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Letters to the editor: Open space, breaching dams, task force, sustainability, McCall land

Preserve open space

Ahhh, the Boise Greenbelt! Have you ever walked, biked, fished, picnicked or splashed in the river and thought about how fortunate we are to have access to these wonderful 25 miles along the Boise River?

We weren’t always blessed with a free passport to this beautiful slice of nature. In the late 1960s, Idahoans began to dream about a trail along the river. In 1967, two Boise City councilmen, Bill Onweiler and Sherm Perry went to Washington, D.C., and secured $100,000 through the Land and Water Conservation Fund to kickstart the Boise Greenbelt project.

So, I ask you: Does it matter who we elect to serve on our city council? You bet it does! As we go forward, let’s make sure we elect men and women of vision who will help our city grow and, at the same time, work to preserve valuable open space like the Boise Greenbelt for all to use and enjoy.

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Kayla Dodson, Boise

Bypass, not breach

Every problem in the Columbia basin concerning salmon can be cured with a bypass system around the dams intercepting every tributary up to Lewiston. All predation, temperature and slack water can be eliminated while leaving the existing infrastructure in place. The temperature is natural, as recorded in the ’50s by the U.S. Corps of Engineers. This would cure the passage downriver and upriver but not cure the blob in the Pacific, which is the main problem for salmon recovery. The bypass will cost less than $3 billion, one-tenth of the Simpson proposal, and could be accomplished within the next decade, not 30 years down the road. Then we should do the research to clearly understand the heat in the ocean. You can read this data at https://concernedcitizenscanyoncounty.weebly.com/salmon-recovery

Ronald M. Harriman, Nampa

Breach the dams

I’m a junior at Boise High and a third-generation Idahoan. There are many reasons I’d like to see the four Lower Snake River dams come out. I love to fish and recreate. I want to see justice of Pacific Northwest indigenous tribes which have depended on salmon for generations. I want to be able to enjoy the free-flowing Snake River as God created it. However, since my feelings about these dams don’t matter, for the only thing some politicians seem to care about is keeping their seat, here’s something that should make them shiver: We all know the low wild fish populations are in violation of indigenous treaties with the feds. Because of this, there is a bunch of pending litigation. Someday, in the not-so-distant future, a judge may order the dams be breached. Now the Pacific Northwest is plunged into panic as our reliable electricity and transportation is jeopardized. That day, people will look to the leaders who turned this Columbia Basin Initiative down, and wonder why. Why not breach the dams on our terms? In light of this, I’m calling Senator Crapo’s office and asking him to support Congressman Simpson’s proposal. I urge readers to do the same.

Shiva Rajbhandari, Boise

McCall land

Two weeks ago, the Idaho Department of Lands auctioned 282 acres in Caldwell for a whopping $36 million, six times the appraised value. It appraised for $6 million but sold for $36 million. That’s a big discrepancy and it could impact McCall for years to come.

Why? Because the Idaho Land Board also administers thousands of acres that ring Payette Lake, Cougar and Shellworth Islands, and the land surrounding Little Payette Lake and several in-town parcels.

There is a controversial proposal from a private investment firm to carry out a land exchange for 20,000 acres. The preliminary appraisal from the private firm: $30-45 million. For 20,000 acres.

While the pending proposal is clearly not even in the ballpark (it’s not even in the same state as the ballpark), it illustrates that pressure’s building, land speculators are here and if we want to protect these lands, the time is now.

The good news is that stakeholders are coming together with local, regional and statewide interests to craft solutions.

To succeed, we need transparent and thoughtful leadership from the Land Board, Department of Lands, Valley County and other elected leaders. Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.

Jonathan Oppenheimer, Boise

Sustainable future

Expecting to come out of the pandemic with renewed excitement and opportunity, I feel burdened by fear for our planet and the humans on it. Over-consumption and under-regulation threaten freedom and equality, as resources are depleted faster than they can regenerate. What role can each of us play in a sustainable future? We must find out what sustainability means to us individually. Is it taking an hour each week to volunteer at a community garden? Shop in bulk? Another solution is reducing our consumption in the first place. We must no longer buy into the unnecessary convenience that subsidized fossil-fuel and plastic packaging industries advertise. But corporations are the ones at fault, you say? This doesn’t mean you can’t be part of the solution. We need people who are willing to reprogram our society’s culture to encourage the sweeping infrastructure and corporate changes that will make the biggest difference. Lastly, we must abandon helplessness. What if we fail despite all this? It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. Climate change isn’t catchy, but courage is.

Louisa Goltry, Boise

Task force

Every nation has skeletons in its collective closet. Germany has the Holocaust, probably the most horrendous of all. To their credit, they have owned that history, even acknowledging it with a museum detailing the horror of it..

The United States has its own skeletons: genocide against indigenous people and most egregious, slavery. Slavery was abolished, but racism was systematically carried forward with Jim Crow laws and similar expressions of racist intent.

As the U.S. has attempted to recognize its skeletons, we face a backlash from the far right in their ravings about “critical race theory” and “indoctrination” about systemic racism.

Now in Idaho comes Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin’s task force, consisting of white “right thinking” Republicans, seeking to uncover some insidious plot by our schools to indoctrinate our kids in critical race theory, whatever that is. This effort attempts government censorship. Next, we will be burning books.

Speaking of books, I recommend two: George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” and “1984.” Not only should the task force read them, but I would hope they are required reading by our students.

Walter Gammill, Boise