You are right! Unlike most of my mods (and most of the Kings of the Wild Frontier mods), I an attempting to tell a more modern story rather than one during the Old West; the Conservation Center focuses on modern Nez Perce conservation efforts, especially highlighting the reintegration of threatened, endangered and even (locally) extinct salmon species back into the area.
In-game, the Unique comes extremely late, as you say, but should help protect the player from opponent cultural victories, assuming (which is somewhat difficult to pull off) the cities borders contain ample spots for Salmon.

These are interesting ideas but research lab is extremely late for a unique