Traveling to the Pacific Northwest allowed me to witness conservation in action. 
 In Cleveland, I had always practiced environmentally-friendly options, such as recycling,
 but it wasn’t until my trip to the PNW that I saw firsthand the things we were accomplishing. 
Due to logging, salmon breeding streams were no longer acceptable, causing a decline in salmon population and as a result,
 KW’s were forced to leave Puget Sound.  Then I saw what people were doing to fix the problem—
new foresting techniques and salmon hatcheries were making it possible for the salmon to return to acceptable numbers. 
In the future, this may allow killer whales to return to Puget Sound. 
While I watched killer whales from shore and ultimately from a zodiac,
I began to truly appreciate them, and to realize the importance of conservation education. 
 “We will conserve only what we love, love only what we understand, understand only what we are taught.”

Kelly Fischbach