From Jack Trout, who as far as I know is a highly credible and respected expert on fishing in the Mt. Shasta area. He's talking about this issue in the context of a similar issue in Chile.
http://www...g=bollibokka-information
Take it from us here in the USA, 50 years after the dams were put in, the consensus is dams can be helpful and harmful. If I were in the shoes of any interested Chilean, I would thoroughly consider development of wind and solar power as they are existing natural resources in the north. In the long run, it makes more sense. Dams will cause the demise of salmon runs, cuisine, farming and sales if not stopped now. Consider the alternatives and look beyond your country and see what other countries have learned, don’t make the same mistakes we have. The Westland’s Water District and their Arch Evil Commander Tom Birmingham, head of the richest water district in the world is a pure demonstration of what water profiteers can do the State of California. This guy and their associations with anyone who supports their efforts are aiding the “Chevron of Fly Fishing”.
So be careful Chile, and consider your options, a loss of salmon could be very crucial in the future. Likewise Californians have tough environmental issues to consider and possibly a soul searching quest about where ones heart really lies. I left the Bollibokka on the McCloud River when I was faced with doing business with Westland’s Water District and Tom Birmingham. See I know the whole story, Tom Birmingham never fly fished when he first met me, I took him out on his first trip on the Bollibokka and all he talked about was how the Westland’s owned the rights to the water on the McCloud River. When I caught wind about them secretly purchasing the Bollibokka Club I contacted the San Francisco Chronicle and the story made the front page. I felt I had a duty to every Californian that they should know what was going to happen to California rivers and in particularly the McCloud River. I walked from $50,000 gross a year selling days and weeks at Bollibokka, but I never sold my soul to the devil. I was the first person they banned from the property when Tom Birmingham and the Westland’s Water District purchase was finalized. So I can tell you first hand these water power companies can be ruthless and will do whatever it takes to get what they want.
Even if it means losing out to the Nature Conservancy who at the same time had a buyer who was willing to pay Leighton & Gray Hills full price for their property their grandfather had bought back in 1900. Tom Birmingham in a underhanded deal came up with 5 million more and stole our river loving souls. So if it could happen here in California, it could happen here in Chile too. Dams are cruel and what people do to build them and control the water it stores is even more ruthless. Drown whoever gets in the way and put a hose down their throat just to make sure they stay on the bottom. If you want to be environmental, look to the Winnemum Wintu Indians who have lost everything to the families of Leighton & Gray Hills, Dean Whiter, Alfred Schilling, Randolph Hearst and countless others who made sure they were never recognized as a formal tribe, never given compensation for land that was taken from them. If you want to give back, at least these Native Americans are trying to get salmon & steelhead back into the McCloud & Upper Sac rivers now. The rest of what many people are saying is all bullshit…. Many Rivers, Jack Trout
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