Salmon play an essential role in Pacific Northwet economy, ecosystems, and cultures. Salmon have been on the landscape for millions of years and have shaped the lives of people in this region for millennia. This course will explore the management of salmon and other aquatic and marine species through the lens of science, policy, and history. Specific themes will include salmon ecology and life history, Western Science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge ways of knowing, treaty rights and co-management, and the science-policy interface within the context of conservation issues such as habitat loss, dams, hatcheries, predation, pollution, and climate change. The course will also highlight the urgency of conservation issues surrounding salmon and orca in the context of recent or current events. This will provide a jumping off place for discussions around collaborative processes, policy initiatives, or negotiated agreements and will introduce students to examples of how professionals working in the field may address topics covered in class.
We will explore these issues through a combination of lectures, guest speakers, case studies, seminars, and field trips. The course will include one or two Saturday field trips which will be announced by September 1.
Class meetings will be in person without a zoom option.
Erik Neatherlin.Faculty:
Erik is the director of the Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office which coordinates salmon and Southern Resident orca recovery for the state. Erik previously was the fish program science director and policy lead for salmon recovery with the Department of Fish and Wildlife. In that role, he represented the agency on the Salmon Recovery Funding Board and the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission. Before joining the Department of Fish and Wildlife in 2003, he worked as the conservation program director for Sustainable Ecosystems Institute in Portland. He has bachelor and master degrees in science from Florida State University and the University of Washington, respectively.