The series of concrete dams strung across the upper Skagit River predate the construction of the North Cascades Highway and the establishing of North Cascades National Park.
Their construction — starting in 1917 with Gorge, then Diablo, and finally Ross — also predates the listing of Puget Sound chinook salmon and steelhead trout as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act in 1999 and 2007.
Whether the dams harm those threatened fish is getting ample attention as Seattle City Light, which operates the three-dam Skagit River Hydroelectric Project, seeks a new license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
LINK (via: go skagit)
