Eliana Rips

3/12/16
In the final chapter of The Organic Machine

, Richard White continues to reflect on the

way in which human action and ideology changed the landscape of the Columbia River. White
focuses on the conflict between economic and social values in the case of the Columbia salmon
and the unforeseen consequences of continued attempts to further mechanize the river. The
Columbia is shown to be a product of both natural systems and human intervention, and becomes
a reflection of competing values and ideologies regarding nature, money and power.
The fate of the Columbia salmon illustrates many points about the dynamics between
humans and nature, but the largest issue it exemplifies is the power, both in terms of social and
political power, and the general human struggle to exert control over natural systems. Like all
major political and economic decisions, changes made to the Columbia were essentially results
of the existing power structure. Powerful parties, like the government agencies and influential
private companies, made or influenced the decisions that resulted in the most dramatic change
along the Columbia, while less powerful actors, like local fishermen, were most impacted. When
dams caused salmon populations to rapidly decline, dismantling the dams was never seriously
considered. Instead, declining salmon populations led the government attempted to regulate
Native American fishing practices1. When the construction of the Dalles Dam at Celilo Falls
destroyed at Native American fishing cite, the Army Corp of Engineers argued that the
elimination of Celilo Farms was really a conservation measure because it would interfere with
commercial fishing in the area2. Differences in power and status made Native American fishing a

more appealing target than dams or nuclear power plants. The damming of the Columbia was a

1
2

Richard White, The Organic Machine (New York: Hill and Wang, 1995), 99
White, Organic Machine, 100

demonstration of power nature that was only made possible through the exertion of large scale
political power and a huge economic investment.
Despite the great financial costs of damming the Columbia, White makes it clear that the
issue of dams and salmon is governed by far more than economics. Much of the development
along the Columbia ended up making little economic sense. The Columbia Basin Project and the
Washington Public Power Supply System cost billions of dollars and contributed to the
Bonneville Power Administrations budget deficit3. While it is clear that neither WPPSS nor the
CBP was a financially sound decision, they were results of the social context of the time and
relied upon a belief in technological innovation and societal progress, which overshadowed
concern about financial viability.
Salmon populations, just like the development projects that so negatively impacted them,
were viewed from more than just a financial perspective. White describes Columbia salmon as
tokens of a way of life and repositories of meaning4. As changes to the Columbia decimated
the wild salmon population, expensive and drastic measures were resorted to in order to preserve
fishing and salmon on the Columbia, despite the fact that fishing was never profitable enough to
be more valuable than other potential uses of the river5. It was because of the social values
imposed upon the salmon that parties like the BPA went to such great lengths to protect them. In
the 1970s, when scientists discovered that high levels of nitrogen saturation led to high mortality
among newly hatched salmon migrating to the sea, the BPA invested in barges to transport
salmon to the sea. As dams continued to endanger salmon populations, the continued existence

3
4
5

White, Organic Machine, 109

White, Organic Machine, 90-91
White, Organic Machine, 94

of salmon in the Columbia came the rely more and more on direct human intervention6. Just as
the Columbia itself was altered and mechanized for human purposes, the lives of salmon became
incorporated into a distinctly human system.
One of the most significant themes in both Whites final chapter and in The Organic
Machine is the often unfounded faith in technology, scientific understanding and human
progress and the consequences of this scientific hubris. The recent history of the Columbia is a
story of ambitious technological development and a culture of social idealism contributing to an
ever more complicated series of setbacks and fixes. The construction of the Columbia dams is a
clear example of a commonly seen trend in our society. When White explains that, dam
building raced ahead of knowledge of the consequences of the dams7 , he is reflecting on the
same process that has led to many of the most serious environmental problems of the modern
age. Many current problems ranging from climate change to biodiversity loss to toxic waste
could be said to be the result of some combination of rapid development and reliance on poorly
understood technologies. As White reveals through the case of the Columbia salmon, the process
of correcting for the negative consequences of new technologies is often inefficient and
hopelessly convoluted. Actions like the construction of salmon barges were well-intentioned and
based on social values, the same way the initial construction of many of the dams were, but due
to a lack of thorough scientific understanding both became a part of an increasingly unwieldy
system.
The modern day Columbia River area was shaped by numerous social, economic and
political forces. The impulse to commodify and dominate nature was present in the construction

6
7

White, Organic Machine, 102

White, Organic Machine, 95

of dams and power plants but so were goals relating to human progress and the creation of a
better future. The preservation of salmon was an effort to preserve a symbol and a way of life,
but was done in a way that often revealed an unjust power structure and a lack of true ecological
understanding. Human forces and ideologies shaped and changed the Columbia, but the changes
that took place revealed the true complexities of natural systems and the many ways in which
humanity and nature are closely intertwined.