The Snake River starts at the Yellowstone National Park and runs 1,056 miles to the Columbia River. Up to 15 million wild salmon and steelhead once returned to the Columbia and Snake Rivers. Now, only a few hundred thousand wild fish return each year. Lately, Snake River has become a problem for environmentalists who want to take away the dams on the Snake River to save important salmon habitat.
Industry wants to use dams on the river for power and transportation of goods.
A government agency is working to bring environmentalist and industry together to find a solution which will help salmon and allow industry to use the Snake River. Your Role You now know about the importance of salmon to our region and the problem humans have created for salmon. Use the links to find and record information in your journal from all three viewpoints about the salmon problem. Each student will be responsible for producing his or her own press release. After completing your press release, your group will produce one graphic organizer to visually represent the viewpoints of environmentalists, industry, and the government concerning the salmon problem on the Snake River.