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Mr. Burkholder Has No Idea by Rex Miller Sr. Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, May 18, 2012

In response to Mr. Burkholder from Boise.

I don't know if Judge Redden would know a salmon if he saw one, and he knows less about the life cycle of migratory fish.

Now for Mr. Burkholder. Before the dams on the Snake River, the water level during the summer months was not adequate for irrigation plus there was no power to operate the pumps needed to move the water. Second, there was not enough water to irrigate the thousands of acres now planted with row crops, grape vineyards and orchards.

Mr. Burkholder has no idea how the dams increased the production of crops and barge traffic even all the way to Lewiston.

Mr. Burkholder has no idea how far one would have to move the pumps to reach the water for irrigation use.

The dams were built to provide water storage, produce power and water necessary for irrigation of croplands.

In short if you haven't lived here you haven't seen the before and after effects of the dams and how the dams have provided jobs, crop expansion, increased the economy and decreased the overall cost of doing business.

So what right does Mr. Burkholder, living in Boise, have to tell us how and what we should do with our dams, water and future.

He should butt out and worry about Idaho, and please take Judge Redden with him.

Oh by the way, I helped to set up the dam on Ririe River in Idaho for flood control.

What say I remove the dam so the floods can return?

Related Pages:
Irrigation from 4 Lower Snake Reservoirs Fact Sheet by Reed Burkholder, 1993