2023 will mark what scientists predict to be the lowest ever recorded return of Snake River steelhead salmon after their migration to the Pacific Ocean. Their incredible migratory pattern spanning 900 miles made impossible by the four Snake River dams impeding their path back to freshwater to spawn.
The system of dams and reservoirs kills 50 to 80 percent of juvenile salmon and steelhead as the fish make their way downstream to the ocean. The imminent extinction of these beautiful fish consequently spells economic and environmental tragedy for Washington, Oregon, and our neighbors in Idaho.
Addy, a 21-year-old river guide in Idaho, explained that older guides tell her stories as if they are myths. A river so full of steelhead — millions — that each pull of an oar would brush their gleaming bodies as they swam upstream en masse. The fish often leapt into the rafts. She worries that in her lifetime, she will never witness the remarkable migration or flourishing river system as the steelhead population steadily declines. She hopes that with support, a policy to deconstruct the four dams will pass.
The return of steelhead means life for the communities who depend on their return to freshwater. They are an ecological, economic and cultural necessity for sustaining life along the hundreds of miles which they can no longer traverse due to the dams in place. These dams no longer produce a significant amount of power to justify their presence along the Snake River.
Removal of the dams and utilization of wind, solar, geothermal and biomass energy is the only option for preventing the environmental and economic disasters which will happen if steelhead salmon disappear from this earth because of our negligence (#SteelheadMeanBusiness).
Alexandria Jensen, Millcreek