We highly recommend checking out the April issue of Men's Journal, which features an article by Kevin Gray examining the impact of the hydrosystem on salmon survival in the Columbia-Snake Basin.Gray's piece points out that saving salmon is as much about saving local economies and jobs as it is about the fish themselves, saying that the four lower Snake River dams, "have resulted in the loss of approximately half of each year's outbound population, not to mention millions of dollars in revenue from once-thriving sport and commercial fishing industry small towns like Riggins [ID]."
He quotes Kerry Brennan, a 59-year-old fishing guide in Riggins who has spent his entire life on the river, "Dams are always thought of as progress and jobs. That's how they got them in in the first place. But now they're killing the fish, and they're killing towns like this. That ain't right."
No, Kerry, no it isn't. Especially not when taking the four lower Snake River dams out could result in the kind of economic development this region needs, through renewable energy, improved transportation infrastructure, and increases in wild fish supporting numerous industries.
Guides like Kerry deserve a say in the matter. That's why we're pushing for a stakeholder process that takes Kerry's opinion into account, as well as ratepayers, and commercial fishermen, and farmers, barge workers, tribes and all the other entities that have something major to lose if salmon go extinct (which, by the way, they're fast on their way towards becoming). Learn more about what we mean by a stakeholder process.
It's our last chance to save the salmon, and we need to move quickly before it's too late. JOIN US in asking for a solutions table.
Read the full article online, or pick up your copy in stores now.
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