My Dam Manifesto

“My Dam Manifesto”

“ Pave paradise to put up a parking lot”- Joni Mitchel

    Catchy titles, quotes from a popular song, maybe a good old fashioned dog-and-pony show would get the word out.  Many don’t realize the implications of what’s happening in the Susitna valley these days.   The Alaska Energy Authority is pushing hard to build a 735 foot tall Dam on the largest wild salmon producing river in Cook Inlet.  Brace yourself-the Susitna dam project is rearing its ugly head again.  

        After Pebble, the Susitna-Watana dam project is the second mega-project proposed in recent years that would dramatically alter the headwaters of a thriving salmon river.  What’s next a dam on the upper Russian River?

    If you are one of the 30,993 sportfisherman that fished in the Susitna river drainage in 2012, as reported by ADF& G  in their annual sport fish survey, then your way of life, like mine has been backed into a corner.

      I too have a vested interest in the vitality of the Susitna River.  My family and I own and operate a small setnet operation near the mouth of the Susitna in Northern Cook Inlet.  Our multi-generational fish camp has been rolling for the last 32 years.    Setnet fishing for us is as regular as breathing.  Each summer we return and quickly fall into all the usual rhythms of fish camp hoping to feel the pulse of the salmon once again as they push into the mouth of the river.  It makes for a busy summer wrangling nets at fish camp all-the-while direct marketing our catch to local consumers here in the Matsu.  

    During the season, setnet fishing sites dot the shoreline from the mouth of the Susitna on down the beach where commercial fishing families like ours contribute to Alaska’s robust fishing economy by delivering coveted wild Alaskan salmon to markets here in Alaska and beyond.  Each year the salmon return in force....for now.

    Despite all the calm words of reassurance by the State, I have a hard time ignoring what has happened to every other salmon producing river that has been dammed.  You don’t have to delve too far in research to realize that there is overwhelming evidence that dams kill salmon.  Currently there is no shining example of a dammed river in the world that has sustained its native salmon population. Zero.  A smattering of repopulation efforts riddled with problematic infusions of hatchery replacements is all you get.   

  

    In the lower 48 there is a long and sad legacy of impacts from dams such as the one proposed for the Susitna, where salmon and fishermen were traded for hydropower. Dan Beard former Commissioner of the Borough of Reclamation contends that restoring the Columbia basin salmon fishery - where salmon runs are on the brink of extinction - or even restoring it somewhat represents "the most complex natural resources problem in America today. Nothing else approaches it." The challenge of restoring fisheries after dams is costing billions of dollars for lower 48 states and even with bolstering from hatcheries -is being met with little success.  

     

       The Alaska Energy Authority wants this dam to happen so bad they can taste it,  and they're not afraid to spend your taxpayer money to do it- to the tune of 95 million dollars, this year alone.  The flurry of helicopter and boat traffic up and down the Susitna basin this season has been non-stop. All summer long, boats and helicopters have burned thousands of gallons of gas and spent millions of dollars shuttling over 200 scientists and gear up and down the river.

    Scientists doing studies is good, right?  During the short window of time allotted for the study thus far, there have been two separate fifty year weather events.   The fall-time flood of 2012 followed by the late spring flood of 2013 are hardly representative of typical river conditions.  Among other things they are counting juvenile salmon.

    “Watson, there are no fish.”

    “Duh, it’s flooding Sherlock. Where’s my life jacket?”   

    The scary part is that a decision is to be made whether to build the dam from these very findings in this quick two year snapshot.  How can this flash-in-the-pan data be reliable? This fast-tracking of what would be the largest publically funded project in Alaska is irresponsible and short-sighted.  At this point I wonder if they are still trying to figure out how to preserve the salmon or are they just willing to mitigate the damage on the back-end like what’s happened on the Columbia.  What a shame.  What a sham.  

      

      On their website, the energy authority folks are quick to point out that not many salmon come that far up past the turbulent waters of Devil’s Canyon.  What isn’t mentioned is that the dam would radically change the natural flow of the river year round. Flow-rate in the winter could be as much as 10 times greater than normal, harming incubating eggs and juvenile salmon that overwinter in the Su.  In the dark, cold months of winter when energy needs along the railbelt are at a peak, and the river is normally at its lowest,  the dam would respond in-kind by opening the floodgates literally to match demand.  Good for Railbelt power consumers, bad for little fish.

    

    I wonder how many more setnet seasons we have left.  Will my son and daughter be able to continue this family tradition? What about their children, will they even know what a setnet is?  If history is any indication, the outlook is bleak.  

  This isn’t just an issue for the locals, it’s an issue that affects us all and threatens our way of life.  Our identity as Alaskans has long been rooted in the rugged wild lands and the abundance of our most precious of natural resources- our fish and wildlife.   It’s this identity that highlight the reasons why many of us choose to live here, instead of elsewhere where development goes unchecked and you can see the next Starbucks from the window of the one you’re sitting in.

       What ever happened to the idea of wanting better for our children?  Are we really so short-sighted as to consider risking the future of a thriving salmon population that has existed for thousands of years for a mere 100 years of electricity?  I find it hard to believe that this is as clever as we can be with the estimated 5.19 billion dollars (cost of the dam) of public funds to solve our energy needs.   If we are so easily willing to trade one resource for another I wonder where will it end?  Pave paradise to put up a parking lot.