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Spill is an Effective Stopgap Measure by Tom McGrath Idaho Statesman, May 29, 2010

Terry Flores and Northwest River Partners are interested in protecting dams and the status quo at the expense of Idaho's endangered salmon and steelhead. In Terry's letter that ran in the May 4 issue of the Statesman, she used rhetoric, not science, to back the wild claim that salmon and steelhead prefer to be barged to the ocean.

Good science has consistently shown that spilling water at dams is the best available method of transporting juvenile salmon to the ocean. Spill is one of the biggest reasons we are seeing improved fish returns this year. Anyone who wants to curtail spill wants also to curtail Idaho fishing seasons.

While we work on decommissioning the four dams on the lower Snake River, spill is a good stop-gap measure that works. Idaho's economy and hard-working people depend on it.