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Commentaries and editorials

Join Call for Removal

by Janet Higbee-Robinson
Seattle Times, December 4, 2020

The Yellow Pine pit blocks natural passage of the East Fork of the South Fork of the Salmon River, a barrier to Chinook reaching their historic spawning grounds. It's also a source of heavy metal leaching into the river. (Midas Gold photo)M If we want healthy fish populations, in particular Chinook, upon which southern-resident orcas almost exclusively feed, we must stand with the Nez Perce to fight for the removal of the four Lower Snake River dams.

The dams infringe on fishing rights guaranteed in the treaty of 1855. And they are barely profitable now. Their current need for repair would incur irresponsible cost, not only in terms of funding, but more tragically, the cost of a river system that sustains interconnected and diverse plant and animal species, long honored by the tribe. Indeed, it is a river system that binds their very culture.

I urge readers to join the Nez Perce and advocate for the restoration of the Lower Snake River basin.

Related Sites:
Salmon People: A tribe's decades-long fight to take down the Lower Snake River dams and restore a way of life by Lynda Mapes, Seattle Times 11/29/20


Janet Higbee-Robinson, Bellingham
Join Call for Removal
Seattle Times, December 4, 2020

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