A Dam on One of Washington’s Best Salmon Rivers?

Chehalis River
Map: Shannon1 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Yes, it’s true.

The Chehalis River drains more than 1.7 million acres across southwest Washington. It is the home of wild steelhead and Chinook populations that are valuable to both fishermen and struggling southern resident killer whales.

But if the state greenlights a massive dam project on the river juvenile trout and salmon will suffocate under the weight of a temporary, six-mile-long reservoir. Downriver of the dam, incubating salmon eggs will be scoured by the dam’s high-volume floodwater releases.

LINK (via: Wild Salmon Center)

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