Washingtonians drink from the Columbia River. Tribes sustain themselves by fishing from it. It waters our fields to grow our food. Communities are powered by it. Under its surface is an ecosystem just as reliant on the river’s health as humanity. But that world beneath is suffering because of the one above. The river and its salmon are in grave peril due to human activity and climate change.

On Tuesday, Gov. Jay Inslee signed an executive order emphasizing the critical nature of salmon recovery through restoring the Columbia River Basin and riparian habitats.

“We need to think of our state and its waters as borrowed rather than inherited. We owe future generations a healthy state,” Inslee said. “These fish and these waters are our responsibility to defend. We’ve charted a course for salmon recovery, and this order holds us to it.”