In total, efforts to protect and increase fish 

 and wildlife — both through and outside of 

 the Program — now cost the Pacific Northwest 

 over $300 million each year. About a third of 

 that comes from ratepayers through 

 Bonneville. 



Some 33 state and federal agencies, Indian 

 tribes and fish management organizations, plus 

 several fishing and environmental groups are 

 all working to promote the best way to bring 

 back the numbers of salmon. 



But salmon are not easily managed. Salmon 

 cannot be confined, making it impossible for 

 any one group, state or nation to effectively 

 control the fish. Protecting and allocating sal- 

 mon requires international cooperation. 



Yet it is important to make the effort. There 

 would be tremendous losses, economic as well 

 as social, if we did not rebuild salmon and 

 steelhead runs. 



At the same time, the challenge remains 

 enormously complex. While the aim is lofty 

 and the benefits great, there is still a healthy 

 share of uncertainty. How many fish? What 

 kind? Who pays? How much? Ail are points of 

 legitimate contention. The key is to use dollars 

 wisely as an investment in rebuilding one of 

 the region's most valuable resources. 



The past 100 years of the Columbia River 

 salmon has been a story of decline and despair, 

 punctuated by renewed effort and hope. But 

 the last few years have shown that the region 



July 1987 



can work together toward a long-term benefit 

 for the salmon and for themselves. 



What follows is a comprehensive view of the 

 efforts and money dedicated to bringing back 

 the Columbia's salmon. 



History 



**. . .These Magnificent Hordes 

 Thinned to a Few Stragglers**^ 



The earliest written accounts of salmon and 

 steelhead runs in the Columbia carry a sense of 

 awe at the number and size of fish returning 

 from the sea to their upriver spawning sites. 

 Oldtimers swapped tales of the days they could 

 walk across a river on the backs of migrating 

 fish. 



Indian people living along the rivers were 

 dependent on salmon for their sustenance and 

 way of life. To some, the annually resurrected 

 fish were worshipped as supernatural beings. 



But early settlers saw incredible natural 

 wealth among the apparently self-replenishing 

 stocks. Millions of fish would arrive in the river 

 each season, there for the easy taking. And 

 take them they did. Great fish wheels, like half- 

 submerged Ferris wheels, scooped up more 

 than a million pounds of fish a year by 1906, 

 and 55 canneries operated in Oregon alone. 

 New machinery to vacuum fill and seal cans 



1 Senator Richard L. Neuberger, 1959 



Great fish 

 wheels, like 

 half- 

 submerged 

 Ferris wheels, 

 scooped up 

 more than a 

 million 



pounds of fish 

 a year by 

 1906. 



I ish wheels at 

 Beacon Rock 



(Oregon Historical Society) 



E DUE 



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w^ 



TED IN U S A 



