By James R. Finses, Montague

 

Pioneer Press

September 27, 2006

 

The following analysis represents comments that promote saving the dams and views of others ahead of me. I believe it should be taken as a host of ideas that simply cannot be overlooked. The points are:

1. The salmon are in short supply. The greenies and tribes have been successful in shutting down the commercial salmon season and the farming interests in the area. I believe it would be a good idea to hear from the tribes as to how they have shut down their gill netting and dip netting in the Northwest to better the fate of the salmon.

2. Oregon is considering managing the mountain lion population to save the elk herd. Why don't we do the same thing with the sea lions to save the salmon runs? It is interesting that one Southwestern Oregon seaside community is using firecrackers to scare the sea lions out of the bays where salmon are queuing to enter the rivers. Novel and not destructive to the lions.

3. The Irongate hatchery is being run far below the capacity of that facility. Several races are dry most of the time. Hatchery output could be increased by many times, thereby increasing the returns later on.

4. The tribes in this area represent a very small minority of the population. Because this minority is vocal, they get 80 percent or more of the press. Just where do they get the money to hire water quality people at $50,000 a crack.

5. Scientific data is now being compiled. This is good if it is done representing all interests and not just the minority programs. But this is the base line data and it cannot be compared to any sort of data taken before the dams were built. The data doesn't exist. So how can deductions be made logically without making comparisons?

6. What about the loss of endangered species habitat with the dam removal? Just how many endangered species call these reservoirs home?

7. What will be done with the warm water fish species when dams are removed? They cannot be flushed down the river as the river is not their habitat. They cannot be poisoned out in a river setting and that also would bring forth cries of cruelty to animals.

8. The sediment in these reservoirs has accumulated for many years. It will take many years for rivers to remove this material and this material will be a hazard to any fish runs during that time. One should look at how long it has taken the Toutle River in Washington to recover with all the silt from Mt. Saint Helens.

9. What about the property owners and the tax base. Property values would tumble and tax bases would be negatively affected.

10. What about the cost to remove the dams? Look at what cost escalation has done and think about the true cost when dam removal happens.

11. Listen to the voices of the decimated agriculture industry and the losses due to the closure of the commercial fishing industry. Add in all the support business losses and the losses to tourism. The figure must be astronomical.

12. I think we should remember that the tribes and greenies do not have to win everything at once. By chipping away at their objectives, they take a little each year. After several years they have won huge total gains towards their overall objective and it becomes too late to win it back.

 

13. It takes only five Indians to make a tribe, and then as a tribe, they can do just about anything under the auspices of tribe governance and sovereignability of lands. How many tribes could they have?

14. Flood control. Removal of dams would open the winter and spring flooding season, so often written about in predam writings.

15. Finally, I would propose a project. On the next series of 100+ degree days, have the power company shut down power generation for a few days. Listen to the cries of 70,000+ people. Those with losses such as critically ill people, businesses, people with freezers and refrigerators, tourism, etc., could all send their loss claims to the local tribe for immediate financial aid.

In closing, the majority of people have to be heard. Just too much is at stake and too much misinformation is distributed by the minority factions. In addition, the press must also take on an objective of printing and representing the majority of their subscribers, not just minority viewpoints.

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