Salmon: ‘Extinction crisis’ | The Seattle Times

Subject: “The Pacific Northwest heat wave is causing” grim “migration for salmon in Columbia, Snake Rivers” [June 29, Environment]:

I couldn’t imagine being a fish during the recent heat wave practically boiling in water heated by more than 100 degrees of heat. Hot weather is particularly dangerous for the already threatened salmon populations that make their home in the Snake River and its tributaries, which have long been blocked by dams.

We are facing an extinction crisis in the Pacific Northwest that tragically extends beyond salmon to one step in the food chain: southern orcas. We must act quickly and boldly to save our salmon and our orcas. Idaho’s US Representative Mike Simpson’s proposal to break the dams to restore salmon populations is right in the opinion of everyone from scientists to Nez Perce elders, whose community has lived and relied on the Snake River for generations .

U.S. sensors Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray should support bold solutions like dismantling the Snake River Dam to save these critical species and give them a chance to fight amid an unfamiliar and rapidly changing climate. You won’t survive many more summers like this one.

Lillie Wright, Seattle, Environment Washington organizer