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<br />protecting these nine T &E fish species. A water resource manager can recognize that if there <br /> <br />are close to 100 million households in the U.S., the economic benefit of protecting these <br /> <br />habitats is substantial. Even taking the most extreme calibration of the model and benefit <br /> <br />estimates that have been shown to have some claim to meeting criterion validity, the national <br /> <br />benefit estimate would be about $1 billion, even assuming non-respondents have zero WTP. <br /> <br />This is well in excess of the costs. In fact one study of the costs suggests the current <br /> <br />misallocation of water to some low valued upper basin uses at the expense of higher valued <br /> <br />lower basin uses, results in there being an overall economic benefit from increasing instream <br /> <br />flows for fish (Brookshire, et al., 1994). <br /> <br />Elwha Dam Removal for Salmon <br /> <br />As more and more anadromous fish species have been added to the Endangered Species list, <br /> <br />serious consideration has been given to complete removal of dams blocking salmon <br /> <br />migration. Not only do the dams block upstream migration of adult salmon, but the reservoir <br /> <br />pools behind the dams substantial1y slow the migration of juvenile salmon to the ocean. <br /> <br />Adding to this the mortality at the dams themselves, there has been a groundswell of support <br /> <br />from newspaper editors in Boise, Idaho to citizens in Washington to remove dams. <br /> <br />The first dams to receive a formal environmental impact analysis for removal are Elwha and <br /> <br />Glines dams on the Elwha River on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. These old dams <br /> <br />have no fish ladders. These 200 foot dams are in such a narrow canyon that fish ladders are <br /> <br />very costly and likely to be ineffective. Given the age of the dams and the fact that they <br /> <br />18 <br />