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Plan Offers No Hope by Liz Hamilton Lewiston Tribune, August 17, 2008

Reading "Sockeye appear to be getting past their dam hangup" Aug. 10, I have to ask: Are we now all on the same page? The Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association is not about breaching dams; we are about recovering fish and fisheries.

If the editors at the Lewiston Tribune are supporting a continuation of the flows and spills that were in the river during the 2006 outmigration, then we clearly have common ground to work together on. There is no recovery of Snake River sockeye here but finally, there is hope. Hope that will be dashed while we debate the fact that the most cost-effective and biologically successful approach is breaching the four lower Snake River dams.

The current federal plan calls for less flows and less spill and in no way requires the river conditions of 2006. The sockeye returns of this year will be squandered if the progeny of the 2008 adults are not given the flows and spills that the adults were given. This is what all parents hope for our children - something better than what we had. Sadly, this won't occur under the current federal plan.