I am Maxwell Lewis. The passions and driving force in my life have accumulated through my experience with Idaho’s rivers, fish, and lands. I have been working in the Frank Church Wilderness as river guide for the last couple years. This uncovered my love for people, and the effect that Idaho can have people and families. In One Stone’s YLab, I have been exploring Idaho’s salmon and steelhead, which are ocean-going fish that are going extinct rapidly due to human structures and habits. These fish are very important, culturally, ecologically, spiritually, and more. Salmon are species that start their life cycle high up in the Idaho alpines. At one point up until 100 years ago, they would be found in every river spanning all over Idaho, with an exception of the lost rivers that appear and disappear back into the ground. We no longer have salmon in the Weiser, Payette, Boise, Owyhee, Bruneau, and Upper Snake River systems. These runs have all gone extinct to human dams. The few rivers and ecosystems that still have some salmon are the Salmon, Selway, Lochsa, and Clearwater drainages. Even where salmon return to, they are facing a hard battle. As these salmon go extinct due to human dams and increasing water temperatures, our ecosystem is truly in danger. Within YLab, I have been given the opportunity to dive deeper into these species, and talk to experts who are pouring their soul into the survival of the salmon. For me personally, being the good is living like the salmon. I strive to live like a salmon — living solely for the purpose of helping the space around me thrive and heal. I see how powerful this species is — it’s written in their genes, their sole purpose of living is to bring materials of life with them and spread it. When I think about the human race as a whole, I don’t see this. I see mass destruction, a contagious decline in the species around us, and grand scale effects that are cousin issues we can’t even wrap our minds around. I think the salmon can be an example of what the human race could be. Practicing a new way of life that has purpose — a purpose of being a part of the larger species that is life itself, not just limited to the human race. I believe nature is intelligent; that all life, plants, animals, and fungi are aware. I think the species that have survived the longest on earth are the ones that learned to adapt, and have a balance between relying on and giving to the spaces around them. Through YLab, I have found myself trying to answer these questions, “How can humans learn from salmon and how can we learn from nature?” As I continue to explore these questions, I hope to be the good Idaho needs to address this serious ecological emergency.
