A “tail” of two cities

Rivers that burgeon with sturgeon – and those that don’t

by Dave Gibson

Hydroelectricity provides almost seventy percent of Seattle and Washington State’s power. The cheap clean energy has benefitted millions of people, but has come at great expense to salmon, sturgeon, and the ecosystem that is connected to them. Overfishing since the turn of the 20^th century for the prized fish and dams built on the Columbia and Snake River systems have decimated their numbers from historic levels in the United States. Subsequent fish ladders installed around dams have bolstered salmon numbers, but sturgeon, normally a bottom-dwelling species, continue to struggle; unable to complete their upstream migration from the ocean to freshwater spawning grounds. A considerable portion of white sturgeon is now landlocked with the breeding areas disturbed by fluctuating flows and unnatural water temperatures.