About Us
We deploy capital, expertise, and partnerships to help communities transition toward regenerative economic models and advance resilience at the whole watershed and river basin scale.
Download our materials below to learn more about our approach, capital architecture, portfolio, and salmon biocultural credit program.
Salmon Nation is Home
A bioregion defined by the traditional extent of wild Pacific salmon - from the Salinas River in California to the North Slope of Alaska and from the ocean to the interior mountain ranges.
Our name, Salmon Returns, honors the ancient cycles of reciprocity—reminding us that, like the salmon, true prosperity flows when we give back to the places that sustain us.
Our Team
With decades of experience spanning climate finance, environmental conservation, Indigenous governance, and community wealth building—we blend institutional fluency with grassroots wisdom.
Together, our team brings decades of experience mobilizing more than $200 million for ecological and cultural regeneration. We’ve shaped landmark agreements like the Great Bear Rainforest, developed breakthrough financial instruments such as the first fossil-fuel-free ETF (Change Finance), launched place-based initiatives through Ecotrust and Salmon Nation Trust, and led Indigenous power-building through organizations including Na’ah Illahee Fund and NDN Collective.
Our Advisory Circle
We are guided by a trusted circle of wisdom keepers, change-makers, and ceremony holders whose cross-sector expertise have guided billions of dollars in capital and catalyzed innovation and collaboration across cultures, communities, and generations.
From Our Collaborators
“NDN Fund is eager to participate in this groundbreaking effort. Our missions to unlock capital in Indigenous communities will align and synergistically create new streams of capital to transform our communities.”
“Sophisticated investors are actively seeking systemic, place-based solutions—Salmon Returns is delivering exactly that. By investing in bioregional relationships, they offer one of the most effective pathways to regeneration, equity, and long-term planetary health, backed by years of trusted experience and commitment.”
“Salmon Returns swims upstream against extraction, returning true wealth to land, water, and community — guided by seasoned hands and unseen rivers of belonging, to help revitalize the nature state that is Salmon Nation.”
