Salmon Nation Trust

Salmon Nation Trust (SNT) identifies, connects, and supports community entrepreneurs focused on a spectrum of initiatives in the Salmon Nation, a bioregion spanning from California to Alaska that is defined by the historic range of wild Pacific salmon. SNT’s areas of focus include regenerative agriculture, ecological forestry and fishing, language preservation, tribal sovereignty, watershed protection and restoration, community-level health delivery, housing, arts, culture, education, small business development, and local governance. The Trust applies human, social, and financial capital to scale and replicate regenerative solutions that exist in ”edge communities” outside of dominant centers of power and money. In the past year, SNT took part in a variety of projects. First, they helped organize the Edge Prize, which brought together over 150 environmental entrepreneurs and community catalysts for mentorship and community building sessions and granted a total of $90,000 to various participants. Second, through SNT’s Adventure Partnerships, they helped community leader Arzeena Hamir connect 50+ small/medium scale farmers on Vancouver Island for an exchange of regenerative practices, marketing, and mutual support. Third, SNT worked with Hank Hayden to address homelessness and mental health in Prince George, British Columbia and with Mimi Casteel to develop regenerative food systems in Wallowa County, Oregon. Fourth, SNT supported Teresa Windsor’s Wieden Fellowship for storytelling and cultural revitalization with First Nations in BC, including her creation of the “Salmon Is Life” camps.  Finally, the Trust also brokered several key business deals, including a flour mill with the Confederated Tribes of Umatilla, funding for Tidelines Institute, and support for Ecotrust’s forest restoration project.