(Jeff T. Green / Getty Images)

Idaho rivers were once home to one of the country’s largest salmon runs. Today, however, those same salmon are headed towards extinction.

For more than fifty years this decline has had far-reaching effects on the state's ecosystem and cultural identity, which is why many groups are fighting to bring these fish back to our waterways.

Mitch Cutter, a salmon and energy strategist with the Idaho Conservation League, and Dennis Daw, the fish and wildlife program director for the Upper Snake River Tribes Foundation, will be talking more about this effort next week at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Boise, and they joined Idaho Matters for a preview.