I just finished reading a posting on another tread (part 2;Do our rivers produce as much as they can?) and the comments that were made by "Silvercast". His posting inspired me to ask this board; do you really fully understand the long reaching effects of what the dams have had on the Columbia and other river systems?

Think about this for just one moment, besides the issue of fish passage (both up stream and down stream) what else is affected by those dams?

We know that "humans" are affected when they live directly by or under those "high transmission" power lines, but do we known what the effects of that same electricity is to fish? Don't fish have to pass directly through most of dams? After all, isn't that where all this "high transmitting of electricity" comes from?

Some of you may think that I am reaching a little too far, but what studies, if any do you know of that have ever looked into this scenario?

What management decisions are directly or in directly effected by having these dams in our rivers?

Even if we are successful in inventing and getting another "source of power" does anyone really believe that those dams (especially on the Columbia) will ever be removed? If so, what happens to the tens of thousands of people that now live in the "old flood plans" of those dams? Do you really think that those same "voting people" would ever vote or support the removal of those dams?

I fully support the removal of the dams in the Columbia, but do I ever believe that it will happen…not likely!

This board has a lot of great thinkers, so why not share some of your thoughts on what you believe may be the side effects of these dams. Like a board member has stated, "Knowledge is key in making things the best they can be for us, the fishermen, and more importantly the fish" A lot of us think that we already know all the answers, but do we really?



Cowlitzfisherman
Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????