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Saving fish helps save river

Power produces money and fishing produces money and a food supply.

I have been a resident of Trail all my life and have taken in all the outdoor activities that we as Trailites enjoy.

And it can range from a morning of skiing to an afternoon of golf to an evening of fishing.  Of course we also have organized sports of any type as well.  In fact we have been known for putting out some of the finest athletes in the world.

But I have been watching our town and area go through some hardships with the downturn in the economy. I know that there has been a committee that has looked at the revitalization of Trail and the river was to play a big part in it.  And that is where I got quite interested.

I am fishing many hours of my life along the banks of the Columbia River. But I noticed that the river goes up and down changing levels everyday – sometimes for spawning fish and also for water control and power.

But I know that we also like to keep Lake Roosevelt at a particular level especially in the summer when the lake is being used at its fullest. I also have seen how they are putting in more generators into the dams to make more power but they don’t seem to have any interest of setting aside money for fish ladders.

It is almost like, “Well one ladder isn’t going to help,” but I am sure that in time every dam will undergo a generator upgrade. But till I was watching the World Fishing Network, and seen the tour guide catching salmon just below the Roosevelt Dam, I got agitated.

Here someone can build a dam that can completely stop our salmon run but still has salmon out their back door but also demands that we give them water to keep their reservoir full.  Sometimes even at the expense of our own Syringa being on the lower side.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have the salmon coming through again and bringing tourists and money and people back into our area?

I know that there is a lot more than just this we need to do to help our economy but I feel this is so long overdue.

If the governments (Ministry of Resources, Ministry of Power and Ministry of Fisheries could all get together and make the river viable again and produce a food source that we are so afraid is diminishing.

Power produces money and fishing produces money and a food supply.

Brent Laface

Trail