Locus Focus on 07/04/11

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Mon, 07/04/2011 - 10:00am to 11:00am
Restoring salmon runs on the Columbia River requires breaching federal bureacracies as well as dams.

THE FATE OF COLUMBIA RIVER SALMON
Continuing Our Conversation with Environmental Writer Steven Hawley

Any day now U.S. District Judge James Redden will come down with a decision that will determine the fate of salmon on the Columbia River.

He is considering the merits of a plan submitted last year by the Obama administration to address the significant harm done to salmon by the gauntlet of federal dams along the river system, that juvenile salmon must navigate on their way out to the ocean and surmount again three to five years later when they return as adults to spawn.

This plan is almost indistinguishable from previous plans that were rejected by the courts. The plan currently under scrutiny also rolls back important protections now in place and will cost almost $1 billion per year over the next 10 years.

On this episode of Locus Focus, environmental writer Steven Hawley returns to examine the possible scenarios for the future of Columbia River salmon, and what options are being considered while all parties await Judge Redden's impending decision.

Steven Hawley is the author of Recovering a Lost River, which describes the difficult passage salmon have navigating the federal agencies charged with their protection, a journey as challenging as surviving the dams along the Columbia River.

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