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When thousands of people donate no more than $100 per person per election, we can build a campaign without money from special interests. _______________________ But it's about more than money. We need your energy and your enthusiasm, too. Sign up to volunteer on Jim Hansen's campaign for Congress.
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| Restored salmon runs would help local economies |
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| posted on Tuesday, August 01, 2006 |
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Congress’ failure to find an effective solution to Idaho’s dwindling salmon runs is hurting local economies in many small towns like Stanley, Challis, Salmon, Ketchum, Mackay and Hailey, Jim Hansen, a candidate for Idaho’s 2nd District Congress seat, said Monday.
“Anglers and tourists should be flocking to these towns in the summer to enjoy the magnificent fish that used to fill the Salmon River,” Hansen said. “Yet Congress has sat idly by as salmon spiral ever closer to extinction.”
Until 1978, when salmon fishing ended on the upper end of the Salmon River, families and sportsmen would come to central Idaho in July and August to watch and catch salmon migrating back to Idaho from the Pacific Ocean to reproduce and die.
“A whole generation of Idahoans probably doesn’t even realize that salmon once played an important part in the local economy,” Hansen said. “Congress should be helping to restore the fish as a way of investing in the health and self-sufficiency of small communities throughout Central Idaho.”
Salmon were once plentiful in the Stanley Basin until the last of four dams on the Lower Snake River was completed in 1975. The number of returning salmon quickly began to decline and the general fishing season ended three years later. There are a variety of factors affecting fish recovery but many scientists point primarily to the four Lower Snake dams, which present hurdles too difficult for the fish to overcome.
Congress seems more interested in protecting the special interests of utilities and other large industries that make big donations to congressional campaigns than in protecting fish, Hansen said.
“If members of Congress weren’t so beholden to special interests, they could worry less about preserving the status quo and more about being good stewards of the natural resources that our parents and grandparents entrusted to us,” Hansen said.
He said that all the costs of fish recovery should be studied, including the costs of subsidizing the four dams on the Lower Snake River in Washington. By refusing to put all the costs on the negotiating table, Congress is telling many Idahoans that their opinion doesn’t count, Hansen said.
“Let’s have an open, honest discussion about the cultural, ecological and economic values of Idaho salmon,” Hansen said.
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