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Snake River Dams are
Working for Us All

by Marvin J. Entel
Lewiston Tribune, August 17, 2022

Ice Harbor dam impounds a reservoir that allows thirteen farms to pump irrigation water from a higher elevation than from the natural river, saving up to 80 feet of head and significant pumping expense. When I read Eric Barker’s big print headlines (he always gets big print) regarding the return of 11 sockeye salmon to the Sawtooth Basin, the question is, were they ever there in abundance in the first place?

Look at the cumulative numbers through Aug. 3 -- 594,398 sockeye have crossed McNary Dam, and 245,123 crossed Priest Rapids. Only 7,927 were in the Snake River system. So if sockeye were in the Snake River to begin with, don’t you think more of the 349,725 between McNary and Priest Rapids would have made it to the Snake? Were they ever native to the Snake in the first place? It does not appear they were because fish know their own river by instinct. Sockeye were introduced into the Snake River, and based on fish counts, not likely to ever make a large return.

bluefish interrupts: Before western man arrived to the Pacific Northwest, More data and commentary regarding Idaho's Sockeye.
So, have your Idaho fish biologists figure out why such a large number like 59% of fish disappear between McNary and Priest Rapids dams. They sure are not coming up the Snake as a river native to the sockeye. They finally figured out they need to start putting some fish in the upper Snake but to little chance of much increase since no fish ladders are on any of the Idaho Snake River dams.

Leave our Washington Lower Snake River dams as they are working for us all.

Related Pages:
Brainwashing the Youth by Marvin Entel, Lewiston Tribune, 6/30/22
Fish Counts Tell the Story by Marvin Entel, Lewiston Tribune, 6/19/22
Reads It Differently by Marvin Entel, Lewiston Tribune, 5/24/22
Fish Not Extinct by Marvin J. Entel, Lewiston Tribune, 3/6/22
Agrees with Little by Marvin Entel, Lewiston Tribune, 1/26/20
Save Our Lakes by Marvin Entel, Lewiston Tribune, 2/3/19

Marvin J. Entel, Clarkston
Snake River Dams are Working for Us All
Lewiston Tribune, June 30, 2022

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