Spring chinook return at snail’s pace to Columbia River

After the unexplained virtual disappearce of the salmon run in the Sacremento River after the best run in many years, the slow return of chinoock salmon into the Columbia has folks on edge.

Rocky Barker writes about it today. Idaho Statesman.

Update added April 11. Sharp Curb on Salmon Season. By FELICITY BARRINGER. New York Times.

Clarks Fork, Blackfoot rivers made free-flowing again.

I haven’t posted on this before, although debating and planning for this has gone on for years. Yesterday, however, it came to fruition. The old Milltown Dam near Missoula was breached and two very important rivers were made free-flowing again.

There was some positive rhetoric from the politicians. “Sen. Max Baucus, Sen. Jon Tester and other officials told the crowd that the Milltown project represented Montana’s shift from an extraction to a restoration economy, creating jobs that protect the environment and use the state’s natural resources in sustainable ways rather than plundering them.” . . . Missoulian.

Into the breach - Clark Fork, Blackfoot rivers punch through Milltown Dam. By John Cramer. The Missoulian

Some folks may have seen the popular movie, A River Runs through It. It centered on the “Big Blackfoot” river, but was mostly shot on the Gallatin River as a standin because of the damage done to the Big Blackfoot over the years.

Board mulls hearing on Upper Green River dam

Board mulls hearing on Upper Green dam. Water commission not convinced reservoir idea would fly, but may consider public views. By Noah Brenner. Jackson Hole News and Guide.

Aw the power to stupid ideas. That have such vitality! Like most proposals for new irrigation dams in the West, the economics are horrible. The environmental and pecuniary costs very high and the economic benefits very low.

Green River Lakes is regarded by many as perhaps the most scenic view in Wyoming and the upper Green is perhaps the best remaining moose habitat in a state that is rapidly losing its moose.

Squaretop Mountain from upper Green River Lake. Copyright Ralph Maughan

Note: I could use a more scenic photo. This is a fairly common one. I would greatly appreciate a contribution. Ralph Maughan

Fate of Appropriations Riders

Rocky Barker sheds some light on a lesser known appropriations rider that Larry Craig sought to pass. The language would have limited water taken from Idaho reservoirs for salmon recovery.

Craig salmon-water rider has uncertain future

There has been speculation about another appropriations rider in response to the Senator’s wish to increase grazing (errr… “fuels reduction”) in Jarbidge following the Murphy Complex Fire.

Needless to say, Craig’s ability to ride these will be an uphill endeavor considering his loss of leadership position.

Craig, “ecoterrorists”, hidden riders, and industrial legacy

There is no doubt, the hoopla surrounding ID Senator Larry Craig is a well deserved condemnation of hypocrisy that’s been years in the coming and nobody is celebrating his descent more than progressives throughout the Northwest. Now, he has resigned effective September 30.

But the shamefull manner in which a powerful Republican Senator squandered his standing is thankfully failing to completely overshadow just what it is many in Idaho and throughout the West are celebrating:

In the meantime, his actions in backrooms of the nation’s capital deserve attention. Call it a Craig’s List of how to block good deeds, or at least see that they don’t go unpunished.

23 years after historic water pact, Idaho Power Co. sues state

Idaho irrigators, boaters, fishers, commerical trout farmers, conservationists, anyone with a water right on the Snake River, and electrical power users have come to view the Swan Falls agreement of 1985 as a turning point in Idaho politics and water law. Now Idaho Power is going to court to claim that the pact didn’t leave enough water to satisfy all the uses (in their case hydropower). Idaho Power is correct. The 1985 agreement was overly optimistic (especially in view of the drying climate).

This is a huge political/economic/conservation development.

Story in the Idaho Statesman. Be sure to read the sidebar “Analysis” by Rocky Barker.

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Gravity Abolition and Canned Salmon

Lawmakers revisit the lower Snake River dam debate and demonstrate the  change-up in Congress.  It’ll be interesting… Read the Statesman’s article

 From Western Watersheds Blog:

“The Idaho Statesman has an interesting article on a new bill that would study the economics of breaching four of the lower Snake River dams.  Idaho’s federal politicians are already fortifying with Idaho economy guru, Bill Sali, introducing a “sense of Congress” resolution - which promises to deliver an enticing analogy.  If Idahoans are lucky, C-SPAN will be there to demonstrate to the world a confluence of phenonena”… more…

Idaho’s governor: Build dams

Idaho’s new governor has another brand new idea fresh out of the 1940s — build more dams in Idaho to impound water.

It might sound great if you haven’t followed the issue for a generation.

Yes, there are dam sites left in Idaho, but there is not enough flow in the rivers to fill them.

Secondly he argues that rapid urban growth requires these dams, but most of Idaho’s extraordinary per capita consumption of water is from agriculture, not cities. There is plenty of existing storage and water in Idaho to accommodate future urban use.

Third, he wants Idahoans to pay for the new dams, forgetting the Idahoans have almost never paid for the many dams in the state, especially the irrigation dams. They were paid for by the taxpayers of the Unites States or private companies. They stopped building public dams in Idaho after the Teton Dam collapsed in 1976 as it was being filled for the first time, drowning 14 people and doing a billion dollars worth of damage. Most Idahoans and American taxpayers were fed up with with paying for these boondoggles.

Story in the Magic Valley Times-News. Governor Otter with a new idea from the distant past: build storage dams in Idaho.