Dams Catch Nation’S Attention
The Inland Northwest’s hottest new environmental topic is catching on across the continent.
Smithsonian, Audubon, Sierra and Outside are among the magazines that in recent months have run articles about removing dams in general, and four Snake River dams in particular.
Newsweek and Field & Stream were ahead of the game, publishing their stories about the Eastern Washington dams more than a year ago.
Consumers who open the latest Patagonia catalog to find fleece pants or surfers’ trunks also will be able to read about the issue Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt calls “the next big test for river restoration.”
The latest must-have print for aficionados of environmental art shows the Snake River chock full of salmon with a breached dam in the background. And a member of America’s royals, the Kennedys, likely will address the topic during a speech at Eastern Washington University tonight.
Charged by Congress with restoring threatened runs of salmon and steelhead, federal agencies are studying the possibility of breaching four Snake River dams: Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite.
The step would put the dams out of commission and end barging on the river, but many biologists believe it is the last hope for restoring healthy fish runs in Idaho.
Environmental and fishing groups are flush with victory on Maine’s Kennebec River, where the federal government for the first time has ordered removal of a hydroelectric dam - albeit a small one - to save fish.
Now, some of those groups are turning their attention to the Northwest.
“Clearly the Snake River dams are the largest dams under consideration (for removal), so that has focused people’s attention. The stakes are very large,” said Rob Masonis, Northwest director of hydropower issues for the conservation group American Rivers.
During his speech in Cheney tonight, Robert Kennedy Jr. plans to talk primarily about the work he helped spearhead to clean up New York’s Hudson River. But he’s well-versed about the dams and said he expects to be asked why he thinks they should come out.
Such dams represent “a huge public giveaway to heavily subsidized industries” at the expense of wildlife, Kennedy said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
As in New York, where most people stopped using the Hudson because it was so badly polluted, the Snake and Columbia rivers are losing constituents who might otherwise scream for restoration, Kennedy said.
“The fishing industry has been killed by the dams without even knowing it,” he said.
“By the time we had the science and knew what was killing the fish, the bulk of those fishermen were out hanging Sheetrock, and the sport fishermen were out on the golf course.”
Patagonia is helping spread the word to its legions of environmentally concerned customers.
Included in the glossy spring catalog the outdoor clothing company distributes nationwide is a half-page article saying that removing dams from the lower Snake River would be simple, cost-effective and beneficial.
“One thing our customers know is there’s usually an (environmental) issue in our catalog,” Patagonia spokeswoman Lu Setnicka said. “It’s a way to direct their attention to an issue we think is important.”
Patagonia directs its customers to call Idaho Rivers United for more information about the dams. That conservation group also benefits from sales of the dam-breaching print created by artist Monte Dolack.
Most of the posters sold so far have gone to Idaho, said Jamie Brown, director of Dolack’s gallery in Missoula, Mont.
This sidebar appeared with the story: FORUM Author to speak Robert F. Kennedy Jr., author of “The Riverkeepers,” a book about efforts to restore New York’s Hudson River, will discuss conservation issues tonight at Eastern Washington University. The free speech, titled “Our Environmental Destiny,” begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Showalter Auditorium.