Larry Cassidy

Few people know more about that debate than Larry Cassidy of Vancouver.In three-plus decades he has served admirably on numerous boards and commissions involved in the debate.

As Erik Robinson reported in Monday's Columbian, Cassidy, 68, has announced he will step down as one of two Washington state representatives to the four-state Northwest Power and Conservation Council.Cassidy's decision will leave a tremendous void in the intricate debate.But he leaves a solid track record - built on a balanced approach to settling fish vs. electric power issues - that others should follow.

Take dam breaching, for example."I don't think removing the Snake River dams is something that should be addressed right now because I think we can get (salmon) recovery without it, but I may be wrong," Cassidy was quoted in Robinson's story."Removing the Snake dams would have some benefit for fish, but it also would be a huge social step backward with respect to any support we have in Southeast Washington for fish recovery."Well said.

Cassidy understands the vast untapped potential in fish recovery efforts: "We have men that walked on the moon; we put pumps in people's chests and keep them alive.Don't tell me we can't raise salmon and steelhead to the equivalency of a wild fish.I know we can do it, but it's going to take some changes."

Cassidy also sees mankind as a relative newcomer to this issue, and our role has evolved in a relative blink of time: "If you look at the comparable time that salmon and steelhead have been around, which are hundreds of thousands of years, and the fact that in the last 120 years we have literally goofed this resource up significantly, that ought to bother people."We couldn't agree more.

And he knows that answers can be found far away: "If the salmon spends 75 percent of its lifetime in the ocean, and we don't look at what's going on out there, we're just not being responsible."

Cassidy knows that the debate really is not a debate at all, but an increasingly frantic search for a win-win compromise.His successors would be wise to follow the path that Cassidy has illuminated.

Larry Cassidy, who has spent three decades operating in the corridors of power, was visiting the U.S. Interior Department headquarters earlier this month when he caught notice of a bald man with a cane ambling down a hallway.

It had been almost 30 years since Cassidy had last seen U.S. Rep.
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Cassidy, a Vancouver resident who then served as chairman of the state game commission, recalled a fishing trip he spent with the powerful Michigan Democrat back in 1979.
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"I said, 'At some point, some time, somebody's got to give a voice to fish,' " Cassidy recalled.

By the time Dingell got through with it, the Northwest Power Act of 1980 for the first time forged a balance between the Columbia River hydropower system and the wild creatures - especially salmon and steelhead - that predated it.

Three decades later, Cassidy said, Dingell asked how that was going.
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"It's better," Cassidy said, "but we've got plenty of work left to do."

Cassidy recently stepped down after a decade as one of two Washington representatives to the four-state Northwest Power and Conservation Council created by the 1980 law.

At 68, Cassidy recognized that it's time for him to move on.Before completely exiting the public scene, he sat down with The Columbian.

Cassidy who serves as chair of the FPC's oversight board, said "things have worked better there" with the help of CBFWA director Rod Sando.
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At this point though, Cassidy said he would have difficulty supporting a budget increase for the FPC.

Danielson takes the reins from Washington's Larry Cassidy, who had served as chairman of the group for the past three years.
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Cassidy was elected, by a 7-1 vote with Bloch opposed.
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Danielson in turn thanked Cassidy for his leadership, calling him fair and "intensely involved" in every thing the Council does.