Siuslaw tribal people for generations and into today, the watershed at one time supported such ecologic proliferation that its salmon run was second only to the Columbia. In the time following white European settlement, streams were straightened, forests logged, and salmon numbers greatly reduced.

Now, the Siuslaw enters another era of change, as partners and community members join together to restore habitat to benefit both fish and people. But amidst this change the Siuslaw River, its tributaries, coastal lakes, and estuary hold great promise for restoring endangered coho salmon.

To tell the stories of a place that holds so much possibility for the coho, we have partnered with Ecotrust to produce two story maps—illustrative story experiences. Take a scroll through the Story of the Siuslaw, with photos, old and new, and interactive maps that tell the tale of this landscape in flux—from its geologic formation to the many different people who have stewarded and shaped its ecology. In Restoring the Siuslaw, look through the layers of our ecosystem, learn more about how critical habitats support coho in their various stages, and the economic benefits of restoration for local communities in return.

How to navigate the story map: Use your mouse to scroll downward on the page for new content to appear. To jump to a different section of the story map, see the section titles in the black menu bar at the top of the page.