Questions from Orca Task Force

If the four Lower Snake River (LSR) dams are breached...

Q. How fast can things happen?

A. Lowering of Lower Granite Reservoir could begin December 1, 2018 (see "What is the timeline for Breaching?"). In late January 2019, a controlled hydraulic breach of Lower Granite would occur, and consequently Little Goose Reservoir could then begin to be drawn-down.

Installation of pipes for continued irrigation from Ice Harbor dam would be completed before the 2019/2020 breaching of Lower Monumental and Ice Harbor.

Adjustments necessary for movement of grain to rail could also be complete before the 2019/2020 but that relies upon leadership of the States and their coordination with the Army Corps of Engineers. This is the most challenging aspect of them all. It is technically feasible, but politics are complicated.

Breaching is reversible, extinction and ecosystem collapse is not.

The concept of sustainability has been increasingly brought into focus as we have become convinced that all systems on earth are interrelated and that many of today’s problems were the solutions of yesterday. Sustainability is, however, a very old concept. Most American Indian cultures understood the importance of sustainability and sustainable development, living in harmony with all things.

Many people are familiar with the Seventh Generation philosophy commonly credited to the Iroquois Confederacy but practiced by many Native nations. The Seventh Generation philosophy mandated that tribal decision makers consider the effects of their actions and decisions for descendents seven generations into the future. There was a clear understanding that everything we do has consequences for something and someone else, reminding us that we are all ultimately connected to creation.