Ashley Kelley
Dr. Chris Kent
Geography 101, extra credit
21 October 2015
The Columbia River Treaty is an agreement that was made between United States and Canada to internationally manage the Columbia River. The reasoning the two nations created this Treaty in 1964 was manly for hydroelectricity and flood management. This development required Canada to build three dams and the U.S to build one for reservoir storage.
Dr. John Osborn enlightens the unethical result that this Treaty has on us today. He describes how the Columbia River was before the dams, and how it use to have the richest salmon flow on the planet. How healthy watersheds affect the physical components of the river. However, the dams constructed for hydroelectricity have negative environmental impacts. These deficiencies in the Treaty fail to address the environmental, social or economic impacts of the Columbia River Basin. Dr. Osborn specifies the principles for the modernized Treaty, which will provide better overall management. The modernized Treaty focuses on what’s ethically correct. During the negotiation for the Treaty in 1964, the First Nations in Canada and the Natives in U.S. were never even consulted. This as a result fails the Treaty to include tribes. Modernizing the treaty includes The Native Americans and First Nations in the implementation and the management of the Treaty.
I found today’s event very informative. Before I knew nothing of the Columbia River Treaty. Dr. John Osborn speaks how the Treaty that was created in 1964 does not cover the issues of today’s perspective. How things such as environmental, social and economic concerns are different then what they once were in 1964, and how the modernizing of the Treaty will take these aspects into account.