The Return of Celilo Falls
A Simple Vision
Celilo Falls
can be returned into physical existence.
There is every moral, ecological and ultimately economic imperitive to
do so. It is our position that the construction of the Dalles Dam was a self
admitted genocidal act – and that the removal of the dam and return of the
falls is a first step in healing what has been an ongoing wounding to the life
of: the elder peoples of the Columbia; all those living in the Columbia River
Watershed; and all beings communicated with through watersheds, oceans and
atmospheres adjacent to the Columbia River Watershed.
Here are a few ideas toward a vision that meets each of these
challenges in a generative way. Two
helpful directions of perspective to explore in meeting the loss of the Dalles
Dam as a source of power are: 1) assessing the true costs of the existence of
the dam in making a full cost/benefit analysis and 2) generating alternative
means of power supply which enhance repair of the damage created by the
existing dam system.
The biggest sources of
resistance to such a change at this time might be: 1) current reliance on the
electrical power supply which comes from the Dalles Dam, 2) the impediment of
commercial barge traffic on the Columbia River which makes use of the locks at
the Dalles Dam and the relatively smooth waters of Lake Celilo, and finally 3)
the costs – financial, psychological and social in undertaking such significant
change. It is our belief that each one of these challenges can be met in ways
that in the long run will generate far more benefits than liabilities.
While this papers scope will
not include a fully detailed cost/benefit analysis of the Dalles Dams
existence, it is important to outline what may not be apparent on first
consideration. The Dam exists within a
regional system of development, which has affected waterways and fundamental
ecological health in many ways. Other
primary forces affecting waterways have included the impacts of road building,
forestry, agriculture, industrial development, mining, hatchery fisheries etc.
A systematic and dramatic destruction of key factors in the integrity and
resilience of the ecosystems in the Columbia River Watershed has taken place at
an accelerating rate over the last century. According to the BPA’s own
assessments almost half of documented streambeds have dried up over the short
history of such record keeping. A
process of desertification is occurring within the Pacific Northwest.
A secondary impact of a
combined loss of water quality, together with the loss of water itself, has
been the destruction of what were once unbelievably rich salmon runs. The loss of water quality and salmon both exacerbate
the weakening of regional ecological integrity and resilience in profound ways.
In interviews of gray haired elders up and down the Columbia River I have been
told stories, over and over, of how in the small streams the salmon would run
so thick that one could literally cross a stream on their backs without getting
ones feet wet. Today many of the streams the elders played in as children no
longer exist let alone host salmon runs. The biomass of such Salmon spawning
and then dying and then being eaten represents a tremendous importation of
nutrients from the Pacific Ocean that travels up and through the entire region.
The weakening of this cycle represents a region wide break down of significant
nutrient cycling.
It is not news that dams have
been key players in the destruction of the quality of environmental health in
the PNW. The Dalles Dam is no
exception. It is common for migratory/colonial cultural values that lack a
history in a landscape to misunderstand present ecological wealth and to impact
a landscape through development in extremely destructive ways. The Dam system is such an endeavor. A
systems approach to viewing the marriage of human development with the
integrity of indigenous ecological processes can show the way to our most
beautiful and generative future. Ecological structure is the “capital” of the
life process on the planet earth. The
Dam system is one that has been wastefully spending the “capital” of life
processes on the planet. This is
robbery from the future generations and as such is both economically and
morally unreasonable.
The costs of the Dalles
Dam extend beyond the ecological and economic dimensions. The process through which the dam came into
existence can only be viewed today as one of betrayal and genocide. All created beings have an implicit right to
existence and access to the life flows that nourish such existence. Native Americans have always understood this
fundamental relationship between dignity and the Creation. They are the only
citizens within the United States who have never ceded this fundamental right
in the relationship between individuals and the Creation. International law
gives all indigenous peoples native title to land historically occupied unless
ceded through formal legal agreement.
All Native treaty agreements with the United States have preserved the
rights of native people to be nourished directly through the earth in their
traditional time tested ways. Under the threat of complete annihilation they
were systematically forced to reside on reservations but in all cases have kept
the right to access the bounty of the creation in their traditional ways. The
construction of the Dalles Dam was opposed by all Native Nations affected and
by the United State Bureau of Indian Affairs because of the destruction it
would and has created. The radioactive
and agrochemical contamination of the waters of the Columbia have rendered what
up until this generation was sacred blessing into a source of illness and
death. The destruction of life systems is an act of ongoing war against a way
of life in balance with the generative processes of life. All US citizens are
inheritors of the short term benefits of these deeds – we are also the
inheritors of unconscieable dishonesty, betrayal, and wounding. There is a
kinesiological health effect of inheriting such a legacy that drains the
spiritual and physical vitality of people.
Unless we face our truths directly and accept them, we lose energy to
deception denial and avoidance.
Avoidance of facing these truths is costing us the fullness of our
creative vitality as beings that share this world together.
Turbulent wild waters
provide life giving qualities and free passage and communication of life forms
essential to the highest levels of vitality in a landscape. We all know from experience that stagnation
develops congestions and illness. The
combinations of location and the turbulent life giving qualities of the water
passing through the falls, together with the juncture with salmon, is a part of
what has made Celilo the central cultural nexus for the PNW from time
immemorial. In order to restore the River to its free and wild condition of
health, it will most likely be politically necessary to transition in a way
that continues using the River for power generation and transportation. Power generation has been developed using a
paradigm centered on centralization of source power. A huge portion of power generated is actually lost in resistance
in transmission lines. Decentralization
of source power ultimately creates a system that is more efficient and is more
stable as there are not such dramatic effects when maintenance or failures
occur. Micro power generators can be
operated in rivers without the need to damn the entire rivers flow. Wind and
solar power are equally effective sources of power that do have environmental
impacts in sourcing and manufacture but have minimal impacts upon operation.
Commitments to conservation through design will allow continued benefits of
power with less actual consumption.
These are all directions of development, which are necessary in order to
decrease the US share of greenhouse gases. Ultimately, ecologically respectful
systems decrease costs and increase performance through efficiency of design.
The second issue likely to
develop resistance around dam removal is transportation. The river barge system is the most
economical way to transport industrial goods across the Cascades to the Basin
at this time. The river was made navigable without destroying the falls in 1910
when a canal was built to circumvent the falls. This was in use up until the dam construction when it was filled
in and flooded. Such a canal could be reconstructed allowing the river to
continue serving as a transportation route without requiring the continued
destruction of the falls.
Now is always the time we
have. The world is healthier and more beautiful with Celilo Falls. It is only a matter of time before she
returns. Let us begin now. The restoration of Celilo Falls is a practical as
well as symbolic reorientation in the ways we relate our moral, social, and
economical lives, with the ecological context, of our shared existence. Please
join us in taking action to cocreate our most beautiful, righteous and abundant
of futures.
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