Killing a Beautiful Wild Thing

After nearly 40 years of debate, supporters and opponents of the proposed Auburn Dam agree on little except this: Construction of the massive concrete dam on the American River, about 30 miles northeast of Sacramento, would destroy one of the last and best wild rivers in the West.

Despite the highly questionable need for this dam, its enormous projected cost and the devastation it would cause to one of the state’s most scenic and popular recreational areas, a dogged group in Congress keeps trying to secure taxpayer funding for dam construction.

Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Rocklin), a chief sponsor of the $1-billion proposal, may bring his bill up for a committee vote as early as today. Passage would send the measure to the House floor. Congress defeated similar proposals, most recently in 1992. This latest effort too should be defeated.

Doolittle and others contend that a dam would protect 400,000 residents of the Sacramento Valley in a catastrophic flood. But the region’s existing levee system has largely prevented catastrophic flooding from major storms in recent decades. In fact, opponents of the proposal argue that continued improvements to that system would be far cheaper than a dam and as effective. Given this alternative, why should taxpayers finance a project that would require more concrete than the Hoover Dam, cost more than the Grand Coulee Dam and bury miles of pristine river canyons under 200 feet of water?

It’s high season now on the American River; the water is running fast, full of kayakers, rafters and others. Wildlife abounds along the river’s heavily forested banks. This river is too beautiful, too precious as a recreational resource for Californians to allow it to die.