Broaden Scope of Snake River Salmon Review

Washington Sen. Patty Murray and Gov. Jay Inslee announced in October, they’ll listen to diverse viewpoints with open minds to recover salmon and potentially breach the four Lower Snake River dams.

Their focus on restoring Snake River salmon and steelhead runs is too limited. It needs to be expanded to cover the entire Snake River drainage.

Currently, the four lower dams---all in Washington---are targeted to determine if they should be torn down to improve ocean-going fish runs while ignoring other upstream impoundments.

From its headwaters in Yellowstone National Park, the Snake River flows n...