For decades, hydroelectric dams on the lower Snake River have been killing off salmon that must traverse them to spawn, southern resident orcas that feed on salmon and the cultures of tribal nations who consider the salmon their first food. Through an intersection of bipartisan interest that’s unusual these days and once-in-a-generation federal funding, we may finally have a chance to end the spiral toward extinction for all three.
Where millions of Chinook salmon would make the upstream journey from the Pacific to the Idaho habitat where they laid eggs before the dams were erected, in recent years that count has been in the thousands. The numbers are much worse for Coho and Sockeye salmon. Getting over the dams to the spawning grounds and back to the ocean has proven too much for fish who are able to travel a thousand miles to spawn. The orcas have less to eat as a result and there were only 73 left last year.
