Report Recommends Snake River Dam Removal Firm Hired By Corp Says It’s Most Effective Way To Save Salmon

Removing four dams on the lower Snake River may be the only costeffective way to prevent Idaho salmon from becoming extinct, according to a new report commissioned by the Army Corps of Engineers.

The report said eliminating the dams built and operated by the Corps would cost electric users, shippers and taxpayers $153 million more annually than today. However, that cost could drop to $75 million if federal officials decide immediately to take out the dams. The savings would come in money already budgeted for salmon-related improvements to the dams.

The engineering firm HARZA Northwest Inc. wrote the report to help the Corps make decisions it must make by 1999 on how to operate the dams.

Dam removal would be the costliest alternative in the short run, the report said. However, it also provided the largest increase in estimated salmon survival at 72 percent.

Returning to total reliance on barging fish past the dams actually would save electric users, shippers, and taxpayers $200 million a year over current costs of about $300 million for salmon recovery efforts. But salmon numbers would increase only about 10 percent, the study said.

Furthermore, not everyone agrees that barging fish is worth the money it costs.

The Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition earlier this week launched a campaign aimed at curbing waste in salmon recovery efforts. Central to the campaign are the Corps’ plans to build two more fish barges.

“This month, the Army Corps is wasting $2.4 million of our money on a scheme their own science advisors says doesn’t work,” said Shawn Cantrell, president of the coalition. “The Army Corps should be starting to mothball the barges they’ve already got. Instead, they’re going to waste $2.4 million of our money to build more.”

The coalition claims salmon barging has not been effective during the 20 years it’s been tried. Even the Corps reports mixed results.

Despite past experience, if future barging proves to be as effective as the Corps says it can be, survival could increase by 88 percent. That would make it the most cost-effective method.

To achieve the 88-percent increase, adult salmon would have to return at a rate of 1.5 percent of the number of juveniles that migrate from Idaho to the ocean. For instance, if 1 million smolts left Idaho, 1,500 would have to return two and three years later as adults.

“If return rates continue at levels below 1 percent with the existing system and recent ocean conditions, it will not be possible to recover Snake River salmon using transportation or with the dams in place,” the report said. “Only dam removal will provide sufficient benefits to have any chance for reversing the decline.”

Dam removal would benefit Idaho’s irrigation farmers. The report said taking irrigation water to increase flows is of little benefit to the fish, and removing the dams would make it unnecessary.

That contradicts a last-minute campaign flyer sent by Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, which said removing the four downstream dams would mean no irrigation for Idaho farmers. Craig was unavailable for comment Thursday.

The partial drawdown plan advocated by conservation groups was found to provide few benefits for the cost, the report said. Dam removal would only cost a little more and provide far more benefits.

Mike Field, an Idaho member of the Northwest Power Planning Council, welcomed the report and said it would be useful to the council’s own independent economic analysis group.

“I think we need to study it,” Field said.

It is the second report that suggests dam removal may be necessary to save Idaho’s salmon and steelhead. A team of independent scientists contracted by the Power Planning Council said in a report released in September that the region should study dam removal.

“This HARZA report seems to be the next logical step,” said Rick Williams, the Boise biologist who heads the independent panel.

, DataTimes