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Dams Don't Harm Salmon Runs by John McKern The Columbian, May 9, 2025

Haven't heard much about breaching the Lower Snake River dams lately. Here are facts you might want to share.

1. If 16 million salmon returned to the Columbia River before Euro Americans reduced the populations by overharvest, dams, and other loss or destruction of habitats, the number of returning salmon was reduced 97 percent to 428,816 by 1939, the first full count at Bonneville Dam.

2. Breaching the dams will provide no additional spawning habitat for spring/summer chinook, steelhead, coho or sockeye. Historically, flows were too low and too hot for spawning by salmon. The Lower Snake River was a migration corridor to spawning areas far upstream in the river or tributaries.
   (bluefish notes: Fall Chinook spawning areas would be recovered, currently flooded by LSR reservoirs.)

3. Because of efforts by the Army Corps of Engineers to improve dam passage and operations, research has shown adult salmon survive past each dam at over 99 percent and juvenile salmon at over 98 percent.

4. The highest counts of salmon have occurred from 2000 through 2024 with the Lower Snake River dams in place.

5. Current spill operations required by the harvest management agencies and federal judge cause 40 percent to 60 percent mortality through the hydropower systems compared to 2 percent mortality to juvenile salmon collected and transported past downstream dams and reservoirs.

Related Pages:
Real Problems of Snake River Salmon by John McKern, Capital Press, 9/9/24
Proposal to Drawdown Reservoirs a Fool's Errand by John McKern, Columbia Basin Bulletin, 1/6/23
This Year's Fish Runs Show Dams Don't Need to be Breached by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 10/9/22
Politicians, Environmentalists Ignoring the Facts on Snake River Dams, Salmon by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 7/24/22
Turnabout Turned About by John McKern, Lewiston Tribune, 9/12/21
Say We Breach the Dams, What Then? by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 7/8/21
Breaching the Dams is Not a Silver Bullet Solution by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 5/19/21
Increase Wild Fish Production, Reduce Harvest by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 12/23/20
Ending Super-Saturation Will Help Salmon by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 4/14/19
Supersaturation is Real Trouble for Salmon by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 12/27/18
Breaching Dams Won't Cool River Water by John McKern, Walla Walla Union Bulletin, 11/8/18
Blaming Snake River Dams for Orca Woes a Hoax by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 8/14/18
Judge, Court of Appeals Ignored Fish Facts by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 4/8/18
Ending Super-Saturation Will Help Salmon by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 10/18/17
View from Idaho on Dam Protection by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 8/1/17
Yes, Consider All Facts on Dam Breaching by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 6/30/17
McKern Letter: Salmon Runs by John McKern, Idaho Statesman, 1/2/16
Adult Salmon Survival Past Dams is 99 Percent by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 3/25/15
Hydropower Not Been Replaced by Wind Power by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 3/6/15
Environmentalists Try to Muddy Waters About Dredging by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 12/30/14
Talk of Breaching Snake River Dams a Red Herring by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 3/21/14
Blaming Dams for Fish Loss is a Hoax by John McKern, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 8/23/13
Judge Redden's Replacement Can't Be Worse by John McKern, Walla Walla Union Bulletin, 12/5/11
Science Does Not Support Dam Breaching by John McKern, Walla Walla Union Bulletin, 12/19/11