Elk Creek Dam proposal would hurt fragile runs.

Byline: GLEN SPAIN For The Register-Guard

IN TODAY'S WORLD of shrinking budgets, struggling salmon runs and a slowing economy, most Oregonians would agree we shouldn't spend money on things we don't need. This is particularly true for schemes that could end up harming Oregon's commercial and recreational fishing industries, along with the state's fragile salmon runs. But unfortunately, when it comes to the future of Elk Creek Dam, common sense often seems to fly out the window.

Though construction of the dam on Elk Creek, a key salmon spawning tributary of the Rogue River, was abandoned in 1987, every few years new schemes surface to sink more money into this failed project. The latest is a proposal in Congress to establish a program to trap salmon at the base of the dam and drive them around it in trucks - and to continue doing this permanently - while sticking American taxpayers with the bill.

This absurd "trap and haul" plan would block a cheaper, more effective alternative: cutting a notch in the unfinished dam and allowing the fish to swim past it on their own.

The National Marine Fisheries Service, the federal agency in charge of protecting America's threatened salmon runs, has said this salmon trucking scheme will likely violate the Endangered Species Act, which means it could end up generating more conflict and lawsuits. According to the agency, the only possible way to bring Elk Creek Dam into compliance with the ESA is to notch it.

The salmon trucking scheme would also perpetuate the decline of Rogue River salmon and steelhead runs, on which the jobs of thousands of Oregonians in our commercial and recreational fishing industries depend.

Does this sound like a bargain? It's just the latest in a long series of absurd Elk Creek Dam proposals.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, an agency not known for its reluctance to build dams, never had very much enthusiasm for the Elk Creek project. The corps opposed the dam's construction because it doesn't make economic sense. The corps has pointed out that if it were required to complete the project, the agency would not operate the dam to store water because it has no customers who need the water. The dam was never designed to generate any electricity, and the Rogue River valley has gotten along quite well without the marginal flood control benefits it might provide.

But the punch line in the ongoing Elk Creek Dam drama is how little American taxpayers have to show for the tens of millions of dollars that have been squandered on it.

According to a report by the General Accounting Office, the benefits of the project were overstated from the start. The GAO noted that if taxpayers are forced to foot the bill for completing the dam, we can expect a return of about 20 cents for every dollar spent. When it comes to Elk Creek Dam, American taxpayers have a lot in common with Enron shareholders - cooked books lie behind both investments.

Rogue River fishermen have long joked that Elk Creek Dam's sole purpose is to kill salmon. If dam advocates have their way, they may have found another purpose - a giant drain down which to pour more federal tax dollars.

A House Appropriations Committee, at the urging of Oregon Rep. Greg Walden, recently attached a rider to a bill blocking the Corps of Engineers from notching Elk Creek Dam. Should this pass the full House, it will be up to Oregon Sens. Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden to see that this rider is defeated, and that this incredibly important tributary is instead restored to preserve the Rogue River's salmon and steelhead trout.

Congress should reject further Elk Creek shenanigans. Funding has already been set aside for the cheaper, more effective solution to the dam's salmon woes - notching it so that fish can swim past on their own. We just can't afford to squander more money, and salmon, on absurd Elk Creek Dam schemes.

Glen Spain of Eugene is Northwest regional director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations. He prepared this column jointly with Bob Hunter of Medford, Southern Oregon staff attorney for WaterWatch of Oregon; Regna Merritt of Portland, executive director of the Oregon Natural Resources Council, and Bill Rittenhouse of Medford, president of the Rogue Flyfishers.