On Tue, 11 Apr 2000 11:46:35 -0700 Lauren Braden
<LaurenB at seattleaudubon.org> writes:
> Tweeters:
> I thought this would be of interest to you.
<SNIP>
> "Roughly less than 10 percent of salmon and steelhead in the upper
Columbia River are eaten by terns, while up to
>40 percent of the salmon are killed by dams", says Dr. Herbert Curl Jr.,
Science Advisor to Seattle Audubon Society.
<SNIP>

This is the sort of disinformation and distortion of facts that is going
to drive me out of the Audubon Society.

1. What in the world does terns eating salmon on the upper Columbia
River have to do with Caspian Terns nesting on Rice Island which is on
the lower Columbia River? The Caspian Terns nesting on Rice Island, near
Portland, are NOT flying to Kettle Falls to do their foraging.
Furthermore, this colony of Caspian Terns would not exist at this
location if the Corps of Engineers had not creating this island.
Incidently, I wouldn't like to see the Caspian Terns harrassed either,
but I would like to see the Corps uncreate this island for the sake of
the salmon.

2. Recent research has shown that the actual percentage of salmon smolts
killed because of passing through the turbines at the dams is less than
10% AND what you further need to know is that, because of bypass devices
installed at the dams and because of barging, fewer than 10% of the
smolts actually pass through the turbines at all. You do the math any
way you want to, but you can't make it come even close to 40%.

3. If this response violates the new posting rules for the list, then I
apologize herewith, but I didn't start this thread and I find it
impossible to let this pass unchallenged.

Dennis K Rockwell
Local Field Trip Chair
Lower Columbia Basin Audubon Society
Kennewick, Washington
denniskrockwell at juno.com

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