David James Duncan on the release of Lost River

“The extinction of wild salmon from 5,500 miles of pristine Idaho and Oregon streams is fait accompli for many species, and impending for most others, largely due to four dams that preserve a 140 mile barging route on the lower Snake River.

“Wheat farmers say the barges preserve their way of life. Fishers counter that their way of life has already been ravaged by the dams, and that what is now permanently at stake is the holy food of Indian tribes for millennia and the trade of fisher folk reaching back to Jesus, Peter, James and John.

“The wind of change I’ve been feeling is an abandonment of polarized rhetoric and growing realization that Lower Snake dam removal, if done intelligently, needn’t pit farmers against fishers. On the contrary, by removing the four dams and replacing the barge route with improved rail and irrigation systems, the farmers (and many others) could benefit at the same time the fishers’ livelihood is saved.

“The reconciliation of fishers and farmers on this issue, to cite a letter from my farmer friend Wendell Berry, is ’simply necessary.’ If we circle our boats and tractors in cooperation, Lower Snake dam removal could be an economic and spiritual boon to the entire Inland Northwest. The miracle feast at the Sermon on the Mount was loaves and fishes. Not one or the other. Both.

Let's preserve that unforgettable legacy in our great watershed.”

ORDER LOST RIVER
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With a combined membership of over 6 million, the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition (SOS) is a nationwide coalition of conservation organizations, commercial and sportsfishing associations, businesses, river groups, and taxpayer advocates working collectively to restore self-sustaining, healthy, and abundant wild salmon to rivers and streams of the Pacific Northwest.