Kyle Keckler
News Editor
On Oct. 2, 2024, The Bengal Theater hosted a screening of “The Grand Salmon.”
The film follows three women as they kayak the length of the Salmon River, following the same route that Idaho’s salmon must take to travel to the Pacific Ocean. The women in the film, Elizabeth Tobbey, Brooke Hess and Hailey Thompson, made the 1000-plus mile journey to bring attention to the difficulties that Idaho’s salmon face en route to, and on their way back from, the Pacific Ocean.
Human construction along the lower Snake River poses the most significant challenge to salmon populations. Specifically that of the “Lower Four” Snake River dams: the Lower Granite, Little Goose, Lower Monumental and Ice Harbor dams.
Built throughout the 1960s, these dams have a substantial impact on the lower Snake River and pose a nearly insurmountable obstacle that Idaho’s salmon must cross not once but twice in order to make it back to their spawning grounds at the headwaters of the South, Middle and East forks of the Salmon River.
In recent years, there has been a growing opposition to the presence of the dams along the lower Snake River. Proponents of the dam’s removal cite their relatively low power output (the Lower-Four produces approximately 15% of the power, which the larger projects along the Columbia River create) and the comparatively massive positive environmental impact that their breaching would have on the overall river system.
Vocal among this opposition, featured in “The Grand Salmon,” and present for the recent screening at ISU, was Russ Thureaow, of Salmon.
A retired emeritus researcher of the United States Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station and involved in salmon conservation for the better part of 40 years, Thureaow spoke after the film was finished, taking questions from the audience and elaborating on points made in the film.
One attendee asked about what an individual can do to support salmon conservation efforts, to which Rachel Brinkley — a speaker at the event, former ISU graduate student and member of the Idaho Conservation League — replied, “I think it is incredibly important to speak to your elected officials in Idaho, be very outspoken on this issue at this time and go out and vote because this election will make a big difference.”
Members of our local and campus community organized the showing of “The Grand Salmon” at ISU. The Bengal recently sat down with one of these organizers, Carson King — an affiliate of the American Fisheries Society Idaho Chapter, representative of Idaho Rivers United and current ISU student.
When asked about what made him want to help get “The Grand Salmon” brought to campus, King said, “There’s tons of organizers in Idaho that are showing this movie. I sat down and looked at their tour schedule and thought, ‘Wow, there’s nothing on the eastern half of Idaho.’ So, there’s no reason not to show it to people from Southeastern Idaho — they benefit from the Snake River just as much as the people in Central Idaho.”
To King, the Lower Four dams on the Snake River are more than just an issue for people along the Salmon River and Western Idaho. They are an issue that affects everybody.
When asked how he felt about the probability that the dams may be breached, King elaborated. “I feel good about it,” he said. “We’re on the small side of the fight…. I feel that it’s gaining traction. The Biden-Harris administration has put their money where their mouth is. We have five native nations in the West that have come together and we have bipartisan legislation coming into play. This isn’t a left or right problem — it’s a people problem. We need to fix it by coming together.”
Supporters hope to see the breaching of the dams not be a matter of division, but instead an event that signifies unity for the betterment of our nation’s rivers and the cultures and the communities that surround them.
The common consensus relating to the issue of the dams on the lower Snake River is that they will be coming down — it’s just a matter of when.
For those who may be interested in getting involved with salmon conservation, King said, “The biggest thing I would say to students on campus is get out, get outside, go speak about something you care about… I find it hard to ignore an 1800s treaty to Native Americans and the 100,000-plus salmon that should be returning to the Salmon River corridor. Your voice means more than you think it does.”
