In 2025, the World Salmon Council was awarded the Portland General Electric Drive Change Fund, supported by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s Clean Fuels Program. WSC purchased a 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 electric vehicle to secure cleaner, more reliable transportation essential to Salmon Watch programming.
Aligning with the WSC mission to provide accessible experiential education, WSC’s EV provides clean transportation for staff and volunteers. This ensures educators and high-quality materials are at every field trip to provide hands-on learning.
In the first season of using the WSC EV, we saw dramatic improvements in the accessibility of programming and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The 2025 season carbon impacts can be seen below. These calculations were based on data and recorded mileage using the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator.
WSC is excited to continue tracking and reporting on the long-term benefits our new EV will bring to our program, students, and community.
During the 2025 Fall Salmon Watch field trip season, WSC staff drove our electric vehicle more than 2,000 miles across Columbia River waterways to deliver riverside education programs. By replacing gasoline use with electric transportation, we avoided burning an estimated 96 gallons of fuel, preventing approximately 1.1 tons of CO₂ emissions from entering the atmosphere. This emissions reduction is equivalent to the carbon sequestered by 5.7 Pacific Northwest Douglas fir saplings over ten years.
In addition to staff travel, the EV expanded our ability to offer volunteer transportation opportunities, reducing emissions while increasing access for volunteers who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to join school groups in the field. Volunteer transportation prevented an additional 0.2 tons of CO₂ emissions, further demonstrating the broad environmental and community benefits of transitioning to clean transportation.
Our transition to cleaner transportation not only reduces WSC’s environmental footprint but is foundational for us to live our values as we continue to work to educate about the significance of our watersheds, support salmon ecosystems, and be a model for sustainability in our community work. Thank you, to DEQ’s Oregon Clean Fuels Program and PGE, for supporting organizations like ours in the journey toward a cleaner, greener future.
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