I’m responding to “Dams under scrutiny again,” The Seattle Times, published Dec. 1 in The Columbian.
A proposed Shillapoo Salmon Recovery project has been jump-started by this May 2016 ruling and is an attempt by the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife to slide in under the wire before these new rules take effect in March 2018. It is driven by money, not conservation.
Some $2 million has been spent creating and enhancing this wetland, paid mostly by Bonneville Power Administration in return for mitigated credits. Taking out the pumps, the water control structures and scraping the soil, as proposed, destroys all that has been created. Some grant moneys that were used to purchase the land would have to be paid back. The estimated project cost — $13 million to $19 million — would be paid by BPA and passed on to its customers.
Listed on the Shillapoo Management plan are two pages of wildlife that inhabit this area, some endangered. Yet no studies have been made, no analysis, regarding the effects that this project would have on these inhabitants. The project would be of marginal benefit to salmon, at the expense of other species.
Tell WDFW, Olympia and Region 5, to leave it alone and follow the environmental laws of the land. They need to be held to a higher standard.
