An Open Letter to Senator Lisa Murkowski: Orcas, King Salmon and the Four Lower Snake River Dams

The Honorable Lisa Murkowski
United States Senate
522 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Re: Orcas, King Salmon and the Four Lower Snake River Dams

Dear Senator Murkowski:

WC acknowledges that, after some 61 years in Bethel and Fairbanks, he is no longer a resident of Alaska. But there’s an important issue in Idaho, WC’s adopted state, that is an equally important issue in Alaska. WC is writing to ask for your support for Rep. Mike Simpson’s (R, Idaho) proposal to remove the four Lower Snake River Dams. It’s a solution to a critical Alaska problem as well.

As you know, the U.S. District Court had enjoined trolling for King Salmon in Southeast Alaska. The Pacific Northwest orca population, in steep decline, depends on King Salmon as a prey species. The decline in King Salmon populations, on the available…