Conservation News
Facts on the Lower Snake River Dams
Excerpted from www.wildsalmon.org (Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition)
Submitted by Bruce Dau
Facts on the Lower Snake River Dams
Excerpted from www.wildsalmon.org (Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition)
Submitted by Bruce Dau
1. How Dams Kill Salmon
Dams turn rivers into slackwater reservoirs and destroy vital salmon habitat. Dams kill or harm salmon by:
* creating deadly high water temperatures in the slack water reservoirs
* creating conditions that increase predation on young salmon by other fish and birds
* reducing river flows needed to help young salmon reach the sea
* forcing some young fish into deadly turbines
* forcing many young fish into stressful collection systems and then into barges and trucks for a ride around the dams
* blocking upstream migrations of adult fish
* covering spawning habitat with silt and deep water
The Snake River once produced 40 percent of the Columbia River's salmon runs. Now, all Snake River salmon and steelhead stocks are extinct or on the Endangered Species list.
The eight federal dams on the Columbia and Lower Snake Rivers inflict more than 80% of the human-caused salmon deaths in the Snake River.
2. Partially Removing the Four Lower Snake River Dams
The four dams on the Lower Snake River in southeastern Washington are:
* Ice Harbor
* Lower Monumental
* Little Goose
* Lower Granite
These dams were all built with a concrete powerhouse, spillway and navigation lock, and an earthen portion to fill the gap between the concrete and the river bank. Partial removal means simply removing the dirt section, which will allow the river to return to its natural channel and flow around the remaining concrete parts. This process, also known as "breaching", is cheaper than removing the entire dam and is reversible.
Scientists predict that partially removing these four dams has an 80-99 percent chance of restoring healthy Snake River salmon runs by reversing habitat damage caused by the dams.
3. The Science is Clear
Independent scientists have concluded that partially dismantling the four Lower Snake dams is the best way to save salmon. This conclusion was backed up by a recent review of that analysis by four nationally-recognized scientists. Scientists now predict that removing the earthen portion of the four Lower Snake dams has an 80-99 percent chance of restoring Snake River salmon to healthy, harvestable levels. This process has a far better chance of saving salmon and steelhead from extinction than the current strategy of barging and trucking fish around the dams.
4. Trucking and Barging Salmon Doesn't Work
To make up for the deadly effects of the Columbia and Snake dams, the federal government takes young salmon and steelhead out of the river, puts them in trucks and barges, and transports them past the dams. State and tribal biologists, other independent scientists, and several major scientific studies all found that fish barging and trucking will not save Snake salmon and steelhead from extinction. Not once, in 20 years of trying, has barging and trucking young fish returned enough adult salmon to prevent the slide towards extinction.
The problems with barging and trucking young fish include:
* Injuries from the collection and handling process
* Crowded, stressful conditions, which spread disease, inside the barges and trucks
* Young salmon can't find their way back to spawn as adults if they migrate downstream in barges and trucks instead of in the river
* Disoriented young salmon are easy prey for predators when they are released from the barges and trucks
5. The Benefits of Partially Removing the Four Lower Snake Dams
* Partially removing these four dams has a 99 percent chance of saving salmon
* Restored salmon runs mean a revitalized fishing economy. Commercial, sport, and tribal fishers from Idaho to Oregon to Alaska depend on Columbia and Snake River salmon and steelhead runs. Boat and tackle manufacturers, guides, hotels, grocery stores, gas stations and other locally-based businesses are supported by fishing. The Idaho Statesman newspaper estimates that restoring Snake River salmon will contribute at least $248 million to the regional economy every year.
* Increased opportunities for fishing, rafting and other river recreation
* Successful salmon recovery will eventually lead to taking these fish off the Endangered Species list
* The four Lower Snake dams are due for at least $250 million in repairs soon. This and other significant maintenance costs will be saved.
* Reduction of expensive taxpayer subsidies, currently about $350 million annually, for corporate irrigators, barging companies, and cheap power for other industries, including the aluminum smelters.
* A restored river with healthy salmon runs will contribute to the quality of life we enjoy in the Northwest and which brings businesses to the region
6. We Can Afford to Save Snake River Salmon and Steelhead
The four dams provide relatively little benefit compared to their financial costs and their effects on salmon runs.
* These dams were not designed for flood control, so there will be no increase in the risk of floods.
* One dam, Ice Harbor, provides irrigation water for 13 corporate agri-businesses, which irrigate only 35,000 acres, less than 1 percent of the irrigated land in the Northwest. These farms earn $1.9 million per year, but receive taxpayer subsidies of $11.2 million per year. Irrigation can continue by extending pipes to the new river level.
* The four dams provide only a small amount of the region's power. Since 1979, the Northwest has saved, through energy conservation, an amount of electricity equal to that produced by the four Lower Snake dams and could double that.
* A seaport on the Rocky Mountains of Idaho that benefits barge shippers. Maintaining this barging corridor from Lewiston, ID to Washington's Tri-Cities will cost $350 million in taxpayer subsidies over the next five years. The best alternative is to ship goods via truck and rail, as they were before the last dam was built in 1975.
A 1998 economic analysis by the Northwest Power Planning Council found that making the changes to the four Lower Snake dams and John Day dam is affordable. Residential electric customers in the Northwest will continue to enjoy the lowest power rates in the nation.