The federal agency charged with recovering
endangered salmon won’t recommend dismantling dams – at least for
now (HCN, 12/20/99: Unleashing the Snake). Will Stelle, regional
director of the National Marine Fisheries Service, said recently
that his agency wants to table the breaching debate for five to 10
years while it tries to boost salmon returns through other
measures, such as improving habitat and reducing harvest. The
service will deliver its long-anticipated biological opinion at the
end of May.
“To make such a big decision without
the information to say we are doing the right thing is challenging,
to say the least,” says agency spokeswoman Janet
Sears.
The announcement angers people on both
sides of the breaching debate.
Dam advocates want
breaching removed from consideration for good. They say there is no
reason to delay the decision because the Army Corps of Engineers
concluded salmon can be saved without
breaching.
“They are dodging the decision
somehow, and from our perspective, if the Corps concluded they can
save the salmon and keep the dams in the river, let’s get on with
it,” says Frank Carroll, spokesman for Potlatch
Corp.
Environmentalists and Indian tribes who
want to remove the dams are also frustrated. They say the delay has
more to do with upcoming elections in November than with scientific
uncertainty.
“There is only one word to describe
how the administration has been on this issue, and that is
gutless,” says Scott Bosse of Idaho Rivers United, who adds that
delay will further hurt the region’s salmon.
“In five to 10 years to 10 minutes from now, the outlook is still
the same: The best biological option for the salmon is dam
removal,” says Samuel N. Penney, chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal
Executive Committee.
Both environmentalists and
the tribes say they plan to sue the Clinton administration if it
delays on the dam decision.
Copyright © 2000 HCN and Eric Barker
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Service says dams should stay put.
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