the film forum library tutorial contact

Judge of the River by Editorial Board The Oregonian, December 5, 2011

James Redden was more than a "salmon judge," but his biggest legacy
is the fight that he's waged to force the government to recover wild fish

U.S. District Judge James A. Redden told attorneys involved in the case he will step down before the next salmon biological opinion is filed in 2014.

That means a new judge will hold sway over the fate of the salmon, the price of electric power, the availability of water and shipping to Lewiston.

Redden took the bench in 1980, after a career as a trial attorney and prominent Oregon Democratic legislator, treasurer and attorney general. The federal courthouse in Medford, Ore., is named for him.

But most people in the Pacific Northwest first heard his name when he ruled in 2003 that the biological opinion -- BiOp in courtspeak -- for the Columbia and Snake River dams did not meet the requirements of the federal Endangered Species Act for protecting endangered salmon and steelhead.

. . .

Related Pages:
I struck the 2000 BiOp, and the 2004 BiOp, and the 2008/2011 BiOp by James A. Redden, Letter to Counsel, 11/22/11