Leave the dam thing alone
Published 8:34 am Thursday, December 26, 2013
Dear Editor,
Leave Enloe Dam alone. Do not put any money into hydro-power, fish ladders or removing the dam. Reclaim the old power house, turn the housing compound into a picnic area, improve access and then quit.
Why spend our precious resources on a project that will take years and millions of dollars. Leave the dam thing alone! Canada doesn’t want our fish, trying to rehabilitate the lake is too costly and dangerous to the downstream Similkameen and possibly the Okanogan, and putting in a new powerhouse is not worth the effort for the amount of power it will produce. Just call the whole area a tourist attraction and figure out what will happen to the bats in the old rail road tunnel.
The $’s and effort would be better spent in a fight that’s possible to win. Once the trail is extended and the tunnel is graded, lighted, and paved, the bats will be gone. Not just moved, dead!
Okay, it’s not as big a deal as something the size of a dam or the lake behind it, but it would be a lot cheaper and more popular. Maybe a project to relocate the bats closer to town so we don’t have to spray for mosquitoes every year would make everyone feel good.
Gai Wisdom
Oroville
About Gary DeVon
Gary DeVon is the managing editor of the Okanogan Valley Gazette-Tribune and celebrated his 25th year at the newspaper in August 2012. He graduated from Gonzaga University with a degree in Communications - Print Journalism, with an emphasis in photojournalism. He is a proud alumnus of Oroville High School. His family first settled in Okanogan County in the late 1800s. His parents are Judy DeVon and the late Larry DeVon and he has two younger brothers - Dante and Michael. Many family members still call Oroville home. He has a grown daughter, Segornae Douglas and a young granddaughter, Erin.
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