To: President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Help Restore America's greatest Sockeye Salmon Run
The Snake River of Washington and Idaho once held the world's largest salmon runs, including Sockeyes. They are now on the verge of extinction because of 4 outdated dams. Further, taxpayers are paying for an unncecesary and money-losing barge system from Lewiston, Idaho to Portland, Oregon when shippers already prefer using the rail system that parallels the river. It's a win-win. Lose the 4 dams and barges and the iconic Sockeyes will come back!
Why is this important?
I love salmon, a living icon of the Northwest. I hate that politicians and utilities are letting these iconic fish become extinct to support 4 old dams that only supply 4% of power (which could more than be made up for with wind and solar) and only supply water for 13 farms, which could still be irrigated with a simple movement of their pumps. Taxpayers also pay millions for the barge system and yearly dredging to keep their channels open. But shippers prefer to use the rail system that parallel the river, so the barge system LOST money in 2011. Meanwhile, biologists agree that just breaching these obsolete dams would bring Sockeyes back over 900 miles to Idaho's beautiful "Redfish Lake," named for the masses of sockeyes that onced spawned there!