How we pushed the Columbia, the Northwest’s great river, to its limits

...We’ve hammered the habitat. Overfished the salmon. Mismanaged hatcheries. And most of all, harnessed the immense power of this river, turning its cold, fast waters to miles of warm, slackwater reservoirs...The Columbia is not just one story. But there are trends, and with around 150 hydroelectric dams, the basin today in many places is hostile to native species. People since the settlers’ arrival extensively dammed the Columbia and its tributaries, including its largest, the Snake, and exploited its fisheries, promising we could have it all. Abundant salmon and cheap hydropower, slackwater navigation from the Pacific Ocean all the way to...