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Edit: My comment concerning salmon was poor. The fisherman I know who fish above Bonneville, The Dalles, and even above the John Day dams do catch salmon have g

Edit: My comment concerning salmon was poor. The fisherman I know who fish above Bonneville, The Dalles, and even above the John Day dams do catch salmon have good reports, but this is only local and anecdotal. We know there are places where salmon are spawning where they haven't in 80 years which gives hope, but doesn't provide a good overall indicator. The dams have been a tough on the Salmon.

ej3 5y ago
Thanks for that. I hate to nit pick, but the issues surrounding the dams in the Columbia river basin are so complex and frustrating.. I honestly don't even know who or what is right at any given moment. I've torched friendships debating culling - not even sure I was right or they were. It's just horrible. Everything about it. The dams are hugely beneficial to society. The produce energy and expedite inland commerce, and that makes us all better off. At the same time everything comes at a cost, and the costs are easily just as catastrophic. I've seen rivers three times the size of the Columbia that have no dams. They are like the arteries of the Earth. They wend and breathe through existence itself. Heave and fall feet in hours. To see this, to be near it is to feel everything upstream. It's like looking into the night sky, but instead of making you feel small it connects you. The Columbia is dead. I get itchy about it because we've lost that and no one even knows anymore. We long ago muted a voice that used to sing to us, but people will only consider the loss in economic terms - salmon fisheries. We can't even talk about things like humans anymore.
- specialist 5y ago
  > The Columbia is dead. And you haven't even mentioned the Hanford Nuclear Reservation yet. I volunteered at Audubon's WetNet (Wetlands Conservation Network) for most of the 90s. Their mission was to save the salmon from going extinct. So doing stuff like saving habitat (waterways, wetlands, shorelines, etc), keeping water cooler, opposing new fisheries (the final nail in the coffin for wild runs), etc. People just don't get how bad things have become. When GWB was selected President, I just couldn't continue.
- i_love_music 5y ago
  I appreciate your words. The passion and the way you write about nature is great. I connect with it. It does remind me that humans have become numb to the world around us. That we are just animals dependent on the ecosystem and we disturb it at our own peril.
zw123456 5y ago
I agree there is a delicate balance here but the thing is, if you let global climate change run wild, the salmon, and a lot of other critters, including us, don't stand a chance, with a dam generating electricity and a fish ladder, they stand a chance and so do we. Hydo, Wind, Solar, and yes, Nuke, probably all are needed to overcome this challenge. Until some perfect thing comes along, fusion or whatever, we will ned to make decisions between the various imperfect options.
- kergonath 5y ago
  > Until some perfect thing comes along, fusion or whatever Fusion won’t be perfect. It will also require resources, and generate waste. The truth is that you cannot have something from nothing and any energy extraction system will need materials (metals, rare earths, concrete) and change land use patterns.

ej3 5y ago

Thanks for that. I hate to nit pick, but the issues surrounding the dams in the Columbia river basin are so complex and frustrating.. I honestly don't even know who or what is right at any given moment. I've torched friendships debating culling - not even sure I was right or they were. It's just horrible. Everything about it. The dams are hugely beneficial to society. The produce energy and expedite inland commerce, and that makes us all better off. At the same time everything comes at a cost, and the costs are easily just as catastrophic. I've seen rivers three times the size of the Columbia that have no dams. They are like the arteries of the Earth. They wend and breathe through existence itself. Heave and fall feet in hours. To see this, to be near it is to feel everything upstream. It's like looking into the night sky, but instead of making you feel small it connects you. The Columbia is dead. I get itchy about it because we've lost that and no one even knows anymore. We long ago muted a voice that used to sing to us, but people will only consider the loss in economic terms - salmon fisheries. We can't even talk about things like humans anymore.

specialist 5y ago
> The Columbia is dead. And you haven't even mentioned the Hanford Nuclear Reservation yet. I volunteered at Audubon's WetNet (Wetlands Conservation Network) for most of the 90s. Their mission was to save the salmon from going extinct. So doing stuff like saving habitat (waterways, wetlands, shorelines, etc), keeping water cooler, opposing new fisheries (the final nail in the coffin for wild runs), etc. People just don't get how bad things have become. When GWB was selected President, I just couldn't continue.
i_love_music 5y ago
I appreciate your words. The passion and the way you write about nature is great. I connect with it. It does remind me that humans have become numb to the world around us. That we are just animals dependent on the ecosystem and we disturb it at our own peril.

zw123456 5y ago

I agree there is a delicate balance here but the thing is, if you let global climate change run wild, the salmon, and a lot of other critters, including us, don't stand a chance, with a dam generating electricity and a fish ladder, they stand a chance and so do we. Hydo, Wind, Solar, and yes, Nuke, probably all are needed to overcome this challenge. Until some perfect thing comes along, fusion or whatever, we will ned to make decisions between the various imperfect options.

kergonath 5y ago
> Until some perfect thing comes along, fusion or whatever Fusion won’t be perfect. It will also require resources, and generate waste. The truth is that you cannot have something from nothing and any energy extraction system will need materials (metals, rare earths, concrete) and change land use patterns.