Dear Friends,
Only two weeks after the Milltown Dam was breached in Western MT, reconnecting the Blackfoot River to the Clark Fork, a radio tagged rainbow trout successfully attempted the migration. It swam from the Clark Fork below the dam, upstream past the breached dam and into the Blackfoot River, the first fish to do so in over 100 years. Those that oppose breaching the four lower Snake River dams have contended for years that little evidence exists to support breaching to restore fish runs. Proof is in the pudding. Read more below.
While several Oregon and Washington tribes accepted a cash injection from Bonneville Power as part of a settlement agreement over perennially endangered Columbia River salmon and steelhead, the Nez Perce Tribe and several environmental groups remained steadfast. The deal reached earlier this week, would shell out $900 million in exchange for no legal action toward dam breaching.
Read this article in full and please consider writing a letter to the editor.
The lower four Snake River Dams are major killer of juvenile salmon and steelhead heading to sea. In fact the Columbia River dams may kill as many as 92% of salmon headed out to sea, and up to another 25% on their way back upstream to spawn. Snake River Chinook salmon (spring/summer and fall runs) and steelhead were listed as threatened, in 1997 and 1992, respectively. The runs have made virtually no headway toward meeting delisting goals.
For the latest reliable information concerning these species and the need for real restoration (aka dam breaching), visit
Save Our Wild Salmon and
Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Association
Action Alert!
Soaring gold prices spawn cyanide leach mine proposal on the South Fork Clearwater! The Buffalo Gulch mine would cover several hundred acres and threaten federally protected bull trout and Snake River steelhead. Please read the full alert below and take action!
Lastly, please join us for our big educational program of the Spring, next Thursday, April 17, 6:30 p.m. at the University of Idaho, College of Natural Resources Building Room 10 (right on 6th St.). We will be hosting David Gaillard, meso-carnivore expert with Defenders of Wildlife and Dr. Lisette Waits of the University of Idaho. They will be talking about the wolverine in the Northern Rockies: how its fairing, what the science indicates, what the species needs in order to recover in the lower 48. Don't miss it!
for the Wild,
Will
