Putting our heads in the sand won’t save NW salmon. WA’s Snake River dams must be replaced | Opinion

At a March 21 White House “Conservation in Action Summit,” President Joe Biden stated his support for “healthy and abundant salmon runs” in the Columbia River basin, with the support of Tribal leaders, Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell of Washington, and Idaho’s Rep. Mike Simpson. This is a significant step that shows how important the plight of Northwest salmon and steelhead is at the highest levels of government. Engagement from Biden and other top officials is crucial not just for salmon, but for communities across the region who could be impacted by restoration efforts, including breaching of the four lower Snake River dams to restore a free-flowing river.

As part of this effort, it’s crucial that the energy, transportation, and irrigation services provided by the dams are replaced to ensure no communities are left behind. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) is in prime position to ensure that his constituents’ needs are taken care of, or that they’re even better off than they are now.

But instead of helping craft a prosperous future for the Northwest, Newhouse doubled down on his longtime, short-sighted resistance to the coming change. Rather than collaborate on historic change that would satisfy all interests, restore abundant salmon, and end continued litigation on this issue, Newhouse is putting his head in the sand and his constituents at risk.

Newhouse does his constituents a disservice by lying to them about the current status of endangered salmon and steelhead. In a March 21 press release, Newhouse claimed that salmon returns are “higher than they’ve been in years.” At best, this is misleading. At worst, it shows Newhouse’s failure to comprehend or care about the catastrophic loss of wild salmon in the region and what that could mean for his district. Of 2 million wild salmon and steelhead that once returned each year to the Snake River, less than 1% remain. The overall number of wild fish returning to the Snake each year has not significantly changed since they were listed under the Endangered Species Act thirty years ago, despite $18 billion spent on recovery programs in that time. This year’s Snake River steelhead run is expected to be the worst in history and other wild fish returns are forecast to decline, continuing a years-long downward trend. Make no mistake, these fish are on the verge of extinction, and the government is legally obligated to protect and restore them.

This is the status quo that Newhouse is defending: salmon on the edge of extinction, dams aging and producing more and more expensive power, and the whole region on the hook for billions of dollars in ineffective recovery project funding. That’s not what leadership looks like.

President Biden is standing by his Administration’s commitments to restore salmon in the Pacific Northwest, to honor promises made long ago to indigenous Tribes, and to vitalize the region’s enormous recreation economy. To do that, science says we need to breach the lower Snake River dams. We can do that while fully replacing their services and ensuring no one gets left behind. Seeing that future takes vision, a trait Rep. Newhouse hasn’t shown. Hopefully, he starts to see that the status quo isn’t tenable before he and his constituents find themselves run over by the change coming from leaders who recognize that for salmon, extinction isn’t an option.

Mitch Cutter is a Salmon & Steelhead Associate with the Idaho Conservation League.