the film forum library tutorial contact

Bills Push for Improving Salmon Habitat, Removing Barriers by Renee Diaz The Leader, January 23, 2023

2023 Legislative Session

OLYMPIA -- Starting at the Olympia Ballroom in the state capital's historic district, students from across Washington carried inflatable orcas and salmon and marched through the streets of Olympia to the steps of the Legislative Building.

Chanting "Save our salmon," members of the Washington Youth Ocean and River Conservation Alliance (WYORCA) and other environmental groups advocated for the protection of Northwest salmon runs and the orca pods that depend on them.

"We need Inslee and the political leaders of the Pacific Northwest, specifically in the state Legislature to understand the urgency of this issue. The salmon cannot wait," said Maanit Goel, chair of the Sammamish Youth Board.

In the long run, these youth advocates say they want to see Snake River dams taken down, but they acknowledge it is unlikely the dams will be removed any time soon.

Washington can't afford to lose the clean energy the dams produce if the state wants to hit targets for reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and farmers in Eastern Washington rely on the dam's water supply for irrigation.

Another big hurdle is cost of dam removal. A study commissioned by Gov. Jay Inslee and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, outlined the steps that would need to be taken to offset the impact of dam removal. Estimates of the cost of replacing the services currently provided by the dams range from $10.3 billion to $31.3 billion and that estimate probably falls short of the true impact.

Due to the high costs and complexities of dam removal, Washington lawmakers this year are focusing on other ways to improve the conditions and aid declining salmon and orca populations.

"We've got a plan to eliminate all of those barriers to salmon migration steadily," Rep. Alex Ramel, D-Bellingham, said at the WYORCA protest.

"Mitigation is preventing the problem in the first place, not polluting the atmosphere with more greenhouse gases, methane, and carbon dioxide," Ramel said.

In this year's session, Rep. Mike Chapman, D-Port Angeles, introduced House Bill 1215, which focuses on the protection and restoration of riparian areas at the edges of rivers and streams.

Riparian forests filter pollutants from stormwater runoff, reduce erosion, and are important for the stability of salmon populations.

The bill requires the State Conservation Commission to fund the protection of riparian zones and establish a salmon riparian habitat policy task force in cooperation with indigenous tribes in Washington.

The bill was introduced in the House on Jan. 10, and a public hearing was held in the House committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Other bills include:

• SB 5157, which deals with removing barriers to fish passage through the Washington water infrastructure program; and

• HB 1076, which authorizes counties and cities to include an optional salmon recovery element within comprehensive plans adopted under the Growth Management Act.

Sammamish Youth Board calls for removal of lower Snake River dams

Samamish Youth Board released a letter on July 5 calling for the removal of four dams on the lower Snake River in order to save the iconic Chinook salmon that spawns on the river.

The youth board is an official commission of the City of Sammamish, with members selected from the student body of local middle and high schools. As an official city entity, they required city council approval to publish an official stance on the dams, which they received after a council vote on July 5.

Their statement was then submitted as public comment to inform Sen. Patty Murray and Gov. Jay Inslee's official recommendation on whether the dams should be removed. Murray and Inslee have so far released a draft report on the issue, and opened public comment until July 11.

The four dams were constructed in the early 1970s, with the goal of generating clean, hydroelectric energy for the Pacific Northwest. According to Walla Walla's division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, they were built to support wind energy, help meet peak power loads, and contribute to transmission grid reliability.

However, the youth board argues that the lower Snake River dams have had a disastrous impact on the Chinook salmon population native to the Pacific Northwest.

These dams block the Columbia Basin Chinook salmon's migratory paths, decreasing not only the salmon population, but other species that rely on salmon for food, such as orcas.

"The lower Snake River dams do not meet our standards for a clean energy future," said the youth board in their statement. "Energy that comes at the cost of a keystone species is not 'clean' by any reasonable standard."

They further contend that the Snake River watershed supports 70% of the habitat available for Chinook populations in the Columbia basin, and the removal of these dams would help recover much of this habitat and restore a healthy regional ecosystem.

Although the dams are not located within the borders of Sammamish, the youth board felt it was crucial to draw attention to this issue, which impacts the entire ecosystem of the Pacific Northwest, and impacts the endangered Southern Resident orcas that rely on Chinook salmon as their food source.

"As youth representatives of the City of Sammamish, when it comes to issues that affect this entire region, we have a responsibility to call for action," said Maanit Goel, board chair, in an email to the Sammamish Independent. "We are urging our political representatives to set a state-wide precedent for clean energy that ensures no keystone species is affected by new renewable infrastructure."