Stricken salmon need Snake River dams breached

Published 1:30 am Thursday, January 8, 2026

The December 2025 floods in Washington state heavily damaged the fish habitat here in the Northwest region. It is probable that most chinook, pink salmon and chum eggs laid in the watersheds of the Skagit, Nooksack and other rivers in the region were either washed away or killed by being buried under excess sediment. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife expects reduced salmon returns in 2027 through 2029 because of this.

The southern region of the state, where the Columbia and Lower Snake rivers flow, had only minor flooding. Most of the fish eggs there should be fine. Unfortunately, only about 15 percent of historical numbers of fish now return to the Columbia basin. The main cause: The four Lower Snake River dams. The dams block all but a comparative few returning salmon, and kill about 20 percent of young salmon trying to get to the ocean. (The young fish then must traverse four more dams on the Columbia, losing another 15 percent or so of their numbers.)

There are many reasons to breach the four Lower Snake River dams. They violate tribal treaties and environmental laws.

But the December floods should, more than anything, sound the alarm that a natural disaster has taken out most of the salmon eggs in one part of the state, while we ourselves have crippled the unscathed part of the state that could have made up some of those losses. We need a resilient ecosystem now more than ever. Breach the dams!

Marjorie Millner

Vancouver, Wash.