6 minute read
Beyond Drought
from IdaHome--October
Water as Life and Death
PHOTOS COURTESY IDAHO RIVERS UNITED
BY SABINA DANA PLASSE
Dwindling water in the West has been an escalating reality for decades. Looking forward, we humans are also fated to endure more ravages of drought and steaming temperatures already affirmed by science and avid fishermen. Still, our sufferings are mere inconveniences compared to the precarious environment that steelhead and salmon face in Idaho and where western rivers flow to and from the also-warming Pacific.
“There can be droughts with somewhat tolerable conditions for fish,” says Idaho Rivers United (IRU) Executive Director Nic Nelson. “But this year, the salmon’s return had to fight scorching temperatures on an already exacerbated resource that created a perfect storm. It was a drought year to an extent, but we need to quit looking at the situation as a drought and realize that this is the new normal. This is what water in the West looks like today. The more we can start planning for this being normal, we will be less reactive and put into place long-term planning to manage fishery resources, water scarcity, agricultural needs, and everything else dependent on water.”
Nelson is not alone in his definitive predictions. Conservation groups and nonprofits have been handling the effects of water scarcity and climate change for years. All agree that it’s time for us, as global citizens, to accept this new reality as fact in order to support long-term improvements and better management. But this is only the first step. The crisis needs to be considered with the same political and personal intention as all the other issues that affect our day-today existence.
“It is an issue that permeates through all the initiatives that we are working on,” says Nelson. “The silver lining of a disaster is that issues are brought to the forefront for the public to acknowledge. In Idaho, we are usually fighting the opposite fight and trying to recover a resource. We are looking at steelhead returns that are the worst on record; they are abysmal numbers, and all of Idaho’s fish are in the same boat.”
The Salmon River
Prolonged exposure to hot water is lethal to migrating adult salmon. They become stressed, diseased, and eventually die. With little to no escape from the heat, salmon that are headed upstream to spawn, particularly Sockeye salmon, are susceptible to hot water conditions because their migration occurs during the peak of summer heat. They have no refuge in cooler tributary streams along the way. As a result, less than 100 wild fish are routinely returning to central Idaho lakes to spawn, and these massive die-offs from heat pollution will soon lead to extinction.
Hot water conditions will become increasingly common because of climate change. If nothing happens to address warming rivers, wild Snake River Sockeye, which travel farther inland and higher up than any other salmon run on earth—will no longer be around.
Dead Salmon
Although there was a tiny uptick in the Chinook salmon returns this year, these numbers are inconsequential because they are still on the extinction trajectory. “If you look at the entire data set for Chinook, it’s still one of the worst returns in history, and nothing has occurred to cause an inflection,” says Nelson.
What can change this situation?
“Fisheries scientists, including those who authored the most recent biological opinion on the Columbia River System of Operations, agree that the easiest way to ameliorate hot water temperature in the Columbia-Snake River system is to remove the lower four Snake River dams (Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose, and Lower Granite),” Nelson explains.
-Nic Nelson
Much can be done to alleviate water temperature. IRU continues to advocate for a free-flowing river system, and similarly to the salmon’s journey to the ocean, the current temperature issues have numerous causes, but the one primary impediment is the existence of four dams. Idaho Rivers United serves to protect and restore Idaho’s rivers and fisheries, focusing on the ecological integrity of Idaho rivers where citizens can help through advocacy. At IRU, tackling warming water and the return of salmon has been part of a more significant focus since its inception in 1990. IRU’s ongoing efforts for salmon recovery in the Columbia and Snake Rivers have been through successful, continuous, and conscious grassroots efforts. Halting dams along these rivers and dismantling others that have led to the disappearance of wild salmon have been effective.
“There are services that a dam provides. However, we can find another solution for every service provided,” says Nelson. “There’s only one solution for salmon and cold water, which is a free-flowing river system.”
The August issue of IdaHome explored Congressman Mike Simpson’s Columbia Basin Initiative to remove four dams to save the salmon. The proposal also ensures that the agricultural economy and energy portfolio industries would be maintained or enhanced. “These systems are replaceable and leave those economies better off,” says Nelson, a proponent of the plan. “In the last 20 years, $18 billion has been spent on fish recovery, and there has not been any progress.”
Salmon are not only essential to Idaho, but also a vital cultural and practical species. There was a time when the largest Chinook salmon run in the world happened annually. Not only a main food source, the fish were an iconic species to the Native Americans before Europeans arrived in North America. Ecologically, the salmon have a tremendous value. Their DNA exists in the whitebark pine trees at the top of the Sawtooth Mountains, far from where they commence their journey to spawn.
“Salmon are one of the reasons I came to Idaho,” says Nelson. “I grew up in Wyoming, and one of the reasons I chose to go to the University of Idaho was for the opportunity to go salmon and steelhead fishing. Needless to say, there isn’t much salmon fishing in Wyoming. I’m proud to have worked on numerous conservation initiatives throughout my career, but my work at IRU feels like the most important conservation work I have ever done. Since the pandemic, many people have begun exploring parts of Idaho that they have never seen before. One of the greatest attributes of fishing for steelhead and salmon is that they inhabit some of the most beautiful places you will ever see. The Middle Fork of the Salmon River, the Lochsa River, and the Selway corridor are spectacular, but that’s just hyperbole until someone sees it for themselves. As more people get out there, this is the greatest opportunity in centuries to let them fall in love with it and to instill advocacy for this place and its creatures.”
TAKE ACTION :
“Communities in large western metropolitan areas have created city ordinances for water conservation, which forbid Kentucky bluegrass and water-intensive plants in areas that are not trafficked, such as HOA common areas and road medians,” says Nelson. “In Las Vegas, Nevada, and Phoenix, Arizona, they have prohibited grass and vegetation that has to be watered or is not drought-tolerant in all non-trafficked areas. This can be replicated in Boise and other places in Idaho. Engage with your city councils and civic groups to advocate for these changes.” —Nic Nelson, Idaho Rivers United Executive Director
KEEP THE WATER IN IDAHO’S RIVERS
• Xeriscape your lawn using native grasses and plants.
• Consider a drip system for your lawn.
• Contact and write to your elected officials and support Congressman Simpson’s plan to recover salmon and steelhead and revitalize their Pacific Northwest passage.
• Become a steward and volunteer to help protect the Salmon River and Sawtooth National Forest through IRU’s partnership with the U.S. Forest Service.
• Sign IRU’s petition to breach the Lower Snake River dams to protect Idaho’s endangered salmon runs.
