The Lost Salmon (2022)

Of all the Pacific Salmon, the spring run of chinook is the most revered. As the first salmon to return home each year, they have always been a sacrament for the oldest civilizations in North America and the keystone of Northwest ecosystems. Once occupying the most extensive range of any salmon species in the contiguous United States, many genetically unique populations of spring chinook have already been lost. Those that remain face a looming risk of extinction as habitat loss, short-sighted fisheries management, and climate change continue to take a toll on their numbers. In The Lost Salmon, filmmaker Shane Anderson set out on a two-year journey across Washington, Oregon, California, and Idaho to document some of the last wild "springers", the historical and ongoing causes of their declining numbers, and their profound relationship to the people and places of the Pacific Northwest. Along the way, Anderson tells the story of a recent scientific breakthrough that provides crucial new insights into salmon genetics and offers an important path forward to help save the king of salmon before they are lost forever.