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The Future of Salmon in Idaho Tied to Four Snake River Dams by Samantha Wright Boise State Public Radio, October 12, 2017

Removing the four lower Snake River dams could be enough to bring salmon stocks back from the brink of extinction. That's one conclusion from reporter Rocky Barker's series on the fish in the Idaho Statesman, which wrapped up this month.

The fish have struggled for years to travel over the four dams as smolts heading to the sea from Idaho and back again a few years later to the Gem State to spawn.

Barker says he learned during his reporting that the future survival of the species may be dependent on the future existence of the dams.

"That's what the scientists tell us, they tell me that's the question ahead of us. And I don't think it's ever been placed that starkly ahead of our region. So we as a region will have to make a decision," says Barker.

That decision, he says, would need to be made within the next five years or so.

Supporters of wild salmon have advocated for breaching the four dams saying it would help the fish survive. But power companies and farmers, who use the river to barge their commodities downstream, have resisted.

You can check out the salmon series, including videos showcasing those affected by the fish, here.

Related Pages:
Remove 4 Dams, Leave These Fish Alone, and They May be Able to Replenish Themselves by Rocky Barker, Idaho Statesman, 9/10/17
Everything We're Doing to Replace Vanishing Salmon Might be Killing Them Off Faster by Rocky Barker, Idaho Statesman, 9/7/17
A Changing Electrical Grid May Make Snake River Dams Expendable by Rocky Barker, Idaho Statesman, 8/6/17
With Shipping Down on Snake River, Farmers Worry About Dams' Future by Rocky Barker, Bellingham Herald, 8/7/17
Northwest Salmon, the Stuff of Legends, Still Struggle to Survive by Rocky Barker, Idaho Statesman, 7/8/17
Nature Again Turns Against Returning Fish that Already Face Long Odds by Rocky Barker, Idaho Statesman, 5/20/17
Is Snake River Shipping Worth Enough to Keep Dams that Harm Salmon? by Rocky Barker, Idaho Statesman, 8/6/17
Fate of Pacific Northwest Orcas Tied to Having Enough Columbia River Salmon by Barker & Peterson, Idaho Statesman, 7/9/17

Video Links:
How the Dams Changed Lewiston, by Ali Rizvi and Sohail Al-Jamea McClatchy, Idaho Statemsan.
Dustin Aherin of Lewiston tells how the dams changed the community he grew up in and how the unfulfilled dream of economic bounty from shipping to the Pacific Ocean has hindered the northern Idaho community's development.

The hydropower posse promotes the dams' importance, by Ali Rizvi and Sohail Al-Jamea McClatchy, Idaho Statemsan.
Will Hart, who represents 130 Idahoans who get their power from the federal dams in Oregon and Washington, explains how important they are to the municipal utilities and rural co-ops that buy their power from the Bonneville Power Administration.

Saving Salmon: Why These Remarkable Fish Matter to the Northwest, by Ali Rizvi and Sohail Al-Jamea McClatchy, Idaho Statemsan.
For hundreds of thousands of years, wild ocean salmon have been coming to the Pacific Northwest. Now, their existence is under threat, along with the communities they support.

Opinions Gathered at Boise Meeting on Dam Salmon Issues, by Staff at the Idaho Statemsan.

A Boise steelhead angler's view on dams, by Staff at the Idaho Statemsan.