The Columbia River is the fourth largest river by volume in North America, draining an area the size of France (670,000 square kilometers). There are 14 dams on the main stem of the Columbia River and more than 450 dams throughout the entire Columbia Basin. The dams on the Columbia River and its tributaries produce half of the electricity used in the Pacific Northwest. These dams have completely altered river habitat and significantly changed the river’s flow, water quality, and Pacific salmon spawning runs along with the survival of out-migrating smolts. By discharge, the Sacramento River is the second largest river on the west coast of the contiguous United States, after only the Columbia River, which has almost seven times the flow [...]