Name______Date ______Class______
Earth:TheWaterPlanet ■ Enrich
The Columbia River Debate
The Columbia River is the fourth largest river in North America. Its watershed includes seven northwestern states and two Canadian provinces. The Columbia River system is important to both the people and wildlife of the area, but sometimes their needs conflict. Government officials are now trying to decide how to balance the needs of humans and wildlife.
People need the Columbia River system. There are more than 100 dams along the Columbia and its tributaries. These dams help control flooding and create reservoirs that are used for swimming, boating, fishing, and other activities. Many of the dams generate inexpensive electric power for homes and businesses. This inexpensive power has encouraged the growth of industry in the area. The dams provide irrigation water that has turned arid land into productive farmland. The Columbia River also supplies water for cities and industries. In addition, the river system is used for shipping and for commercial salmon fishing, a $2 billion industry in the Northwest.
Salmon need the Columbia River system. Salmon reproduce in the Columbia’s headwaters. The young fish, called smolts, swim downriver to the Pacific Ocean, where they grow to adulthood. The adults return to their birth-streams to reproduce and die. The river system’s dams act as barriers to migrating smolts and adult salmon, since the fish cannot swim over or around them. Along some dams, people have built fish ladders so adult salmon can bypass the dams as they migrate upstream. Fish ladders are a series of steps in the water that allow fish to make several small jumps to get over the dam. But fish ladders do not help the smolts migrating downstream. They become stranded in lakes behind dams, are eaten by predators in the lakes, or are killed by the dams’ turbines. Of every five smolts that start the downstream trip, only one reaches the ocean.
Choose one of the following viewpoints or another viewpoint of your own. On a separate sheet of paper, write a persuasive argument to support your viewpoint.
A.The Columbia River system is a valuable resource that should be used
to meet the needs of people.
B.The Columbia River system should be returned to its natural state so
it can serve the needs of salmon and other wildlife.
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