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 Seattle City Light
News Release |
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| Subject:
Salmon Homecoming Alliance honors Seattle City Light |
For Immediate Release:
9/16/2004 12:00:00 AM |
For More Information Contact:
Scott Thomsen (206) 386-4233
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SEATTLE- The Salmon Homecoming Alliance has awarded Seattle City Light this year’s Seventh Generation Legacy Cornerstone Award for the utility’s work to protect salmon in the upper Skagit River, and for its consistent support of Salmon Homecoming objectives through its 12 years of service to tribal and nontribal communities.
The Seventh Generation Legacy Awards are presented as an acknowledgement of contributions and programs made by individuals and entities that benefit the salmon resource and build tribal/nontribal team spirit in the process. The award’s name reflects the tribal tradition of basing today’s decisions on the impacts they will have on our descendents, seven generations from now.
Seattle City Councilmember Jean Godden, chair of the council’s Energy and Environmental Policy Committee, accepted the award for the utility Sunday night at a reception at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center.
“This award is a tribute to all those who have worked hard to protect salmon on the Skagit,” Godden said. “It sends an important message to the hydropower industry throughout the region that dams can be operated in harmony with the environment.”
“It is a great pleasure to present this award to Seattle City Light, an agency that has distinguished itself in its work to protect and restore salmon and to partner with the tribes and Salmon Homecoming in the process,” said Salmon Homecoming President Steve Robinson.
The Seventh Generation Legacy Stewardship Award was presented to Swinomish Tribal Fisheries Manager Lorraine Loomis. State Sen. Karen Fraser, Democrat from Olympia, received the Leadership Award.
City Light, the Seattle municipal electric utility, operates three dams on the upper Skagit River. The utility has spent more than two decades working with agencies, tribes and conservation groups to protect salmon runs and preserve wildlife habitat on the river. Those efforts have resulted in a 700 percent increase in the chum salmon population, a record run of pink salmon in 2003, and a recent healthy run of threatened Puget Sound fall chinook.
Last year, City Light was recognized by the National Hydropower Association for Outstanding Stewardship of America’s Rivers. In May 2003, the Low Impact Hydropower Institute certified City Light’s Skagit Project as low-impact hydro, the only project in the state and the first large hydro project in the nation to be so certified.
The Salmon Homecoming Alliance is a private, nonprofit organization that manages and operates programs and conducts the annual Salmon Homecoming Celebration. Its partners include the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, the Tribal Communities of the Pacific Northwest, the City of Seattle, King County, and the Muckleshoot and Tulalip tribes.
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