I am going to go out on a limb here just so as to get flamed on. Last year's salmon and steelhead runs were record years, surpassing all years going back to 1938 (when counting first began). Given that many of the Columbia and Snake River Dams were put in during the 40's, 50's, and 60's, how does one explain a record year showing up now? The only explanation is that the federally run hatcheries, put in to mitigate habitat loss, have done the job pretty well, so much so that a record year can occur here in 2002.

These hatcheries maintain a relatively low profile, and many people do not know they are even there. But they are there, three spring chinook hatcheries along the Wind River, Little White Salmon River, and the Deschutes River, a coho hatchery at Drano, a fall chinook hatchery at Spring Creek, and, finally, in Idaho, the Dworshak steelhead hatchery, the largest steelhead hatchery in the world.

These hatcheries are all federally operated facilities. If the dams were to go away, I would guess that all the hatcheries would also go away, and the end result may not be as rosy as you think.