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• 1. [Article] Policy Conundrum: Restoring Wild Salmon to the Pacific Northwest

  Restoring wild salmon runs to the Pacific Northwest is technically challenging, politically nasty, and socially divisive. Pa st restoration efforts have been largely unsuccessful. Society’s failure to ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Policy Conundrum: Restoring Wild Salmon to the Pacific Northwest Author: Lackey, Robert T. Year: 2001 Restoring wild salmon runs to the Pacific Northwest is technically challenging, politically nasty, and socially divisive. Pa st restoration efforts have been largely unsuccessful. Society’s failure to reverse the continuing decline of wild salmon has the characteristics of a policy conundrum: nearly everyone supports, abstractly at least, restoring salmon runs; considerable public and private resources have been devoted to their restoration; but society collectively remains evidently unwilling to make the painful decisions clearly necessary to arrest their decline. The salmon policy conundrum is characterized by competing societal priorities being adjudicated in a political environment where few are willing to acknowledge publicly the future consequences of prior de facto policy choices. Decisions already made have greatly circumscribed the status of wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest through at least the next several decades. Barring a near wholesale reversal of many of society’s previous decisions (and apparent priorities), and allowing for considerable year-to-year and decade-to-decade variation in run size due in part to oscillations in climate and oceanic conditions, I conclude that through the twenty-first century, many, perhaps most, stocks of wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest likely will remain at their current low levels or continue to decline in spite of current protection and restoration efforts. Title: Policy Conundrum: Restoring Wild Salmon to the Pacific Northwest Author: Lackey, Robert T. Year: 2001 Restoring wild salmon runs to the Pacific Northwest is technically challenging, politically nasty, and socially divisive. Pa st restoration efforts have been largely unsuccessful. Society’s failure to reverse the continuing decline of wild salmon has the characteristics of a policy conundrum: nearly everyone supports, abstractly at least, restoring salmon runs; considerable public and private resources have been devoted to their restoration; but society collectively remains evidently unwilling to make the painful decisions clearly necessary to arrest their decline. The salmon policy conundrum is characterized by competing societal priorities being adjudicated in a political environment where few are willing to acknowledge publicly the future consequences of prior de facto policy choices. Decisions already made have greatly circumscribed the status of wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest through at least the next several decades. Barring a near wholesale reversal of many of society’s previous decisions (and apparent priorities), and allowing for considerable year-to-year and decade-to-decade variation in run size due in part to oscillations in climate and oceanic conditions, I conclude that through the twenty-first century, many, perhaps most, stocks of wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest likely will remain at their current low levels or continue to decline in spite of current protection and restoration efforts. Close

• 2. [Article] Power, Fish, and the Greenhouse on the Columbia River

  The Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S. is home to the greatest hydroelectric system in the world. Its dams provide 75 percent of the power needs of nearly 10 million people. But ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Power, Fish, and the Greenhouse on the Columbia River Author: Buchanan, Shepard C. Year: 2001 The Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S. is home to the greatest hydroelectric system in the world. Its dams provide 75 percent of the power needs of nearly 10 million people. But the dams also create numerous obstacles to the survival of what was once the world’s greatest salmon fishery. The region spends over $500 million annually to try to restore the fishery and ensure its future survival. However, the changes in river operations implemented to meet fish needs make it much more difficult to meet other environmental goals, such as the development of renewable electric power resources. Renewable resources would help to alleviate the risks associated with global warming. This paper demonstrates an unfortunate irony: that the renewable resources advocated by environmental interests are incompatible with a hydro system that is operated for fish. Such resources could add billions of dollars to the costs of electric power, while providing minimal environmental benefits. Saving the fish and reducing greenhouse gases are two environmental goals that do not appear to be compatible. Title: Power, Fish, and the Greenhouse on the Columbia River Author: Buchanan, Shepard C. Year: 2001 The Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S. is home to the greatest hydroelectric system in the world. Its dams provide 75 percent of the power needs of nearly 10 million people. But the dams also create numerous obstacles to the survival of what was once the world’s greatest salmon fishery. The region spends over $500 million annually to try to restore the fishery and ensure its future survival. However, the changes in river operations implemented to meet fish needs make it much more difficult to meet other environmental goals, such as the development of renewable electric power resources. Renewable resources would help to alleviate the risks associated with global warming. This paper demonstrates an unfortunate irony: that the renewable resources advocated by environmental interests are incompatible with a hydro system that is operated for fish. Such resources could add billions of dollars to the costs of electric power, while providing minimal environmental benefits. Saving the fish and reducing greenhouse gases are two environmental goals that do not appear to be compatible. Close