Two years in the making, the plan outlines a series of steps for saving fish in the Columbia and its tributaries. As expected, federal agencies did not recommend breaching four Snake River dams in Eastern Washington. Instead, the agencies say that breaching must be considered if reviews in three, five and eight years show that other steps are falling short. The Nez Perce, Umatilla, Yakama and Nez Perce tribes have treaties guaranteeing their right to fish for salmon on the Columbia. At its very heart is the simple, self-serving goal of continuing business as usual on the river.
Federal officials hope to save dams and salmon, both.
For instance, huge losses come during the first year of life, spent in mountain streams. More losses come while the young fish mill in the mouth of the Columbia River before beginning their adult life in the Pacific Ocean. Darm said eliminating dams would do nothing to end those losses. Most of the scientists who signed the letter work in the Northwest, either for state or tribal agencies, universities or independently. The Nez Perce Tribe of Idaho criticized the federal plan Thursday for giving the dams a reprieve.