BROOKE HESS
Words | Photos | Film
An award-winning feature-length documentary film by Ripple Skip Collective
The Grand Salmon
As wild salmon populations in Idaho approach extinction, three women embark on a 1,000 mile expedition to take on four dams at the heart of the salmon’s catastrophic decline.
​Following three women on a 78-day kayaking expedition, The Grand Salmon explores the effects of four dams on the Lower Snake River and their impact throughout the watershed on rapidly dwindling wild salmon populations. For over 1,000 miles, these women follow the natural outward migration of anadromous fish, paddling from their spawning grounds at the source of the Salmon River in central Idaho to the Pacific Ocean. From high water to extreme temperatures, this team not only faces the same natural challenges the fish do each year, but brings viewers along to experience what the construction of these dams has done to our ecosystems and wildlife.
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The Grand Salmon took home Best Environmental Feature at both Lookout Wild Film Festival and Chesapeake Film Festival, and Best Accomplished Film at National Paddling Film Festival.
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