Rivers Reborn · Episode 9 of 12 · 42 min
The Turn: How Dam Removal Became Possible
For most of a century taking a dam down was unthinkable, then four forces converged: the 1974 Boldt decision giving treaty tribes up to half the harvestable salmon, the Endangered Species Act, aging-dam economics, and the 1999 breaching of Maine's Edwards Dam, the first federal order to remove a hydroelectric dam against its owner's wishes. The East that killed its salmon first showed how to bring them back.
Who's who
- Billy Frank Jr.Nisqually fisherman and activist who led the fish-ins
- George Hugo BoldtFederal judge who wrote the 1974 treaty fishing opinion
Where it happens
- Nisqually River, WashingtonWhere Frank was first arrested for fishing in 1945
- Edwards Dam, MaineFirst licensed hydro dam ordered removed over its owner's objection
Timeline
- 1945Billy Frank Jr. is arrested for the first time for fishing on the Nisqually.
- December 28, 1973Endangered Species Act is signed into law.
- February 12, 1974Boldt rules the treaties reserve up to half the harvestable salmon.
- July 2, 1979Supreme Court largely upholds Boldt.
- November 1991Snake River sockeye become the first Columbia Basin salmon listed.
- November 25, 1997FERC denies relicensing and orders Edwards Dam removed.
Still debated
Historians weigh the four forces differently, crediting the Endangered Species Act, tribal treaty standing or relicensing economics. Edwards is not the first dam ever removed; it was the first federal order to remove an operating licensed dam over the owner's objection on environmental grounds.