Because of the damming of the Columbia, many sockeye, chinook, and some coho die because they are unable to reach the sea in time. Water stored upstream is released to help increase water flow and wash the salmon downstream. The water would still be available for power usage and the lower water levels would increase velocity that can be maintained for the entire spring smolt run. In the mean time, the water budget will continue to be used to help the push the smolts through and to help them get by those dams without by pass facilities. While increasing migration is an important step in trying to save the salmon, alone, it is not enough.
Habitat degradation is also a cause of death in young salmon.
In March, Christopher Frissell developed a plan for the Pacific Rivers Council. In A new Strategy for Watershed Restoration and Recover of Pacific Salmon in the Pacific Northwest, Frissell proposes a prioritization of habitats into six categories by virtue of their location, ecological processes, and degree of previous disturbance. Resources would be given to higher priority habitats first in order to try and maintain existing populations before restoring habitats where a great deal of damage has occurred. By maintaining and improving areas that salmon still use before restoring abandoned areas, you ensure population will be there to use those restored areas. It is obvious that the sockeye salmon of the Snake river is at a critical stage.