HomeMy WebLinkAboutCorrespondence - BOCCEastern Washington Council of Governments
Chairman — Wes McCart, Stevens County Commissioner
Vice -Chairman — Art Swannack, Whitman County Commissioner
Secretary — Michael Heath, Columbia County Commissioner
Treasurer — Jo Gilchrist, Lincoln County Commissioner
April 4, 2023
Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, U.S. Representatives Cathy McMorris Rogers and Dan
Newhouse, Governor Jay Inslee,
The Eastern Washington Council of Governments stands firmly opposed to breaching the four Lower
Snake River Dams. Our opposition is firmly rooted in the science and facts of on -the -ground conditions.
Our convictions were upheld with three consecutive CRSO (Columbia River System Operations) Studies,
each accompanied by an Environmental Impact Statement saying that breaching the lower Snake River
Dams is not the solution to restoring our anadromous fish runs.
Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield, Asotin and Whitman counties are working members of the Snake River
Salmon Recovery Board (SRSRB), and since 2006, the staff and board have worked with NOAA Fisheries,
WDFW fish biologists, the Nez Perce and Umatilla Tribal Fish Biologists and Conservation District Habitat
managers to restore habitat for our anadromous fish runs through the SRSRB region.
We have asked these experts, especially those among them who advocate for breaching of the four
Lower Snake River dams, if they can guarantee that dam breaching will assure salmonid recovery. They
have all answered honestly: "No. No one can guarantee that."
NOAA Fisheries has officially stated that survival of the fish through the hydro system is already high but
more could be saved by improving ocean conditions. The improving ocean conditions over the last three
years and the resulting increases in returning fish have proved that statement true. But NOAA adds, and
this is key, "Even if the survival rate for salmon migrating through the Columbia -Snake system is 100%
they are not going to recover if we don't do something about the ocean."' And the EPA adds "the
decline in salmon is closely associated with the decline in the health of Puget Sound." To put it in
context, the Fraser River, which has no dams, returned only 68 wild steelhead three years ago and that's
far fewer than the numbers returning above the Snake River Dams in the same time period. 2
People on all sides of the efforts to restore our runs agree on one thing: warming ocean conditions are a
leading reason our runs are declining to near extinction. The other top reasons vary according to whom
you speak but they all include: commercial fishing at the mouth of the Columbia River and in the ocean;
over -fishing and gill net fishing on the Columbia/Snake system; predation of juvenile fish by seals, sea
lions, cormorants, and walleye/pike; and the inability to regulate early fisheries on the Lower Columbia
when key runs designated for Idaho spawning grounds are most vulnerable. Delaying the first fisheries
by a week would make all the difference towards returning hatchery stock as well as wild fish.
In recent years, the hatchery output on the system has been cut nearly in half in the lower Columbia and
Puget Sound, the barging and trucking of smolt down river has been stopped and smolt mortality has
drastically increased as a result of the increased spill policy. These actions have all contributed greatly
to declining fish runs, but still, the recent fall Chinook runs (2021) set a 30 -year record high.
Eastern Washington Council of Governments- Lower Snake River Dams