Condit Dam on the White Salmon River in Washington State.
In 1999, Pacific Power, environmental groups and the Yakama Nation reached a landmark agreement to remove the Condit Dam on the White Salmon River.
More than a decade later, the dam is still there.
The delays are frustrating the Gifford Pinchot Task Force, which recently warned members that time is running out if the dam is going to be removed this year.
And here’s what it says you can do to help.
Just across the border, the Gifford Pinchot Task Force is fighting plans to thin about 2800 acres of national forest in Southwest Washington.
Forest thinning projects aren’t always controversial. But the GP Task Force is opposing this one because it’s in a remote area that requires the building of 11 miles of new roads and more than a dozen new stream crossings. The group says this will lead to erosion, landslides and “destruction of fish habitat in nearby streams.” This includes habitat of the Bull Trout, listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
The plan is known as the Wildcat Thin Timber sale. The area was clear cut in the 1960s and 1970s, then replanted. Since then, the Gifford Pinchot National Forest says the area has become overgrown and trees are dying from too much competition or suffering from stunted growth.
The U.S. Forest Service approved the plan in August. But the GP Task Force has filed an appeal, hoping to convince the agency to make it less damaging to fish and wildlife. The group notes that this is the first time in seven years that it has opposed a timber sale in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
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