FEDERATION OF WESTERN OUTDOOR CLUBS

---

MORE PROTECTION NEEDED FOR NORTHWEST SALMON

Thirteen stocks of salmon in the northwest are either threatened or endangered because of habitat degradation or excessive take.  The Bush administration has resisted removing dams on the Snake River that pose a barrier to successful downstream passage of salmon by claiming that other improvements will be made in their habitat.

However, now the Bush administration also has decided to reduce the number of streams in the northwest that it will protect as critical habitat for salmon, claiming that streams that could be restored as salmon habitat are not now critical habitat.  It now proposes to eliminate protected status for 2817 miles of streams that could be used by salmon.

The administration has also resisted efforts to release more water from northwest dams on the Columbia system in the summer to enhance the survival of these stocks.

The Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs deplores these failures to take timely action to protect these salmon stocks and urges the benefit of the doubt by given to these depleted stocks.

next >>