Stronghold: One Man’s Quest to Save the World’s Wild Salmon by Tucker Malarkey

Introduction

In the tradition ofMountains Beyond MountainsandThe Orchid Thief, Strongholdis Tucker Malarkeys eye-opening account ofone of the worlds greatest fly fishermenand his crusade to protect the worlds last bastion of wild salmon. From a young age, Guido Rahr was a misfit among his family and classmates, preferring to spend his time in the natural world.When the salmon runs of the Pacific Northwest began to decline, Guido was one of the few who understood why. As dams, industry, and climate change degraded the homes of these magnificent fish, Rahr saw that the salmon of the Pacific Rim were destined to go the way of their Atlantic brethren: near extinction.

An improbable and inspiring story,Strongholdtakes us on a wild adventure, from Oregon to Alaska to one of the worlds last remaining salmon strongholds in the Russian Far East, a landscape of ecological richness and diversity that is rapidly being developed for oil, gas, minerals, and timber. Along the way, Rahr contends with scientists, conservationists, Russian oligarchs, corrupt officials, and unexpected allies in an attempt to secure a stronghold for the endangered salmon, an extraordinary keystone species whose demise would reverberate across the planet.

Tucker Malarkey, who joins Rahr in the Russian wilderness, has written a clarion call for a sustainable future, a remarkable work of natural history, and a riveting account of a species whose future is closely linked to our own.