Columbia River Salmon Case Study

For thousands of years, salmon have played an integral role of the ecosystem in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. In the 1700s, the settling of human's in the region had a tremendous impact on the native fisheries. Since that time, salmon have been affected by a growing population and economy in the Pacific Northwest. At that time, Europeans had begun to occupy land along the Columbia River, imposing their culture on the natives of that land. By the 1800's, disease brought by the European's had cleared nearly all of the population, however, the Columbia River's resources were being exploited to a great degree by the new settlers.
Towards the turn into the 20th century, dams began to affect a process known as salmon runs,
Obviously, the ability for salmon to survive is dependant on several factors, most of which have played a negative role on the population in recent decades. Salmon rely on so many factors of the ecosystem during their life cycle, therefore, there ability to survive and reproduce is relative to the status of these factors. For starters, the habitat provided by the Columbia Basin is crucial. The land and water management in the last generation has reduced the complexity of the Columbia channel. As a result, access to spawning areas has diminished as well as a decrease in water quality in river systems. Moreover, fishery harvest and hatcheries have resulted in declining runs of Pacific salmon as well as negative impacts on the health and genetics of the
The process includes provisions for habitat restoration, hatchery production, and predator control. Nevertheless, the plan still calls for no significant changes to the region's federal hydropower system and ignores the four dams on the lower Snake River that do the most harm to the basin's endangered salmon. Moreover, the new plan does not include any increases in the amount of water spilled over the dams to improve critical downstream migration. In fact, the water that could be used as spill over water in efforts to aid the salmon in their migration, is claimed by the federal government to create even more hydroelectric power. Ultimately, this use of excess, spill over water seems unrighteous towards salmon in the Pacific Northwest