Those Damn Dams

“We have built one dam [in the USA] for every day since Jefferson signed the Declaration of Independence...Surely among 75,000 there are a few mistakes."

~ Former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt

Dams kill 90% of salmon on their journey to and from the ocean. And the runs of salmon on the Snake and Columbia Rivers are only at 1% of their former numbers in the 1800s. Yet hatchery fish are very ill adapted at surviving in the rivers; it is like putting school kids in the Congo jungle and making them walk to the coast. It costs $9,000 for every fish that makes it back to Redfish Lake because of the extensive hatchery programs that are in place. All of these problems stem from overfishing in the 1800s and early 1900s and then the dam building craze of the 1910-1950s. Some of these dams need to be breached, or removed, to increase the salmon population, and we should not be so reliant on hatcheries to keep the salmon population stable. If these dams stay in place, salmon are likely to become extinct soon.

While dam removal is controversial because dams provide power, navigation, and recreation, dams must be removed if fish populations are to recover.  Salmon are resilient.  The populations can naturally sustain themselves even when half of them are killed or eaten, but dams reduce the numbers below the numbers needed to recover.

In the very recent past, the dam removal movement has taken hold. During this time, there have been dam removals of some dams that were old, ineffective, and not equipped with fish passage.  There has been one high profile dam removal operation this year; the Elwha Dam removal on the Olympic Peninsula. This was the largest dam removal operation so far. And, the removal has been very successful.  The river has mostly returned to normal, and the salmon numbers are increasing every year.

According to the documentation DamNation, the Lower Snake Dams are the most “environmentally destructive and ill-conceived dams.” If these dams were removed, then the salmon would have a much better chance of getting to the ocean and back alive, so the salmon numbers would increase. One of my goals this semester is to see what it would take to remove Lower Granite Lock and Dam. I am studying the effect dams have on salmon in the Columbia and Snake River basins and why these dams should be removed. If you see a wave a water going down the Snake then you know that I accomplished something.

~Patrick