The Columbia is a great source of hydroelectric power, hosting the Bonneville? and [Grand Coulee]? dams, among others. These dams, like so many others in the world, came with a price: At one time the river was thick with salmon?, and the presence of the dams has been one factor in the reduction of populations of this fish. Fish ladders have been installed to help mitigate the harm to this fish, but there is still much discussion of breeching some of the dams along the river in order to help the salmon runs return. Other benefits the dams provide besides power include navigation and flood control, two areas that the first settlers to the Northwest were forced to grapple with many times.
In addition the dams provide water for the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project, one of the most extensive irrigation projects in the western United States. The project provides water to over half a million acres of fertile but arid lands in Central Washington state. Water from the project has transformed the region from a wasteland barely able to produce subsistance levels of dry-land wheat crops to a major agricultural center. Important crops include apples, potatoes, alfalfa, wheat, corn, barley, hops, beans, and sugar beats.
Hydroelectric Dams on the Columbia River
Some of the tributaries of the Columbia include the Willamette?, Snake, and [John Day]?.
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