November 26, 2018

Tara Lohan

For much of the 20th-century humans got really good at dam building. Dams—embraced for their flood protection, water storage, and electricity generation—drove industry, built cities and helped turn deserts into farms. The United States alone has now amassed more than 90,000 dams, half of which are 25 feet tall or greater.

Decades ago, dams were a sure sign of “progress.” But that’s changing.

Today the American public is more discerning of dams’ benefits and more aware of their long-term consequences. In the past 30 years, 1,275 dams have been torn down, according to the nonprofit American Rivers, which works on dam-removal and river-restoration projects.

Why remove dams? Some are simply old and unsafe—the average age of U.S. dams is 56 years. It would cost American taxpayers almost $45 billion to repair our aging, high-hazard dams, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. In some cases it’s simply cheaper to remove them.

Other dams have simply outlived their usefulness or been judged to be doing more harm than good. Dams have been shown to fragment habitat, decimate fisheries and alter ecosystems.

Depending on the size and scope of the project, dam removal may not be an easy or quick fix.

Getting stakeholders onboard, raising the funds, and performing the necessary scientific and engineering studies can take years before actual removal efforts can begin.

And some projects are controversial and may never get the green light. For decades stakeholders have debated whether to remove four hydroelectric dams on the Lower Snake River in eastern Washington. The dams provide about four percent of the region’s electricity, but also block endangered salmon from reaching critical habitat. The fish are a key food source for the Northwest’s beleaguered orcas.

The debate over the Snake River dams is ongoing, but with each new dam removal researchers are learning important lessons to help guide the next project. One of the most important gleaned so far is that rivers bounce back quickly. Recent research has shown that “changes in the river below the dam removal happen faster than were generally expected and the river returned to a normal state more rapidly than expected,” says Ian Miller, an oceanography instructor at Peninsula College and a coastal hazards specialist.

Miller has worked on studies both before and after the removal of two dams on Washington’s Elwha River, which is the largest dam-removal project thus far. But more projects, including a big one, may soon be grabbing headlines.

Here are four that we’re watching closely that show the diversity of dam-removal projects across the country.

Klamath Rover, California and Oregon:

The most anticipated upcoming dam-removal project in the United States will be on the Klamath River in California and Oregon. It’s the first time four dams will be removed simultaneously, making it an even bigger endeavor than those on the Elwha.

“We’ve never seen a dam-removal and river-restoration project at this scale,” says Amy Souers Kober, communications director for American Rivers.

The hydroelectric dams — three in California and one in Oregon — range in height from 33 feet to 173 feet.

Local tribes may be among the most enthused for the dams’ removal. Their communities depend on salmon as an economic and cultural resource, but fish populations began to crash after the first dam on the Klamath River was constructed 100 years ago.

While the removal of the dams won’t make the Klamath River entirely dam-free (there will be two more upstream dams remaining), it will open up 400 miles of stream habitat for salmon and other fish. It’s also expected to help improve water quality, including reducing threats from toxic algae that have flourished in the warm water of the reservoirs.

The project is hailed for the huge coalition for stakeholders that have become collaborators. “This has been decades in the making, with so many people involved, from the tribes to commercial fishermen, to conservationists and many others,” says Kober. “Dam removals are most successful when there are a lot of people at the table and it’s a truly collaborative effort.”

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and an independent board of consultants are now reviewing the plan for the Lower Klamath Project, a 2,300-page analysis of the dam removal and restoration effort. And the project is also working on receiving its last permitting requirements. If all proceeds on track, the site preparation will begin in 2020 and dam removal in 2021.

Patapsco River, Maryland:

On September 11, as the Southeast readied itself for approaching Hurricane Florence, a blast of explosives breached the Bloede Dam on the Patapsco River in Maryland. Crews have been working to remove the rest of the structure and restoration efforts are expected to continue into next year.

The dam — the first submerged hydroelectric plant in the country — was built in 1907 and is located in a state park and owned by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. For the past decade, concerns have mounted over public safety, obstructed fish passage and other aquatic habitat impacts from the dam, prompting a plan to remove it.

The removal of the dam is “going to restore alewife and herring and other fish that are really vital to the food web and the Chesapeake Bay,” says Kober. Researchers expect to study the results of this ecosystem restoration for years to come.

There’s another reason to watch this project: The dam’s removal also involves some interesting science and technology. Researchers have employed high-tech drones to help them understand how much of the 2.6 million cubic feet of sediment from behind the dam will make its way downstream and at what speed. With the sensitive ecosystem of the Chesapeake Bay just 8 miles downstream, sediment inflow is a big concern.

“Just the idea that we can fly drones over this extended reach with some degree of regularity means that we can see evidence of sediment movement from the pictures alone,” explains Matthew Baker, a professor of geography and environmental systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who is helping to lead this effort. “We can track the movement just by taking low-altitude aerial photos and we can try to model that within a computer and estimate the amount of sediment and the rate of movement.”

This kind of research lowers the cost of monitoring, says Baker, and can help future dam-removal work, too. “I think it’s going to be employed regularly,” he says.

Middle Fork Nooksack River, Washington:

About 20 miles east of Bellingham, Washington, a dam removal on the Middle Fork Nooksack River is the “next biggest important restoration project in Puget Sound,” says Kober.

The diversion dam, built in 1962, was constructed to funnel water to the city of Bellingham to augment its primary water supply source in Lake Whatcom – but at the expense of fish, which cannot pass over or through the dam.

Since the early 2000s, the city, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Lummi Nation and Nooksack Indian Tribe have worked on a plan to remove the dam in order to restore about 16 miles of spawning and rearing habitat for three fish listed on the Endangered Species Act: spring Chinook salmon, steelhead and bull trout.

The primary purpose of the dam removal “is recovery of threatened species,” says April McEwen, a river restoration project manager at American Rivers. “The goal of the project is to provide critical habitat upstream for those salmon species to be able to spawn.” It’s also hoped that more salmon will reach the ocean and help the same endangered orcas affected by the Snake River dams. The whales depend on the fish for food and are at their lowest population in 34 years.

But a critical part of the dam-removal project is continued water supply for the city.

Currently the dam creates a “consistent and reliable municipal water flow,” says Stephen Day, project engineer at Bellingham Public Works. The current project design has identified a new diversion about 1,000 feet upstream where water can be withdrawn with similar reliability but without the need for a dam.

The design phase of the project is currently being finalized, and McEwen says they hope to have all the permits by March 2019 and the dam removed later the same year. But first, the project still needs to secure some needed state funds.

The dam removal is “a really big deal” for the entire Puget Sound ecosystem, says McEwen. “Salmon are keystone species. If their numbers are down, we all suffer, including humans and especially orca whales.”

Grand River, Michigan:

A project that has been in the works for a decade could put the “rapids” back in Grand Rapids. More than a hundred years ago, the construction of five small dams along a two-mile stretch of the Grand River in the Michigan city drowned the natural rapids to facilitate transporting floating logs to furniture factories along the banks.

Those factories long ago closed, and the aging dams are now more of a safety hazard than a benefit for the city.

The idea of removing the dams came as part of a larger effort initiated in 2008 to green the city. “Early on the main focus was recreation, looking at ways to bring back rapids for kayaking,” says Matt Chapman, director and project coordinator of the nonprofit Grand Rapids Whitewater, which has been leading the river-restoration effort. “But as the project has evolved and as we’ve learned and studied the river, we’ve realized there are so many other benefits to a project like this.”

“The more we found out about the river, the more we realized how impaired it is biologically,” says Wendy Ogilvie, director of environmental programs at the Grand Valley Metropolitan Council. “We hope through the revitalization there will be some recreational opportunities, but a lot is fish passage and a better habitat for native species.”

The dams set to be removed may be small — the largest is about 10 feet tall — but the project isn’t simple. For one thing, the presence of the Sixth Street dam, the tallest, has blocked the further invasion of parasitic sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus), which have spread from the Atlantic Ocean throughout the Great Lakes over the past two centuries. The project is working to create a new structure that will prevent the lamprey from migrating further upstream and preying on native fish after dam removal.

Project managers discovered that the federally listed endangered snuffbox mussel (Epioblasma triquetra) also makes its home in this stretch of river. The project hopes to carefully remove and relocate the mussels to suitable habitat during the construction process, which is expected to take about five years. The mussels may be returned after construction and restoration. The dam removal is also expected to help state-listed threatened lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) return to their original spawning grounds upstream and benefit smaller fish like logperch, which have been blocked by the dam and are vital for mussels.

The river-restoration process is also spurring a greater revitalization effort along the riverfront to provide more accessible green public space and economic opportunities.

“It’s not just restoring the river, but also how the community gets to the river from the neighborhoods,” says Chapman.

He says they hope to have all the necessary permits in hand to begin working on habitat improvements in the lower part of the river next summer, including finalizing a plan for the mussels’ relocation. It will likely be another three or four years before the sea lamprey barrier is complete and the Sixth Street dam will be removed following that.

Much work has been done over the years to clean up the river and curb pollution, says Ogilvie. The next step is helping to restore the ecology and recreational opportunities. “The best part about the project is having people value the river and think of it as a resource,” she says. “If we could see sturgeon coming back up the river…that would be pretty amazing, too.”

Forty years of research show hydro dams create environmental damage, says David Schindler.

Politicians who describe dams as “clean energy projects” are talking “nonsense” and rejecting decades of science, says David Schindler, a leading water ecologist.

But that’s not the story told by science, Schindler told The Tyee in a wide-ranging interview.

In fact studies done by federal scientists identified dams as technological giants with lasting ecological footprints almost 40 years ago, he said.

Dam construction and the resulting flooding produces significant volumes of greenhouse gas emissions. Canadian dams have strangled river systems, flooded forests, blocked fish movement, increased methylmercury pollution, unsettled entire communities and repeatedly violated treaty rights.

Schindler, a professor emeritus at the University of Alberta and an internationally honoured expert on lakes and rivers, pointed to the increased mercury levels as a health and environmental risk. “All reservoirs that have been studied have had mercury in fish increase several-fold after a river is dammed,” he said.

“How can any of those impacts be regarded as green or clean?”

The Site C dam is no exception. A report by the University of British Columbia’s Program on Water Governance found the Site C project, which faced a federal-provincial Joint Review Panel in 2014, “has more significant negative environmental effects than any other project ever reviewed under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (including oilsands projects).”

“The scale of impacts results from the rare and ecologically important biodiversity of the Peace Valley,” the UBC report noted.

Schindler said other countries, like Brazil, have put the brakes on hydro development over concerns about Indigenous rights, economics and environmental damage.

“Brazilian politicians seem to learn a lot faster than Canadian politicians,” he said.

In contrast the Canadian government proposes to meet its failing climate change goals by replacing fossil fuels with massive amounts of hydroelectric power, which government bureaucrats still misleadingly call “non-emitting.”

One federal plan, the Mid-Century Long-Term Low-Greenhouse Gas Development Strategy, includes scenarios that would see the equivalent of another 118 Site C dams built across Canada by 2050, many on Indigenous land in northern Canada.

But to call dams “non-greenhouse gas emitting” sources of power, as the Canadian government now does, is completely dishonest, said Schindler.

Dams create greenhouse gas emissions by flooding soils and vegetation, which then decompose and release methane and carbon dioxide over time.

The same microbial decomposition also helps to accelerate the production and bioaccumulation of mercury in fish and eaters of fish.

Schindler said each reservoir’s emissions are different depending on the depth, size, amount of land flooded and location.

In extreme cases, energy from dams can produce as much greenhouse gas as burning coal, he said. Some reservoirs can release methane and CO2 for more than a hundred years, he added.

On a global average reservoirs created by dams release three to five times more emissions than natural lakes or wetlands due to the high volume of wood, vegetation and peat decomposing in flood waters.

“When you add the emissions from building and producing materials for a dam, as well as the emissions from clearing forests and moving earth, the greenhouse gas production from hydro is expected to be about the same as from burning natural gas,” said Schindler.

According to one 2012 study, Canada’s 271 large dams have affected 130,000 kilometres of rivers and flooded tens of thousands of hectares of land.

Calculating greenhouse gas emissions from the nation’s hydro reservoirs is not an exact science, but estimates range from 1.5 megatonnes to 17 megatonnes a year.

According to a recent UBC analysis of greenhouse gas emissions from Site C, its reservoir will create meaningful greenhouse gas emissions, primarily in the 2020s and 2030s, and the project would “make it harder to meet Canada’s 2030 greenhouse gas reduction commitments.”

Schindler said he began concluding dams are not clean 40 years ago.

“My realization that dams weren’t clean came when federal researchers started research on South Indian Lake in the 1970s,” he recalled.

The lake, Manitoba’s fourth largest, was located north of Lake Winnipeg and supported a small Cree community that depended on a thriving white fish fishery, North America’s second largest, for its livelihood. That self-sustaining resource provided families with incomes of $100,000 a year.

But in the 1960s the Manitoba government proposed a massive $2-billion project to divert water from the Churchill River into the Nelson River to provide cheap power for city dwellers and U.S. customers.

At the time Robert Newbury, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Manitoba, raised serious concerns about whether the project was needed and its impact.

“Nowhere is the cost of the loss of the Churchill River calculated. Its existence, aesthetics, native community options, ecology and unique role of creating a livable environment in an otherwise harsh land are considered to be worthless in the energy budge,” wrote Newbury at the time.

Despite stiff opposition from First Nations and many southern Manitobans, the new government of the day pushed the project forward.

“Can we... face up to the prospect of disrupting two communities of 700 people, completely upsetting the lake on which they depend for their livelihood making it quite impossible for at least some of them to continue to live independently?” asked then-NDP premier Ed Schreyer before the decision — before doing just that.

The diversion, which promised a “brighter future” for southerners, flooded the community with three metres of water and destroyed 800 square kilometres of Cree land.

“Mercury levels went up and destroyed the fishery,” recalls Schindler.

In exchange for lost land and livelihoods, the NDP government relocated Cree residents and offered them “direct colour TV broadcasts of improved quality.” (The damage continues to this day. “Our government talks about reconciliation and a bright future for all,” wrote a Manitoba Indigenous fisher in 2016. “We don’t see it.”)

In the 1990s more research confirmed the dirty impact of dams on waterways that sustained Canada’s First Nations at the Experimental Lakes Area in northwestern Ontario, a research station that Schindler founded.

Scientists flooded boreal wetlands and then boreal forests covered by different amounts of soil and vegetation and discovered the inundation of all kinds of landscapes increased both greenhouse gas emissions and the volume of methymercury being released into the water.

The researchers also noted that “Boreal developments generally involve reservoirs with large surface-area-to-volume ratios that flood substantial quantities of organic bio-mass, which predisposes these reservoirs to high production rates of greenhouse gas and methylmerucy relative to the amount of power produced.”

Similar results were found at the La Grande complex in northern Quebec, which created 15,000 megawatts of hydroelectric capacity by flooding nearly 13,000 square kilometres of boreal forest and wetlands.

“Researchers found the same impacts there,” said Schindler. “The findings were parallel. More mercury and greenhouse gas were being released because of the dams in the James Bay area.”

Just 10 years after the flooding of the La Grande complex mercury levels in pike and walleye rose six times above their baseline levels.

By the 1980s, 60 per cent of the Cree living near the La Grande estuary reported mercury levels above the World Health Organization tolerance limit.

International studies have all reached similar conclusions: dams have high environmental and economic costs.

“I don’t know what our politicians are doing,” said Schindler. “Are they not reading science at all? How can they come out and call dams clean power. There is no excuse for this kind of ignorance.”

Nor have the issues gone away. Only sustained protests and hunger strikes over the Muskrat Falls dam forced the Newfoundland government to respond to scientists’ concerns about mercury contamination. Premier Dwight Ball committed to making all future decisions “using science-based research.”
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No Magic Solution: Horgan on Approving Site C
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Megadams have other impacts that have not been fully studied, Schindler said.

Development fragments watersheds as industry builds roads and transmission lines. In turn the fragmentation destroys or disturbs wildlife habitat, and opens the surrounding area to hunters and fishermen who are not entitled to treaty benefits.

“Both can quickly deplete the resources necessary for Indigenous subsistence in the region of a dam,” says Schindler.

“Everywhere Canadian engineers have changed water levels with dams, communities have been shattered,” he said.

Politicians, said Schindler, need to recognize that all energy sources emit carbon dioxide and all have an ecological cost.

Although dams may sometimes be low-carbon emitters, the destruction of fisheries and violation of First Nation treaties and communities can’t ever be whitewashed as green or clean, he maintained.

“As Site C, Muskrat Falls and developments in Manitoba and Quebec illustrate, these are not problems of colonial attitudes of a distant past: they are as acute now as they ever were.”

 https://thetyee.ca/News/2018/01/24/Megadams-Not-Clean-Green/

July 18, 2018

U.S. Columbia River Treaty Negotiator Jill Smail will lead a Town Hall on September 6, 2018, in Portland, Oregon on the modernization of the Columbia River Treaty regime. The Town Hall is free of charge, open to the public, and will take place at the Bonneville Power Administration’s Rates Hearing Room from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. This Town Hall will follow the August 15–16 round of negotiations on the Treaty regime in British Columbia and take place in advance of the October 17–18 round of negotiations in Portland, Oregon. At the Town Hall, U.S. government representatives will provide a general overview of the negotiations and take questions from the public; feel free to send questions in advance to ColumbiaRiverTreaty@state.gov. For more information on the Town Hall, including call-in details, please see the Federal Register Notice.

The Columbia River Treaty is an international model for transboundary water cooperation. The 1964 Treaty’s flood risk and hydropower operations have provided substantial benefits to millions of people on both sides of the border. The Treaty also has facilitated additional benefits such as supporting the river’s ecosystem, irrigation, municipal water use, industrial use, navigation, and recreation. More information can be found on the Department’s Treaty website.

As the United States continues bilateral negotiations with Canada, our key objectives are guided by the U.S. Entity Regional Recommendation for the Future of the Columbia River Treaty after 2024, a consensus document published in 2013 after five years of consultations among the Tribes, states, stakeholders, public, and federal agencies. The U.S. negotiating team is led by the U.S. Department of State and comprises the Bonneville Power Administration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Northwestern Division, the Department of the Interior, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

With your strong support and advocacy, we’ve covered a lot of ground together this past year. 2022 will be a year of great consequence for Snake River salmon, Southern Resident orcas, tribal justice and Northwest communities.

We are at the crossroads today. The Northwest and nation must decide – and act - to remove four dams to restore health and resilience, and salmon and steelhead to the historic Snake River. The choice is clear: it's either extinction or restoration.

With your help, the Save Our wild Salmon Coalition (SOS) and our partners have made 2021 a pivotal year for the Snake River, its endangered fish and the irreplaceable benefits they bring to the Northwest and nation.

OUR TOP GOAL IN 2022: To support – and hold to account – Northwest policymakers and the Biden Administration to develop and deliver a comprehensive package in Congress that (i) authorizes the removal of the four lower Snake River dams in southeast Washington State and (ii) invests in critical infrastructure – clean energy, irrigation and transportation – to create jobs, ensure prosperous communities, and uphold our nation’s promises to the region’s tribes.

Your advocacy and support has been essential to our progress in 2021. We’ll need all of that and more in the new year. We’re gearing up now to bring all of our strategic focus and creative energies to seize this window of opportunity that together we’ve recently opened up.

Read on for a summary of SOS’ top accomplishments and related developments affecting salmon and orcas in 2021 - and to look into the year ahead.

2021 has been a transformative year for political engagement in the Northwest and nationally to address the plight of Snake River salmon and the benefits they bring to people, wildlife and ecosystems.

Time, however, is running out for two of the Northwest’s most emblematic species – wild salmon and the orcas that rely upon them. Adult salmon and steelhead returns to the Snake River in 2021 were among the lowest on record. The Nez Perce Tribe's recent study makes plain that protecting these fish from extinction requires bold, urgent action.

2021 also marks the 30th anniversary for the listing of Snake River sockeye under the Endangered Species Act. After three decades, billions in spending and six illegal federal salmon plans, the same number of sockeye salmon swam into their spawning grounds in the Stanley Basin in central Idaho in 2021 as in 1991: four.Clearly, the status quo has failed and a new approach is urgently needed.

This spiraling ecological crisis in combination with our smart, coordinated, relentless pressure has (finally!) stirred bi-partisan engagement in the Northwest. This year and for the first time ever, political leaders in Idaho, Oregon and Washington State have committed themselves to work urgently with the region’s tribes, stakeholders and citizens to develop solutions for Snake River salmon and Northwest communities.

Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson (R) deserves great credit for driving a conversation about the future of the Snake River and its fish. In February, he unveiled his proposal to remove the lower Snake River dams and invest in infrastructure and communities. His announcement kicked off a much-needed discussion with broad implications for the Northwest's environment, economy, culture and identity.

Other regional leaders have stepped up as well. Gov. Kate Brown and Rep. Earl Blumenauer in Oregon announced their readiness to work with others to develop a regional strategy to restore the lower Snake River and invest in impacted communities. Then in October, Gov. Jay Inslee and Sen. Patty Murray in Washington State outlined next steps in the federal-state process they first announced in May. The senator and governor are working together now to study our options for replacing the services currently provided by the dams as a key step toward developing an action plan for Snake River salmon and Northwest communities by or before July 2022.

Also in October, the Biden Administration joined with the Nez Perce Tribe, State of Oregon, and conservation and fishing plaintiffs led by Earthjustice to temporarily pause 20+ years of litigation over salmon and dams in the Columbia Basin and begin settlement discussions to develop a long-term plan to protect imperiled salmon and steelhead in the Snake and Columbia rivers.The deadline for these talks is the same as the Murray/Inslee process: July 2022.

Meanwhile, Sen. Maria Cantwell (WA) secured historic levels of funding to support Pacific Northwest salmon recovery by removing culverts, restoring habitat and much more in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill signed this fall by President Biden. SOS is very grateful for the senator's efforts to secure these funds. They will help advance an important set of recovery priorities across the Northwest in the months and years ahead. But we'll also need Senator Cantwell's leadership working urgently with others in the region to help develop the comprehensive plan we need in 2022 to protect Snake River fish from extinction.

These developments in 2021 – emerging political champions and significant available funding – are the critical ingredients we must leverage in 2022 to avoid an extinction spasm in the Northwest and lay the groundwork to achieve our nation's greatest salmon/river restoration. Before looking into the new year, we'll first review some key SOS accomplishments in 2021 that have helped bring about the opportunity before us today.

SOS' talented team has been going full-tilt all year:
- Coordinating with strategic partners, allies and constituencies.
- Engaging key stakeholders in energy, agriculture and local communities to identify shared solutions.
- Educating and engaging policymakers and the public with projects like our Snake River Vision Project, 2021 Hot Water Report series, monthly online newsletters, action alerts, online speaker series in spring and fall, and more.
- Organizing and mobilizing grassroots and grasstops supporters to contact policymakers in the Northwest and in D.C. with email/phone/text campaigns, meetings, sign-on letters, on-the-ground events and actions, and more.
- Generating earned and paid media with reporter contacts, guest opinions, letters-to-the-editor and social media.
- Organizing print/digital ad campaigns in Northwest newspapers with allied NGOs and businesses highlighting the plight of Southern Resident orcas and Snake River steelhead, and in support of the Tribes’ historic Salmon Orca Summit.
- Engaging public officials, state and federal agencies, the Biden Administration and their influencers with scores of meetings in 2021 in the Northwest and in D.C.
- Partnering with business allies including fishing guides, gear retailers, outdoor recreation companies, food professionals and restaurants, and others.

The Nez Perce and other tribes today are leading the way on salmon recovery and the future of the Snake River. Northwest tribes – Salmon People – rightly insist that 'justice' be at the center of this conversation. Many tribes signed treaties with the United States long ago to maintain healthy salmon runs in perpetuity – and all of us have a role to play to ensure that our nation upholds its promises.

SOS has - and will continue to - seize opportunities to elevate tribal voices and support their leadership. Last summer, we organized a ‘solidarity vigil’ at the historic Salmon Orca Summit hosted by Northwest tribes. We also supported our friends at Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment and the Nez Perce Tribe to promote the Red Road to D.C. Totem Pole Journey event on July 15 on the banks of the Snake River. And we’ve encouraged support for the Umatilla Tribe’s Youth Leadership Councilin their powerful advocacy on behalf of the Snake and its salmon. We’re already coordinating with tribal allies and developing plans to support important projects and priorities in 2022.

Our focus in 2022: Looking ahead, SOS will continue to educate and inspire and engage our supporters and the public; strengthen stakeholder alliances; find new ways to elevate tribal voices and support tribal projects and priorities; and support – and hold accountable – our political leaders. The next 6-10 months will be a critical window of opportunity to develop and deliver a comprehensive solution that protects and recovers the Northwest’s emblematic salmon and hungry orcas by restoring a resilient, freely flowing Snake River as part of a larger strategy that brings everyone in the Northwest forward together.

In anticipation of the consequential year ahead, we’ve been busy this fall developing new, ambitious, creative and collaborative ways to elevate the urgent plight of Snake River fish and reach new communities and constituencies. Critical decisions at both the state and federal levels will be made between now and Summer 2022. It's our collective job to ensure the right decisions are made.

Please help ensure we have the resources we need to take advantage of this critical window in 2022. Salmon and orca are simply running out of time. The opportunity is here, now, and, with your support and assistance, we’ll do all we can to seize it.

Thank you as ever for your tremendous support and advocacy. We are grateful for and humbled by your partnership. Please reach out (joseph@wildsalmon.org; 206-300-1003) if you have questions about our priorities and program work in the coming year, how you can support us, or would like further information and to get more involved.

Onward together,

Joseph Bogaard, joseph@wildsalmon.org
Sam Mace, sam@wildsalmon.org
Carrie Herrman, carrie@wildsalmon.org

From the desk of Joseph Bogaard

Note: Save Our wild Salmon Coalition is a 501c3 organization. We are non-partisan. We endorse neither political parties nor candidates. Restoring salmon is not - nor should be - a partisan matter. The SOS coalition has a diverse membership; we work closely with people of different political affiliations. Our work is guided by the belief that meaningful, durable solutions to restore salmon and benefit communities will require bipartisan leadership and committed collaboration by people with different interests and backgrounds.

November 30, 2020

On Wednesday, January 20th, 2021, Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the nation’s 46th President and Senator Kamala Harris will be sworn in as the 49th Vice President – and, notably, the first Black, South Asian woman in the position. At this time, we don’t know what the new administration will mean for endangered wild salmon and steelhead and Southern Resident orcas in the Pacific Northwest. But, based on statements and materials and early developments from the then-candidate and now-President-Elect, there are reasons for cautious optimism and a sense of real opportunity.

I hasten to add, however, that the necessary progress that SOS and many advocates seek – that salmon and orcas urgently need – will only come about as the result of excellent and relentless outreach and organizing by salmon, orca, fishing and clean energy advocates – engaging stakeholders and policymakers alike. Now more than ever, we all need to be talking to our friends and family, calling and writing elected officials, encouraging community leaders, supporting Save Our wild Salmon and allied organizations with your time and dollars.

We live in a democracy and good things rarely happen without people organizing and mobilizing. A Biden Administration represents a new window of opportunity to protect and restore endangered wild Snake River salmon and steelhead and the benefits they bring to the Northwest and the nation. We need to work together with people across the Northwest to seize this opportunity and hold the incoming administration accountable to their promises and commitments.

My cautious optimism today for meaningful progress under a Biden Administration is based on four values or priorities anchored in Mr. Biden’s record of public service and his 2020 campaign platform. These include his commitments to (1) embrace science, (2) honor Native American Tribes, (3) confront climate change, and (4) bring diverse people together around shared solutions.

Science: During his campaign, Biden committed to putting science at the heart of his administration’s policymaking. A return to science-informed decision-making will affect all manner of issues – the pandemic, climate change, health care – as well as the fate of salmon and orca in the Pacific Northwest. Advocates shouldn’t expect scientists to make decisions for the President and his administration. But, based on Mr. Biden’s campaign, we should expect scientists to inform the decisions that are made.

Native American Tribes: The Biden-Harris campaign recognized that, while our nation was founded on the notion of equality for all, “we’ve never fully lived up to it. Throughout our history, this promise has been denied to Native Americans who have lived on this land since time immemorial.” Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have committed to uphold the U.S.’s trust responsibility to tribal nations and strengthen the Nation-to-Nation relationship between the United States and Indian tribes.

The Biden Administration has promised to work with America’s Tribes to “empower tribal nations to govern their own communities and make their own decisions,” including to restore tribal lands and safeguard natural and cultural resources. In the Northwest, salmon and orca play central roles in the culture and economy of many Tribes. Protecting and recovering these and other fish and wildlife populations is certain to be an important priority for many tribal communities on the coast and inland.

Climate Change: Addressing climate change was a pillar of the Biden-Harris campaign. The President-Elect recognizes climate change as an existential threat – and understands the urgent need to address it. Climate change imperils our lands and waters and ecosystems, and also puts at risk our health, communities, food systems and economic well-being. While communities of color and low-income communities are often at higher risk, climate change affects everyone - wreaking havoc today on our towns and cities and ways of life in rural as well as urban centers.

In the Northwest, climate change multiplies the challenges facing already-endangered salmon and orcas today – and increases the urgency to act. Scientists tell us that restoring a resilient, freely flowing lower Snake River through dam removal is essential for protecting its native fish from extinction. Salmon and orca – and the rest of us – need an aggressive set of policies to both dramatically reduce carbon emissions (prevention) and invest in resilience and adaptation (care) to better prepare our ecosystems and communities to withstand intensifying climate impacts. The Biden-Harris campaign in 2020 embraced this two-pronged approach of prevention and care - and advocates must be prepared to both support their leadership and hold them accountable.

Collaborative Solutions: The Biden-Harris campaign regularly highlighted a commitment to collaboration and unity. The President-Elect has a reputation as someone who works well with people regardless of their party affiliation or background.

In order to develop and deliver the comprehensive regional solutions our salmon, orcas and communities need, we’re going to need regional and national leadership. And we’re going to need to work effectively with diverse interests and communities. Salmon, fishing and orca advocates are committed to this type of collaboration and we will call on the incoming Administration to bring its leadership, resources and an inclusive and pragmatic approach to problem-solving.

The Need for Urgent Action: Many advocates in the Northwest are hopeful today that the incoming Administration will support leadership by Northwest policymakers, partner with Native American Tribes and engage stakeholders and citizens. To restore salmon abundance, we need to work together with great urgency to develop a comprehensive package that restores the lower Snake River and invests in our inland and coastal communities.

We have a lot of hard work ahead. Nothing good will occur without relentless public pressure, relentlessly applied. Crucial leadership is emerging today – thanks to years of organizing and advocacy by organizations like Save Our wild Salmon with the support of people like you. Policymakers are responding. We’ve made important progress in 2020, despite a pandemic, cataclysmic forest fires, economic disruption and a contentious election. As I see it, 2021 begins with great urgency and opportunity. As ever, we’re depending upon your support and advocacy.

Thank you for all that you do.

Onward together,

Joseph

Below are links to two recent articles exploring what the new administration may mean for the natural resources, fish and wildlife and the environment in the Pacific Northwest. Notably, both articles specifically highlight the plight of the Snake River and its imperiled salmon and steelhead populations.

Seattle Times: What Biden’s agenda on the environment could mean for the Pacific Northwest

Idaho Statesman: As Biden promises renewed climate change focus, will his policies help or hurt Idaho

Shannan Lenke Stoll
 Jul 04, 2018 

Last year, for the first time, scientists surveying Pacific Northwest salmon came up with empty nets. They weren’t all empty, but some were—and that’s “really different than anything we have ever seen,” David Huff of the NOAA survey team told The Seattle Times. It’s a bit too early to identify a particular cause of these unusual salmon surveys, but it’s not too early to be concerned.

Wild salmon populations are affected by dams, development, and salmon farms. Now, ocean and river temperatures are rising. That’s not good news for wild salmon.

At every life stage, salmon need clean, cold water. When water heats up, even by a few degrees, diseases can set in. Once it passes 73–77 degrees, salmon die.

That’s what happened in 2015, when unseasonably hot river water killed nearly half of the sockeye salmon that returned to the Columbia River to spawn in Oregon and Washington. And this year, fisheries managers estimate low returns because of a warming ocean and drought conditions for the third year in a row for California’s Sacramento River fall chinook—so low they’re recommending a significantly shortened commercial season.

Their sensitivity to changing environmental conditions make salmon susceptible to climate change, but it’s also why scientists use salmon as an indicator species to gauge the health of the ecosystem. We need salmon—and not just because they’re tasty.

1. Salmon feed forests.

On their journey out to sea and back, salmon feed humans, bears, orcas—and trees, too. It’s their unique life cycle that make them an important food source. Washington state biologists have estimated that salmon come into contact with 137 different species—and that’s not including plants. They’re such an important food source that scientists identify them as a “keystone species”—a species without which the ecosystem would change dramatically. Salmon spend most of their lives at sea. So when they return inland to spawn and die, they bring ocean nutrients—stored in their bodies—with them upstream, sometimes hundreds of miles, depositing nitrogen and phosphorus that forests need.

2. Salmon can tear down dams.

Almost four years ago, the largest dam removal project in U.S. history was completed, and scientists are already recording regeneration up and down the Elwha River in Washington state as it rushes back to life. The proposed removal of four dams on the Klamath River in 2020 would be even bigger in scale. And one driver behind dam removal is salmon. The federal relicensing process requires dams to make sometimes costly upgrades for fish passage under modern environmental laws. PacifiCorp, which owns and operates the four dams on the Klamath, has said in public statements that tearing the dams down is less costly than relicensing and maintaining them. When environmental laws protect salmon, removing dams makes economic sense.

3. Salmon sustain cultures.

Historically, members of the Karuk Tribe in Northern California ate more than one pound of salmon every day. Today, as dams, climate change, and development impact Klamath River salmon, that number averages less than five pounds of salmon eaten per person—in a year. In 2017, the tribe announced it would limit its harvest to just 200 chinook salmon. And it’s not just diet that’s impacted. All along the Pacific coast, Native people have lived alongside salmon for thousands of years. Salmon is at the center of ceremonies, art, and identity for tribes in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and California. When salmon are threatened, so is culture.

4. Salmon keep humans healthy.

Salmon is one of the most nutrient-dense foods for humans. It’s a healthy source of protein and has lots of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin B-12, magnesium, potassium, and selenium. And, of course, fatty fish like salmon have lots of omega-3s. We eat a lot of it. Worldwide, salmon overtook shrimp as the most traded seafood in 2016. And we pay a lot. Right now, a wild king salmon fillet is $37.99 from my local fish market in Seattle. That’s less for wild salmon than we used to pay because of competition from cheaper farmed salmon. But it may not be able to continue meeting the demand it helped create: Last year, sea lice—which kill Atlantic farmed salmon—caused a worldwide shortage.

5. Salmon shape the landscape.

When they spawn, salmon may move mountains, according to a recent study. Over millennia, salmon sex has helped to carve the mountain ranges of the Pacific Northwest. It works like this: When fish spawn, they stir up the river bed, digging holes for their eggs and swishing their tails in the process. That sends gravel downstream and also loosens the riverbed, making it less compact and more likely to move when the river floods. Over thousands of years, the tons of gravel that salmon move add up. The study, whose lead author is from Washington State University, showed that the landscape surrounding the streams where salmon spawn would be nearly a third taller if the salmon weren’t there.

Coming to a river, -er, location near you!

For eons, a one-of-a-kind population of killer whales has hunted chinook salmon along the Pacific Coast. For the last 40 years, renowned whale scientist Ken Balcomb has closely observed them. He’s familiar with a deadly pattern: Salmon numbers plummet and orcas starve. The downward spiral compelled him to realize that studying whales is no longer enough. He needed to act. The orcas need roughly a million salmon a year, where to find a million fish? The solution says Balcomb, is getting rid of four fish-killing dams 500 miles away, on the largest tributary to what was, until it was dammed nearly to death in the last century, the largest chinook producing river on earth. Studying whales is science. Removing dams is politics. Defiantly mixing the two, says Balcomb, has become the most important work of his storied career.

Click here to see the preview and visit the Dammed to Extinction website.

Join the filmmakers and SOS and friends at a screening near you! Learn how four deadbeat dams on the lower Snake River choke off access to thousands of miles of high, wild, pristine river and stream habitat upstream. Restoring this river in southeast Washington State by removing its costly dams will save money, restore declining salmon populations, and feed starving orcas.

Help promote these screenings by visiting and sharing the events on the SOS Facebook Page!

Upcoming Screenings:

Seattle, WA.Friday, October 4th. 7 PM. Meaningful Movies Wallingford. Keystone Congregational Church, 5019 Keystone Place N. In association with Save Our wild Salmon. Visit the Facebook page for more information.

Eugene Environmental Film Festival.October 4th - 6th. For more information, visit www.eugevoff.org.

Portland, OR. Tuesday, October 8th. 7 PM. Patagonia, 1106 W Burnside St, Portland, OR 97209. For more information, click here.

Poulsbo, WA. Tuesday, October 17th. 7 PM Vibe Coworks, 19225 8th Ave NE, Suite 201. In partnership with Grounds for Change. Tickets available here.

New York, NY. October 17th - 27th. Wildlife Conservation Film Festival. For more information, visit www.wcff.org

Friday Harbor Film Festival. More details coming soon. Visit www.fhff.org.

Portland, OR. Tuesday, November 12th. 6:30 PM. OMSI Empirical Theater. 1945 SE Water Ave Suite 100, Portland, OR 97214. Screening hosted by Columbia River Keeper.

Walla Walla, WA. November 14th. More information coming soon.

Past Screenings:

Olympia, WA. Thursday, September 12th. Capitol Theater, 206 5th Ave SE, Olympia, WA 98501. Visit the FaceBook page for more information or contact angela@wildsalmon.org. Tickets available at here.

Anderson Island Washington. September 13th - 15th. Johnson Farm Archival Building. For more information, visit https://andersonislandarts.com/film-festival/.

Tacoma, WA. Thursday, September 26th. 6:30 PM. The Grand Theater, 606 Fawcett Ave, Tacoma, WA 98402. Tickets available here.

Gig Harbor, WA.September 26-29th. Gig Harbor Film Festival. For more information, visit www.gigharborfilm.org.

Portland EcoFilm Festival.September 26th - 29th. For more information, visit http://www.portlandecofilmfest.org/

Boise, ID.Tuesday, October 1st. 7 PM. The Flicks, 646 W. Fulton St. Tickets $10 at the door. Post-screening Q&A with filmmakers Steven Hawley and Michael Peterson.

Moscow, ID. Friday, September 9th. 7 PM. Kenworthy Theater, 308 Main St, Moscow, ID 83843. Admission free, donations appreciated. For more information, contact angela@wildsalmon.org

Issaquah, WA. Tuesday, August 20th. 7 PM. Gibson Hall 105 Newport Way SW, Issaquah, WA 98027. For more information, visit the Facebook event or contact angela@wildsalmon.org. SOLD OUT!

Seattle, WA. Thursday, August 8th. 7 PM. Patagonia 2100 1st Ave, Seattle, WA 98121. For more information, visit the Facebook event or contact angela@wildsalmon.org.

Langley, WA. Saturday, July 20th. 2 PM. The Clyde Theater. Post screening Q&A with filmmaker Steven Hawley and Orca Network's Howard Garrett.

Bellingham, WA. Tuesday, July 2nd, Doors at 5:30 PM, film at 6:00 PM. Pickford Theater, 1318 Bay St, Bellingham, WA 98225. Post-screening discussion with filmmaker Michael Peterson. Tickets available here. For more information, contact angela@wildsalmon.org

Vashon, WA. Tuesday, June 11th, 6 PM. Vashon Theater, 17723 Vashon Highway SW Vashon, WA. Hosted by Meaningful Movies Vashon. For more information see the Facebook event or contact amy@backbonecampaign.org

Seattle, WA. Friday, June 7th, Pre-reception at 5:30, general doors at 6:30. The Mountaineers, 7700 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115. Access to pre-reception with food and drinks with minimum $10 donation ticket. Reserve your spot here. After-screening Q&A with filmmaker Michael Peterson and orca experts. For more information see the Facebook event or contact angela@wildsalmon.org.

Spokane, WA. Thursday, May 16th, 7 PM. The Garland Theater, 924 W Garland Ave, Spokane, WA 99205. After-screening Q&A with producers Steve Hawley and Michael Peterson. For more information see the Facebook event or contact sam@wildsalmon.org

Seattle, WA. Thursday, May 9th, 7 PM. SIFF Uptown, 511 Queen Anne Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109. After-screening Q&A with producers Steve Hawley and Michael Peterson. 

TAKE ACTION: Tell the governors its high-time we had an honest cost/benefit analysis for the four lower Snake River dams.

• Washington Governor Jay Inslee
• Oregon Governor Kate Brown
• Idaho Governor Brad Little

VISITthe Dammed to Extinction website.

SOS' Northwest Dammed to Extinction film tour is brought to you with the partnership and/or sponsorship from Defenders of Wildlife, Earthjustice, Sierra Club, Whale Scout, Wild Orca, Environment Washington, Backbone Campaign, Wild Orca, and National Wildlife Federation. We are deeply grateful for their support.

This May, Se'Si'Le invites you to stand with Lummi tribal members, the House of Tears Carvers and Tribal communities across the Pacific Northwest in support of a totem pole journey and the Indigenous-led movement to remove the Snake River dams. This important Journey comes at a critical time for the Snake River, endangered salmon and orcas, and the region's Tribal communities.

Snake River to Salish Sea Spirit of the Waters Totem Pole Journey

May 3 - 20, 2022

Learn more by visiting - and sharing with your networks - the 'Spirit of the Waters Totem Pole Journey' landing page and Facebook page.

Se’Si’Le (saw-see-lah) is an intertribal 501c3 nonprofit founded by Lummi tribal member Jay Julius. The goal of Se’Si’Leis to reintroduce Indigenous spiritual law into the mainstream conversation about climate change and the environment. Se’Si’Le is the fiscal sponsor and lead entity of the Snake River to Salish Sea Spirit of the Waters Totem Pole Journey.

BACKGROUND:The May 2022 totem pole journey is the latest of a dozen totem pole journeys conducted by the project leads over the past 20 years. In 2021, the Red Road Totem Pole Journey to DC, was dedicated to the protection of sacred sites and reached an estimated 1.2 million people over a period of the twenty-day journey to the Capitol (www.redroadtodc.org). The 2022 journey builds upon, strengthens and reaffirms the growing indigenous-led environmental movement across the Pacific Northwest that began with a successful campaign to oppose proposed fossil fuels projects. The fossil fuels campaign included 4 totem pole journeys conducted by the project leads.

GOAL:The 2022 totem pole journey aims to inspire, inform, and engage Pacific Northwest communities through intergenerational voices, ceremony, art and science, spirituality, ancestral knowledge, and cross-cultural collaboration in support of the indigenous-led movement to remove the Snake River dams and restore to health the Snake River salmon runs and our relatives, the Southern Resident Killer Whales (Skali’Chelh in the Lummi language) that depend on them.

APPROACH AND SCOPE:To achieve its goal, the totem pole journey will engage the intellect, emotion, and imagination through an inspiring mix of generational voices, collective vision, science, ceremony, and venues. The journey includes public events in metropolitan areas (Eugene, Astoria, Portland, Seattle and Tacoma), and tribal communities (Lummi, Chinook, Nez Perce, Umatilla, Shoshone-Bannock, and the Village of Celilo). At each stop, art and culture will spark understanding of our natural heritage. In two locations (Eugene and Umatilla) the award-winning Whale Protectors Exhibit will all be featured. In-person events will include ceremonial moments steeped in ancestral knowledge to present the challenges the region faces—and avenues for cross-cultural collaboration and engagement on solutions.

JOURNEY PARTNERS INCLUDE:

 For further information, visit freethesnake.com or contact jacob@wildsalmon.org

 For further information, visit freethesnake.com or contact jacob@wildsalmon.org

PURCHASE TICKETS AT BROWNPAPERTICKETS.COM

HELP US SPREAD THE WORD TO YOUR NETWORKS THROUGH THIS FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE.

THANK YOU! SEE YOU ON JUNE 8!