A year after the tribal-led demolition of four dams, water temperatures are down, parasitic bacteria are down, and salmon are reaching "every nook and cranny" of their former range.
This is wonderful! But please don’t think the fight is over. Alaska is fighting year by year to try and protect and conserve for future generations yet ocean trawlers kill and waste MILLIONS of tons of salmon, whale, and other fish. There was over 356 TONS of starfish destroyed over the past few years. I can’t catch a king salmon and am limited to 40 fish to feed my family per year while this is happening.
It’s amazing how resilient nature is if we can just get out of the way. Now Europe needs to be proactive and get rid of these fish farms to save the Atlantic Salmon too. Give them the space to do what they do and they will return!
The unobstructed water flow is important, though I think one often overlooked ecological factor in salmon health is the connection between forest ecology and ocean ecology (specifically how old growth forest decomposition facilitates the enrichment of ocean estuaries with iron vis fulvic and humid acids).
“Professor Matsunaga and his research team had spent forty years trying to identify the vital link between the land and the sea that is so important to marine life. Ultimately, they had found something astonishing.
All Cyanophyta, the bacteria formerly known as blue-green algae, need iron to reproduce and divide; the metal plays an important role in marine photosynthesis through chloroplasts or plant-type ferredoxins, the molecules that enable electron capture and transfer in these tiny plants.
In addition, when the sun dips below the horizon, iron takes the sun's place as a catalyst for the manufacture of proteins in anophyta proteins on which its reproduction depends. Overall, the steady multiplication of waterborne marine plant species represents the food foundation of the oceans.
The land is rich in iron and the sea is poor in it. What Matsunaga discovered was that an acid from the land, ful-vic acid, acted like a cage and carried iron out into the sea. Fulvic acid and its sister molecule, humic acid — is a chelating agent. Both molecules grab iron salts from the red richness of the land and donate them to the sea.
Trees and forests produce massive quantities of these two acids. As autumn arrives, it reconfigures the deciduous trees. First, their leaves change colour, the familiar greens turning to reds, yellows and oranges, some even going a misty purple or mauve, as the valuable chlorophyll is packed away into the trees' vascular rays and root systems for storage during the winter months. The trees then produce a molecular scissors called abscisic acid, which causes the leaves to fall to the ground and produces the familiar leaf scar that remains on the twig. Conifers do not escape abscisic acid, but evergreens are more frugal with their canopies. For the most part, an evergreen needle hangs on for seven years. Sometimes, if the weather is excessively dry, a shower of orange needles will fall around the tree. There are also the deciduous conifers, like the larches, Lanx, of the north, that lose their leaves every fall.
As the forest floor gains its carpet of leaves, abscisic acid has another task. Winter rain and snow dissolve the acid into the leaf litter, and in the months that follow, as those leaves are broken down, they become skeletons.
A web of lignin is all that remains, sometimes drawing the exact outline of the leaf. In time, this too is reduced. This process creates huge polymers in the forest soil the fulvic and humic acids. Dissolved by rainwater, they set sail for a bigger horizon, gathering a load of iron salts on the way.
Freshwater streams and rivers carry them to the oceans, where they deliver their precious cargo.
At these meeting points, giant columns of microscopic Cyanophyta wait for iron, their vital nutrient.
These columns hold poetry in their naming. They are Chroococcales, Camaesiphonales, Pleurocapsales, Nostocales and Stigonematales. The iron jump-starts their protein-building enzymes to feed the fish, to feed the mammals (from otters that protect kelp forests to whales that depend on them), to feed all life.
Professor Matsunaga told me of a very old saying in Japan: "To eat a fish, you must plant a tree."
The great oceans need food. The web of life is even more connected than anybody ever suspected. Japanese fishermen are now planting trees along once-denuded coastlines to feed the fish (and whales) of the future.”
- Diana Beresford-Kroeger (from “Our Green Heart: The Soul and Science of Forests”)
For more info on the connection between the ocean and forest , read:
The unobstructed water flow is important, though I think one often overlooked ecological factor in salmon health is the connection between forest ecology and ocean ecology (specifically how old growth forest decomposition facilitates the enrichment of ocean estuaries with iron vis fulvic and humid acids).
“Professor Matsunaga and his research team had spent forty years trying to identify the vital link between the land and the sea that is so important to marine life. Ultimately, they had found something astonishing.
All Cyanophyta, the bacteria formerly known as blue-green algae, need iron to reproduce and divide; the metal plays an important role in marine photosynthesis through chloroplasts or plant-type ferredoxins, the molecules that enable electron capture and transfer in these tiny plants.
In addition, when the sun dips below the horizon, iron takes the sun's place as a catalyst for the manufacture of proteins in anophyta proteins on which its reproduction depends. Overall, the steady multiplication of waterborne marine plant species represents the food foundation of the oceans.
The land is rich in iron and the sea is poor in it. What Matsunaga discovered was that an acid from the land, ful-vic acid, acted like a cage and carried iron out into the sea. Fulvic acid and its sister molecule, humic acid — is a chelating agent. Both molecules grab iron salts from the red richness of the land and donate them to the sea.
Trees and forests produce massive quantities of these two acids. As autumn arrives, it reconfigures the deciduous trees. First, their leaves change colour, the familiar greens turning to reds, yellows and oranges, some even going a misty purple or mauve, as the valuable chlorophyll is packed away into the trees' vascular rays and root systems for storage during the winter months. The trees then produce a molecular scissors called abscisic acid, which causes the leaves to fall to the ground and produces the familiar leaf scar that remains on the twig. Conifers do not escape abscisic acid, but evergreens are more frugal with their canopies. For the most part, an evergreen needle hangs on for seven years. Sometimes, if the weather is excessively dry, a shower of orange needles will fall around the tree. There are also the deciduous conifers, like the larches, Lanx, of the north, that lose their leaves every fall.
As the forest floor gains its carpet of leaves, abscisic acid has another task. Winter rain and snow dissolve the acid into the leaf litter, and in the months that follow, as those leaves are broken down, they become skeletons.
A web of lignin is all that remains, sometimes drawing the exact outline of the leaf. In time, this too is reduced. This process creates huge polymers in the forest soil the fulvic and humic acids. Dissolved by rainwater, they set sail for a bigger horizon, gathering a load of iron salts on the way.
Freshwater streams and rivers carry them to the oceans, where they deliver their precious cargo.
At these meeting points, giant columns of microscopic Cyanophyta wait for iron, their vital nutrient.
These columns hold poetry in their naming. They are Chroococcales, Camaesiphonales, Pleurocapsales, Nostocales and Stigonematales. The iron jump-starts their protein-building enzymes to feed the fish, to feed the mammals (from otters that protect kelp forests to whales that depend on them), to feed all life.
Professor Matsunaga told me of a very old saying in Japan: "To eat a fish, you must plant a tree."
The great oceans need food. The web of life is even more connected than anybody ever suspected. Japanese fishermen are now planting trees along once-denuded coastlines to feed the fish (and whales) of the future.”
- Diana Beresford-Kroeger (from “Our Green Heart: The Soul and Science of Forests”)
For more info on the connection between the ocean and forest , read:
This is exactly the kind of evidence needed to support dam removal on the lower Snake River in Washington.. where there are 'threatened' & 'endangered' salmon species struggling to maintain an existence there. ^..^
Hopefully that will spawn more dam removal projects!
😉
Or is that damn removal projects…hahaha damn the dams
So quickly! Great news!
It's rad!
This is wonderful! But please don’t think the fight is over. Alaska is fighting year by year to try and protect and conserve for future generations yet ocean trawlers kill and waste MILLIONS of tons of salmon, whale, and other fish. There was over 356 TONS of starfish destroyed over the past few years. I can’t catch a king salmon and am limited to 40 fish to feed my family per year while this is happening.
Yes, bottom trawling is evil and should be banned globally.
It’s amazing how resilient nature is if we can just get out of the way. Now Europe needs to be proactive and get rid of these fish farms to save the Atlantic Salmon too. Give them the space to do what they do and they will return!
Yes!
I just posted this to Indian Country Reddit.
Thank you. 🙏🏼
I'm so happy for the tribes to get their traditional food back.
A tremendous accomplishment in a very short time!
It's incredible. The salmon know what to do!
Amazing how nature bounces back when people get out of the way❤️
👍🙌🏼
Brilliant, Eel next
It is always great to hear some good news - thank you!
Excellent post! Thank you for this good news!
The unobstructed water flow is important, though I think one often overlooked ecological factor in salmon health is the connection between forest ecology and ocean ecology (specifically how old growth forest decomposition facilitates the enrichment of ocean estuaries with iron vis fulvic and humid acids).
“Professor Matsunaga and his research team had spent forty years trying to identify the vital link between the land and the sea that is so important to marine life. Ultimately, they had found something astonishing.
All Cyanophyta, the bacteria formerly known as blue-green algae, need iron to reproduce and divide; the metal plays an important role in marine photosynthesis through chloroplasts or plant-type ferredoxins, the molecules that enable electron capture and transfer in these tiny plants.
In addition, when the sun dips below the horizon, iron takes the sun's place as a catalyst for the manufacture of proteins in anophyta proteins on which its reproduction depends. Overall, the steady multiplication of waterborne marine plant species represents the food foundation of the oceans.
The land is rich in iron and the sea is poor in it. What Matsunaga discovered was that an acid from the land, ful-vic acid, acted like a cage and carried iron out into the sea. Fulvic acid and its sister molecule, humic acid — is a chelating agent. Both molecules grab iron salts from the red richness of the land and donate them to the sea.
Trees and forests produce massive quantities of these two acids. As autumn arrives, it reconfigures the deciduous trees. First, their leaves change colour, the familiar greens turning to reds, yellows and oranges, some even going a misty purple or mauve, as the valuable chlorophyll is packed away into the trees' vascular rays and root systems for storage during the winter months. The trees then produce a molecular scissors called abscisic acid, which causes the leaves to fall to the ground and produces the familiar leaf scar that remains on the twig. Conifers do not escape abscisic acid, but evergreens are more frugal with their canopies. For the most part, an evergreen needle hangs on for seven years. Sometimes, if the weather is excessively dry, a shower of orange needles will fall around the tree. There are also the deciduous conifers, like the larches, Lanx, of the north, that lose their leaves every fall.
As the forest floor gains its carpet of leaves, abscisic acid has another task. Winter rain and snow dissolve the acid into the leaf litter, and in the months that follow, as those leaves are broken down, they become skeletons.
A web of lignin is all that remains, sometimes drawing the exact outline of the leaf. In time, this too is reduced. This process creates huge polymers in the forest soil the fulvic and humic acids. Dissolved by rainwater, they set sail for a bigger horizon, gathering a load of iron salts on the way.
Freshwater streams and rivers carry them to the oceans, where they deliver their precious cargo.
At these meeting points, giant columns of microscopic Cyanophyta wait for iron, their vital nutrient.
These columns hold poetry in their naming. They are Chroococcales, Camaesiphonales, Pleurocapsales, Nostocales and Stigonematales. The iron jump-starts their protein-building enzymes to feed the fish, to feed the mammals (from otters that protect kelp forests to whales that depend on them), to feed all life.
Professor Matsunaga told me of a very old saying in Japan: "To eat a fish, you must plant a tree."
The great oceans need food. The web of life is even more connected than anybody ever suspected. Japanese fishermen are now planting trees along once-denuded coastlines to feed the fish (and whales) of the future.”
- Diana Beresford-Kroeger (from “Our Green Heart: The Soul and Science of Forests”)
For more info on the connection between the ocean and forest , read:
https://open.substack.com/pub/gavinmounsey/p/regenerative-ocean-gardening-kelp?r=q2yay&selection=090bbe2b-47dc-4a60-b0de-056acafd3842&utm_campaign=post-share-selection&utm_medium=web&aspectRatio=instagram&textColor=%23ffffff&bgImage=true
Excellent post! Thank you for this good news!
The unobstructed water flow is important, though I think one often overlooked ecological factor in salmon health is the connection between forest ecology and ocean ecology (specifically how old growth forest decomposition facilitates the enrichment of ocean estuaries with iron vis fulvic and humid acids).
“Professor Matsunaga and his research team had spent forty years trying to identify the vital link between the land and the sea that is so important to marine life. Ultimately, they had found something astonishing.
All Cyanophyta, the bacteria formerly known as blue-green algae, need iron to reproduce and divide; the metal plays an important role in marine photosynthesis through chloroplasts or plant-type ferredoxins, the molecules that enable electron capture and transfer in these tiny plants.
In addition, when the sun dips below the horizon, iron takes the sun's place as a catalyst for the manufacture of proteins in anophyta proteins on which its reproduction depends. Overall, the steady multiplication of waterborne marine plant species represents the food foundation of the oceans.
The land is rich in iron and the sea is poor in it. What Matsunaga discovered was that an acid from the land, ful-vic acid, acted like a cage and carried iron out into the sea. Fulvic acid and its sister molecule, humic acid — is a chelating agent. Both molecules grab iron salts from the red richness of the land and donate them to the sea.
Trees and forests produce massive quantities of these two acids. As autumn arrives, it reconfigures the deciduous trees. First, their leaves change colour, the familiar greens turning to reds, yellows and oranges, some even going a misty purple or mauve, as the valuable chlorophyll is packed away into the trees' vascular rays and root systems for storage during the winter months. The trees then produce a molecular scissors called abscisic acid, which causes the leaves to fall to the ground and produces the familiar leaf scar that remains on the twig. Conifers do not escape abscisic acid, but evergreens are more frugal with their canopies. For the most part, an evergreen needle hangs on for seven years. Sometimes, if the weather is excessively dry, a shower of orange needles will fall around the tree. There are also the deciduous conifers, like the larches, Lanx, of the north, that lose their leaves every fall.
As the forest floor gains its carpet of leaves, abscisic acid has another task. Winter rain and snow dissolve the acid into the leaf litter, and in the months that follow, as those leaves are broken down, they become skeletons.
A web of lignin is all that remains, sometimes drawing the exact outline of the leaf. In time, this too is reduced. This process creates huge polymers in the forest soil the fulvic and humic acids. Dissolved by rainwater, they set sail for a bigger horizon, gathering a load of iron salts on the way.
Freshwater streams and rivers carry them to the oceans, where they deliver their precious cargo.
At these meeting points, giant columns of microscopic Cyanophyta wait for iron, their vital nutrient.
These columns hold poetry in their naming. They are Chroococcales, Camaesiphonales, Pleurocapsales, Nostocales and Stigonematales. The iron jump-starts their protein-building enzymes to feed the fish, to feed the mammals (from otters that protect kelp forests to whales that depend on them), to feed all life.
Professor Matsunaga told me of a very old saying in Japan: "To eat a fish, you must plant a tree."
The great oceans need food. The web of life is even more connected than anybody ever suspected. Japanese fishermen are now planting trees along once-denuded coastlines to feed the fish (and whales) of the future.”
- Diana Beresford-Kroeger (from “Our Green Heart: The Soul and Science of Forests”)
For more info on the connection between the ocean and forest , read:
https://open.substack.com/pub/gavinmounsey/p/regenerative-ocean-gardening-kelp?r=q2yay&selection=090bbe2b-47dc-4a60-b0de-056acafd3842&utm_campaign=post-share-selection&utm_medium=web&aspectRatio=instagram&textColor=%23ffffff&bgImage=true
This is exactly the kind of evidence needed to support dam removal on the lower Snake River in Washington.. where there are 'threatened' & 'endangered' salmon species struggling to maintain an existence there. ^..^
Amazing what happens when people step back and let Ma Nature sort things out!
Woot! Go Salmon go!
Hallelujah!!
So nice to read good news 🐟🐟🐟