Study Backs Dam Breaching Scientists Use Computers To See How To Save Salmon

A report by a group of scientists studying the feasibility of breaching Snake River dams concludes fish species have a much better chance of recovery without them.

The release of a computer modeling study Thursday called Plan for Analyzing and Testing Hypotheses - PATH - substantiates and expands on what scientists said in September.

The report concludes that breaching the four federally owned lower Snake River dams - by removing portions to allow the river to flow unimpeded - improves chances of restoring threatened and endangered fish populations by nearly 2-to-1 over the increased use of barges to ferry fish around dams.

The report prompted strong reactions from both sides of the breaching debate.

Chris Zimmer of Save Our Wild Salmon in Seattle said it’s time for the region to accept that removing the four dams between Pasco and Lewiston is best for fish. “The science is giving us a pretty clear pattern,” he said. “The next question we need to ask is how do we make this work. We need to start the region and nation down a path that forges some kind of agreement that makes this happen.”

But Nola Conway, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which owns and operates the hydroelectric dams, said PATH is but one of 22 such segments of a major study the National Marine Fisheries Service will send to Congress next year.

The alternatives include additional barging of young smolts around dam turbines, improved surface fish collection systems, or major improvements in the way the dams are operated.

Bruce Lovelin, who heads Columbia River Alliance, a Portland-based group of commercial river users, criticized the report, saying it contains technical flaws that are biased against dams.

Lovelin called for a report by a minority of PATH scientists who think the process was flawed.

The PATH study represents the conclusion of two dozen scientists. Its findings were reviewed by four scientists chosen because they have no links to the Northwest.

The lower Snake River dams are the Lower Granite, Little Goose, Lower Monumental and Ice Harbor. Each concrete spillway and powerhouse structure is about 100 feet high. The proposal is to remove adjacent rock and dirt embankments, leaving the concrete sections standing high and dry next to the new river channel.

Breaching the dams could have significant regional economic impact.

They were built during the 1960s and ‘70s, primarily so barges could be floated on the Snake River. That transportation forms the foundation for Lewiston’s economy, while Palouse farmers have come to rely on the barges to take their wheat to Portland markets.

This sidebar appeared with the story: River of paper Here’s what happens before any dams are breached: Army Corps of Engineers studies the engineering and potential economic effects of breaching the dams. Due by end of 1999. The National Marine Fisheries Service, in charge of salmon recovery, makes a recommendation on breaching. The action must be authorized by Congress.