Thursday, April 23, 2009

Freeing the Elwha. . .could it happen in Otaki?

An April 22, 2009 article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer describes how the Obama administration's stimilus package will speed-up a project to remove two dams on the Elwha River, located on Washington's Olympic Peninsula. The river used to be one of the Pacific-Northwest's most productive salmon rivers, but the dams now block them from all but the river's lower five miles. You can find the original article HERE.

Breaching dams. . .a late modern idea that has taken way too long to put into practice. I've never met a dam I liked, and have a few in particular that I'd like to see come down.

1. Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona, USA

2. Miura Dam in Otaki, Japan

3. Makio Dam in Otaki, Japan

It seems to me that humans are smarter than dam-building. If we can engineer things that are as horribly marvelous as dams, we should be able to think of a better alternative to them in the first place.

Fish numbers apparently continue to drop in Otaki. . .that's the word from fisherman on the ground at least.

In today's Shinano Mainichi Shinbun 信濃毎日新聞--drawings of a plan for a new dam.

Jesus.


Take it away Ed. . .

1 comment:

Chris (i-cjw.com) said...

Hehe - as I was reading this, all I could think was "Cactus Ed would approve". Then I saw your comment at the bottom :-)