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Idaho Outfitters & Guides on Congressman Mike Simpson's Columbia Basin Fund by Aaron Lieberman Twin Times-News, February 11, 2021

Congressman Mike Simpson's new Columbia Basin Fund opens the door to a long-awaited and necessary set of solutions to Idaho's salmon and steelhead crisis. The framework set forth in the plan outlines a path to forestall the extinction of Idaho's salmon while also ensuring that important industries and communities that depend on the current Snake River System have the means and support to adapt and thrive.

Yet there are those who even before the plan was released cried foul, quoting the same "my study versus your study" tropes about dam retirement: "The dams aren't the problem or solution; it's the ocean, or global warming," etc.

The reality is, it is all of those things, as well as habitat and other factors besides. The point is not that ocean conditions, global warming, etc. are not impactful (even significantly so), but rather that those aren't levers we can pull. We cannot meaningfully change those ocean conditions or reverse the effects of a warming climate. Removing the Lower Four Snake River Dams (LSRD), by contrast, is something we can do.

More to the point, it is the thing we can do that would have an significant impact toward restoring Idaho stocks of salmon and steelhead. Even the Columbia River System Operations Environmental Impact Statement states that breaching the dams will deliver greater benefits to endangered Snake River salmon and steelhead populations, with greater certainty, than any other option.

The real issue with calls to retire the LSRD has been that there have not previously been plans/funding/assurances for those industries and communities that depend on the current Snake River System to ensure they are not left out to dry as a result.

Such concerns are not limited to directly dependent industries. Indeed, despite the serious economic impacts of declining salmon populations on our industry and on rural river communities, the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association membership has continued to oppose solutions that exclude or come at the expense of other Idahoans and other industries.

People in our industry have been in a state of uncertainty for years now about how poor fish returns will continue to impact our livelihoods. We do not want our neighbors who depend on the Columbia and Snake rivers as they are today to face similar challenges.

In the Columbia Basin Fund, we for the first time have a framework that accounts for those needs and assurances in a comprehensive and realistic way. Congressman Simpson has done well to ensure that the plan includes financial investments and assurances for industries who depend on dams. We would like to work together with these industries to help ensure that their needs are met. We firmly believe that this is the best way forward for every Idahoan.

To see Idaho leading the region toward accomplishing this enormous goal without making other communities unwhole in the process is truly inspirational. Retirement of the four lower Snake River dams would be a monumental step toward protecting the livelihood of many who depend on healthy populations of salmon and steelhead. The impacts of salmon extend far beyond operators and riverside communities. Everyone--from fishing guides and hunting outfitters to the guests who flock to our state to our citizens themselves--benefit from and depend on their economic, ecological and cultural importance.

Not so long ago, we moved mountains to install these structures, electrifying the rural American West and driving industry. Yes, it was hard. Yes, it was expensive. So, too, will this be.

But we can still do hard things -- and there is a brighter future beyond that effort that includes new jobs to generate reliable, affordable power, transport grain, ensure reliable water supply and reap the benefits of abundant populations of salmon and steelhead for generations to come.

We Idahoans -- outfitters and guides, farmers, water users and utilities -- can do this together.

Related Sites:
Simpson's announcement may be viewed here
Other documents associated his concept are available at simpson.house.gov