Idaho
Renewing a Sanctuary for Salmon and People
STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
Greg McReynolds stood before the Sun Valley Forum and took his audience on a journey that began–not with dams or politics–but with volcanoes.
“The Idaho that you see is a marvel, but it wasn’t always like this,” said McReynolds, executive director of Idaho Rivers United.
Travel east from Sun Valley and you’ll hit Craters of the Moon, he explained. It’s only about 20,000 years old, and it reveals the bones of Idaho — a massive field of basalt, the leavings of ancient volcanoes and a magma sea where molten rock scratched a barren scar across the West from the Sierras to the Rockies.
|
The Shoshone-Bannock still use traditional spears and other tools to fish near the present-day site of the Sawtooth Fish Hatchery. |
Then came salmon.
The nitrogen and carbon that built the forests surrounding the Wood River Valley came from salmon, McReynolds told the audience. Salmon that swam from Idaho to the Pacific Ocean where they gained strength and weight, then came home.
Millions of salmon for millions of years–so vast in number that their nutrients reside in every tree, every blade of grass, every insect, every animal — and even in those who now call Idaho home.
McReynolds, who grew up in Pocatello and spent a decade with Trout Unlimited, painted a picture of a species that has survived drought and flood, four glacial cycles and a time when the ocean was 100 meters lower than current sea level.
These two attendees are celebrating Idaho salmon, which swim 900 miles, climbing 6,500 feet over eight dams and through eight reservoirs, to return to Idaho from the Pacific Ocean. |
Just north of Sun Valley, over Galena Summit, lies the headwaters of the Salmon River — the top end of the last best salmon habitat left in the Lower 48.
Scientists estimate that upwards of 16 million salmon used to swim up the Columbia River, and more than half returned to natal waters in the Snake Basin. Now, only a handful make it home each year.
“If you were to be there in August or September, a single redd would stand out like a beacon in the river,” McReynolds said. “You might see a massive female fanning the gravel into a nest for her eggs. You might stand in the willows and watch, lost in the thought of her incredible journey.”
The story of why so few wild fish remain is simple, he said. Four dams along the Lower Snake River in eastern Washington create a 140-mile chain of slack water. They allow fish passage, but they are particularly deadly to young salmon migrating downstream. The dams provide barging and some electricity, but they are driving the most important salmon run in the contiguous United States to extinction.
|
In 1934, Idaho Fish and Game blew up the Sunbeam Dam east of Stanley to allow fish passage after the dam’s fish ladders fell into disrepair. |
McReynolds took his audience back to March 1945. American troops were still fighting in Europe and the Pacific, but the war’s end was in sight and Congress was starting to think about what came next.
Before the war, unemployment had topped 20 percent. The American war machine had built millions of tanks, guns, planes and ships but almost nothing for domestic use. With 7 million service members about to come home looking for work, Congress passed the Rivers and Harbors Act, authorizing construction of those four lower dams to create a chain of flat water extending 450 miles from the Columbia River to Lewiston, Id.
“The legislation aimed to create an inland port and generate electricity. But, in truth, the goal was not dams or electricity or ports,” McReynolds said. “The goal was jobs and progress.”
In 1945, less than half the homes west of the Mississippi had a telephone. In the Pacific Northwest, many rural areas were still using oil lamps. Many roads were still dirt.
|
Fish can be seen in the Upper Salmon River as it runs near Stanley, but the prized red kokanee salmon are few and far between. |
The project, authorized in 1945 and completed in 1975, was built by men and women who were incredibly proud of their work, McReynolds said.
“They were not content to pass off oil lamps and dirt roads to their children and grandchildren,” he said. “They electrified the Northwest. They did not accept the status quo and they changed the world in ways that were wonderful and terrible.”
They brought jobs and power and an inland port. But wild salmon began a downward trajectory.
In the 50 years since completion of the Lower Snake dams, McReynolds said, Americans have continually lowered their expectations year by year, decade by decade, generation by generation until today, when catching a single wild steelhead or seeing a single wild Chinook spawning in the headwaters of the Salmon River bowls us over.
Wild salmon and steelhead have declined by 90 percent since the dams were completed. Snake River populations have continued to plummet despite $25 billion spent in mitigation by electric ratepayers.
“I’m going to say it again because it’s a big number,” McReynolds said. “Twenty-five billion dollars. And wild fish are still on a downward trajectory.”
Extinction has already claimed several populations and is assuredly coming for the remaining wild Snake River stocks, he said.
Congressionally authorized treaties of 1855 that guaranteed salmon to tribes are being violated, McReynolds said. Communities like Riggins and Salmon, Idaho, that once had thriving economies based around robust salmon returns are now a mere shadow of their potential.
A report from Headwaters Economics released earlier in the week showed that the economies of Lewiston and Clarkston, the inland port cities at the heart of the hydro system, are lagging behind the rest of the region. The industries most closely associated with the dams — shipping and agriculture — are declining, while those not reliant on the status quo are growing.
Meanwhile, the electricity from the dams is decreasing in volume and reliability. Long-term drought and needed flows for salmon mitigation are driving down power output. Over the last few years, the dams have averaged less than 700 megawatts of electrical output — less than a medium-sized solar facility, barely enough to run a large data center.
“In 1945, the Army Corps and Bonneville Power said they could overcome the impacts on salmon with hatcheries,” he said. “But in reality, the salmon were sacrificed for economic progress. And 90 years on, we can see that not only did we sacrifice salmon, but the economic boom didn’t last either.”
Idaho Rivers United and its partners are committed to not only removing the dams but replacing them with better, more modern solutions, he said.
“The Snake Basin isn’t just a salmon sanctuary,” he said. “It’s a people sanctuary too.”
McReynolds pointed to a proposal put forward by Republican Congressman Mike Simpson of Idaho, who envisioned a grand bargain: Dam removal paired with massive regional investment. Simpson proposed $150 million for waterfront redevelopment in Lewiston, $14 billion for power replacement, $2 billion for transmission upgrades, $1.2 billion for clean water and $4 billion for farmers’ transportation.
“These are the kinds of investments that changed the world 90 years ago,” McReynolds said.
Since the construction of the Lower Snake dams, McReynolds noted, we’ve put a man on the moon, mapped the human genome and witnessed the birth of the internet and artificial intelligence. The world is fundamentally changed.
“The Lower Four are an anchor holding us back,” McReynolds said. “The future is abundant electricity. The future is new modes of transportation. It is creating the kind of jobs that can’t be outsourced or done with AI. The future is once again investing in the infrastructure of tomorrow. And it is abundant salmon in Idaho.”
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) – A controversy is brewing as the City of Idaho Falls reviews its alcohol ordinance.
The goal is to consolidate four existing ordinances for beer, wine and liquor into a single law and ensure compliance with state code.
However, at its meeting last Thursday, the Idaho Falls City Council unanimously voted to remove the proposed ordinance from its agenda, in order to receive and consider additional public comment.
The proposed ordinance would:
1. Require commercial establishments selling, dispensing or permitting consumption of alcohol – including beer, wine or liquor – to have an alcohol license, alcohol catering permit or a charitable event permit.
2. Business events with 20 or less employees consuming alcohol at the business would be allowed.
3. Require alcohol servers to complete training every three years.
4. Individuals who violate the law could be charged with a misdemeanor.
Idaho Falls City Council President Jim Francis said the changes were the culmination of months of collaboration between law enforcement, business owners and city attorneys.
“We wanted to provide a safe environment – the primary point here – for public gatherings,” Francis said. “We recognize that certain antiquated elements of the current code are overly restrictive and needed to be addressed. We wanted to make the code more accessible to the public. We needed to address over-pouring issues. We wanted to reduce penalties where possible for violations, particularly the first offenses, and yet make the code clear enough to be enforceable consistently by law enforcement.”
But City Council Member John Radford said the changes represent an overreach by city government.
“I believe it’s a bad policy. What problem are we solving in the name of trying to solve a non-problem?” Radford said. “We’re becoming big brother around alcohol in your private property. I’m concerned that landlords will be at risk of being charged with a misdemeanor if they knowingly, which I made sure that was in there, because that is what we’ve been talking about, allowed people to drink in our business. We will be outside the norm of Idaho cities. This is a big step, and I don’t think the public has weighed in on this.”
At a City Council Work Session on June 1, Idaho Falls Chief of Police Bryce Johnson cited an increase in alcohol-related crime – particularly downtown – as a reason for the changes.
“DUI is there, but this would include sexual assaults, assaults, batteries, disturbances, urination, public vandalism, shooting – all sorts of crimes,” Johnson said.
But business owners are concerned about the potential impact on commercial enterprises.
“The ordinance doesn’t address the real problem – which is people drinking … at one event and then showing up in a bar or restaurant already hammered and causing problems anyway,” ” said Terri Ireland, representing the Idaho Falls Downtown Merchants Association. “The industry is really well-regulated by state and local laws already.”
The City of Idaho Falls began the process of updating its alcohol ordinance in January 2026, seeking input from community stakeholders.
Multiple community members spoke out about the ordinance.
For more in-depth information, you can read the full 39-page proposed alcohol ordinance here.
BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — A simmering dispute between Idaho’s top elections official and the U.S. Department of Justice escalated this month after federal officials warned Secretary of State Phil McGrane about possible prosecution tied to non-citizens voting in Idaho.
The Justice Department sent a letter earlier this month threatening McGrane with prosecution. The warning came amid a broader conflict between the Trump administration and McGrane, whom the administration has sued over his refusal to provide unredacted voter rolls to the federal government.
Idaho’s chief of civil litigation, James Craig, responded on July 10. In a letter first reported by the Idaho Statesman, Craig pushed back on the federal warning, writing, “Insinuations of criminal violations of the federal election laws are not well taken,” and asking the department to “stop threatening your friends in Idaho.”
Craig also requested that the lawsuit against McGrane be dismissed and criticized the Justice Department for sending its letter directly to McGrane rather than to the Idaho attorney general’s office.
The attorney general’s office said the state has already referred 15 cases of possible non-citizen election violations to the Justice Department but is not aware of any of them being prosecuted. Craig’s letter ends by asking the department to do so.
The Idaho Legislature won’t eliminate property tax next year. My bold prediction. There will be a few bills introduced, a lot of chatter on talk radio and online, and then action will be kicked down the road. If it looks like a winner in the 2028 Election, it’ll sail through in session a few weeks before the 2028 Primary. Wet an index finger and raise it in the air. Then vote.
As an old Libertarian (with a capital L), I’m familiar with the basic argument. If you own it, why do you have to pay rent? The answer always comes back to, “It’s the best system we have to fund local governments”. Forms have been in place since colonial times, even if scattered geographically. The idea gained steam in the years after the Civil War when a handful of economists blamed property ownership for growing poverty in cities. Property accrued value as space became a premium. So-called reformers believed the tax would balance economic inequality, and appealed to noblesse oblige.
Your Taxes Get Sprinkled Like a Good Rain
I live in Twin Falls County, where we have 78 taxing districts that rely on the current system. If you ask what can replace it, you’re called a Republican in name only (RINO) by compatriots. Obviously, not everything funded by the tax is a waste. First responders and snow plows come to mind. It makes me think of the calls to gut the federal government, but while maintaining Social Security and Medicare. The former makes up nearly a quarter of the budget. Medicare is only 14 percent, but additional health spending brings the tab to another quarter. Historian Niall Ferguson grew up in Scotland, and he summed up Great Britain a couple of weeks ago. People want more, not less, welfare spending. Are we different?
Before anyone in Boise wipes out property tax, legislators need to consider what voters want to stay, and how to fund it otherwise. If they don’t, they’ll see a backlash at the ballot box. Just because I say I want taxes reduced, I didn’t mean the programs that benefit me! The answer won’t be available over 90 days next year.
More than 20 years ago I hosted a weeklong series on tax alternatives. Among the proposals we examined were Flat Tax, Fair Tax, and Automated Payments Tax. People are most familiar with the first. Everyone pays a flat percentage. Say 12 to 15 percent. Of income, I guess. Of course, we need to define income. Professor Gad Saad is leaving Canada for a job in the United States and has to pay an exit tax based on his estimated assets. Estimated is the dirty word! That’s left to bureaucrats.
This Requires Study and Gaming Outcomes
Go ahead and adopt the flat tax, and please the conservatives, however. Many people, even on the right, have paid very little when it comes to present income confiscation. See how they react when they get a wake-up call. The Fair Tax is a national sales tax of 23 percent. Or it was the percentage proposed 20 years ago. That sounds large, but when you consider your overall tax burden right now, if it replaced what currently exists, you would be better off. This isn’t to say that local governments wouldn’t institute their own taxes. If you live in a blue state or city, that’s a given. Proponents argue that citizens have the option of not paying taxes if they choose not to buy. Obviously, you need to buy some things, unless you’re destitute and living exclusively on handouts.
Automated Payments Tax (APT) is a 1 percent charge on every transaction. A company buys steel to build trucks; it pays 1 percent on the steel. And on every other purchase. The dealer buys the truck for his lot and pays one percent. You buy from the dealer and pay one percent. An economist at the University of Indiana told me it would cover the federal budget. We had that conversation in 2005, when the national debt wasn’t even a quarter of what we see today. None of these plans address the debt, but if state and local governments are creative, maybe we can find something that replaces property taxes.
What we’ll get is a commission from the politically connected who’ll meet once a month for bagels and orange juice. In three years, they’ll provide a solution that works best for them.
Highest Gas Taxes By State in the U.S.
Here are the top 10 states for gas taxes.
-
Videos30 minutes agoNew explosions near Iranian port cities, says state media | BBC News
-
Los Angeles, Ca31 minutes agoBig rig crash spills cinder blocks on 101 Freeway; lanes blocked in Tarzana
-
Detroit, MI55 minutes agoHow to watch ‘The Odyssey’ in IMAX, 70mm and more in metro Detroit
-
San Francisco, CA1 hour agoSold-Out SF Marathon 2026: The Races, Routes and Road Closures (Plus How to Watch It All) | KQED
-
Dallas, TX1 hour agoTop 10 Dallas Cowboys of 2026: Rashan Gary is Complete EDGE Dallas Needed
-
Miami, FL1 hour agoGirl, 12, shot while sitting in parked car in northwest Miami-Dade, deputies say
-
Boston, MA1 hour agoGBH Daily: Come sail away
-
Denver, CO2 hours agoNew ice cream shop with a ‘waffle theater’ bets big on downtown Denver
