Wenatchee Naturalist, Mara Bohman, invites us all to attend this free event on Nov. 15, 2018, at the Cashmere Riverside Center, 6:30-8:30pm

They called them June Hogs, the largest and strongest of the salmon-super salmon. They had to be so, to be able to swim all the way into the Upper Columbia River basin, some 1200 miles from the ocean. It’s been 80 years since salmon have made that arduous journey.

Constructing a fish passage system would have been difficult with a dam as tall as the Grand Coulee, but not impossible. Fish hatcheries at that time, were thought to be the solution to the loss of 1,100 miles of salmon spawning habitat. The Canadian government was indifferent about fish passage and the Columbia River tribes on both sides of the border were not consulted.

It was decided that sacrificing the salmon runs was a small price to pay for the cheap electricity, and abundant irrigation water that would be provided by the Grand Coulee Dam. A 1947 Department of the Interior memo summed it up, “Overall benefits to the Pacific Northwest are such that the present salmon runs must be sacrificed”.

Fifteen years after the completion of what is still the largest hydroelectric project in the country, Chief Joseph Dam was built, also without any fish passage, just 50 miles downstream from Grand Coulee Dam.

But it is a new day and so I was excited to learn about current efforts being put into getting those salmon back home again. As John Sirois from Upper Columbia United Tribes (UCUT) states, ’80 years is long enough.’

And it is his group, UCUT, that is leading the way with their “Upper Columbia River Basin Fish Passage and Reintroduction” plan. The research phase of the plan is nearing completion and the homecoming of the salmon into the upper Columbia River is looking very promising.

The ‘why’ is not difficult for many to understand, but questions remain:

How will the salmon get above the dams? And then what?  Will they find streams that can support the next generation? How will the 150-mile long Lake Roosevelt impact their survival? And what about the dams in British Columbia? What kind of salmon will have the best chance at success? And what about the migrating juvenile salmon? And are there other concerns that need to be addressed?

We are pleased to be able to bring the story of this amazing initiative to the upper Columbia River community. Join us for Columbia Rolls On: Salmon Homecoming, with presentations by John Sirois, of UCUT, biologists, Casey Baldwin and Conor Giorgi, and Will Stelle, former regional administrator of NOAA and current board member of Washington Water Trust. Q n A and discussion will follow the presentations.

November 14^th at Okanogan PUD-Okanogan

November 15^th at the Cashmere Riverside Center-Cashmere

6:30-8:30 (doors open at 6pm)

This FREE event is sponsored by Cascade Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group and Washington Water Trust

Learn more at author Mara Bohman’s blog The Columbia River Rolls On   Or, read Lynn Bragg’s children’s book, A River Lost to learn about the impact on the Arrow Lakes Tribes with the installation of Grand Coulee Dam.