Idaho Leaders: Salmon “Recovery” a Failure, Time For New Approach
“After spending $16 billion on salmon recovery over the last how many years, is it working?” Rep. Simpson asked a crowd of 400 representatives of guides, anglers, energy producers, food producers, port authorities, barge companies, politicians, and conservationists.
He answered, “No. It isn’t.” And no one refuted him. “All of Idaho’s salmon runs are either threatened or endangered… and the trend line is not going up. It is going down.”
He answered a few other questions with a single answer:
Should we be content knowing Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) Administrator Elliot Manzier stated that BPA is almost in “panic mode” due to the financial free-fall caused by the four lower Snake River Dams?
Should we sit by idly while the minimal power BPA supplies to Idaho disappears in the coming years?
Does it make sense to pay Eastern Idaho farmers not to grow crops so they let their water flush downstream to push salmon through the dam reservoirs?
Does it make sense for BPA to give ratepayer dollars to the state of Idaho in exchange for Idaho not suing BPA for inadequately addressing fish declines and our hurting river communities?
Should Idaho continue sending 487,000 acre feet of water down river to Washington and Oregon – water we can use for crops – to pay for their electricity while we get no fish back to Idaho?
Should taxpayers subsidize Idaho fish extinction while Washington and Oregon benefit?
The answer: No. “I’m tired of Idaho paying all the costs of these dams and not getting the benefits.”
Governor Little supported this statement. “Things change. Idaho must adapt to change… When it comes to salmon and steelhead, I want to state publicly right here this morning that I am in favor of breaching the status quo.”
Idaho’s anglers agree. 400 harvestable fish on the Clearwater in 2019? Something needs to change.
River communities agree. They’re sending potential customers to Alaska for fish. Something needs to change.
What that something is? No one knows yet. But it seems the angst of sportsmen and river communities has finally landed on those with the power to make changes.
Governor Little officially announced the creation of a Salmon/Steelhead Task Force to create an Idaho solution to our fish problem, something IWF has advocated for and directly discussed with the Governor and his staff for a few years now (when he was LT Governor). We’ve brought rural Idahoans to meet him and his staff so they could hear it from them. And now it has paid off.
Rep. Simpson and Governor Little deserve applause. Idahoans who relentlessly spoke up deserve credit. There is a new dawn for Idaho’s iconic fish.
Now the real work begins.
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