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Not the Whole Story by LuVerne Grussing Lewiston Tribune, March 30, 2025

The spawning habitat on the Salmon River
is capable of hosting 180,000 Chinook annually.

Marvin Entel's letter (Tribune, Feb. 16) regarding habitat loss for salmon and steelhead was interesting, but a large part of the story was not mentioned.

It's very true that the Hells Canyon complex of dams destroyed around 55% of the entire Snake River basin habitat for spawning salmon and steelhead existing at that time. However, the Salmon River basin, the Clearwater River basin, and the Imnaha, Grand Ronde and Tucannon River basin habitats were not impacted, and today continue to provide high quality habitat ... .

The Middle Fork of the Salmon River provides the highest-quality spawning habitat in the entire Columbia Basin, entirely within protected wilderness. If salmon/steelhead recovery were being held back by lost or degraded habitat, the fish would be thriving in a pristine, crown-jewel place like the Middle Fork.

Biologists have been counting redds on the Middle Fork since the 1950s ... . At that time, roughly 17,600 wild spring Chinook returned to the tributary, and taking away ocean and river harvest at the time gives a minimum historical estimate for the Middle Fork of 48,000 returning Chinook annually, with spawning habitat on the river capable of hosting 180,000 Chinook. Since 1995 ..., the Middle Fork has averaged just 1,500 returning wild Chinook annually.

Did the Hells Canyon complex of dams destroy habitat and cause diminished fish runs? Yes. Are they causing the diminishing returns today? No. For that we have to look elsewhere, and the four Lower Snake River dams are a good place to start.

Related Pages:
Policy Recommendations from Idaho Governor Brad Little's Salmon Workgroup December 2020