"The pictures don't lie. Climate change combined with the continued loss of salmon habitat caused by human development is taking a toll on natural resources. The damage to salmon and the people who have always depended on salmon is significant.

A good example is Anderson Glacier in the Olympic Mountains, which feeds the Quinault River. A 1927 photo of the glacier shows a massive table of ice. Look today and you'll see mostly rocks. The glacier is gone.

In the past, glaciers melted slowly during the summer months and helped contribute cool, clean water to the rivers where salmon begin and end their lives. But today our rivers are getting warmer and our glaciers are disappearing, harming salmon at every stage of their life cycle.

Salmon and Indian people evolved together over centuries, but climate change is happening in the blink of an eye. It's happening too quickly for salmon – and us – to keep up.

What can we do? We can try to save as much habitat as we can."

Get the Story:
Billy Frank Jr.: Tribes are reacting to climate change (The Auburn Reporter 6/2)

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Billy Frank: Squaxin Island Tribe looking to preserve water (5/17)