BY KAREN BOSSICK

Removing four dams on the lower Snake River for the sake of the salmon has been a hot button issue for decades.

Last month Washington Gov. Jay Inslee released a draft report purporting Snake River salmon are on the brink of extinction and there’s no time to delay in implementing solutions to save them.

The report determines that dam removal would significantly improve fish populations, with the aging dams’ services replaced through investment in energy, transportation and irrigation infrastructure.

Learn more during a free panel discussion on “The Future of Rivers and Dams in Idaho and Beyond.”

The discussion sponsored by the Sun Valley Museum of Art will be held at 6 tonight—Wednesday, Sept. 28, at the Sun Valley Community School Auditorium. Though free, pre-registration is recommended at https://svmoa.org/events/lectures-talks/2022-09-28/panel-discussion-the-future-of-rivers-and-dams-in-idaho?mc_cid=7a48b56e29&mc_eid=cbc4fe5143

Panelists will be guest artist Carolina Caycedo; Nic Nelson, executive director of Idaho Rivers United; Craig Quarterman, director of Agriculture and Natural Resources for U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, and Chad Colter, director of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Fish and Wildlife.

The discussion is part of the Big Idea Project: “Dams: Reservoirs, Reclamation, Renewal.” The exhibition can be viewed through Nov. 12.

BE DAMMED TALK

• On Thursday Carolina Caycedo will discuss her “Be Dammed” project investigating the impacts of dams on ecosystems and indigenous communities throughout the Americas. The free talk will start at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29, at The Museum in Ketchum.

  Pre-registration is recommended at https://svmoa.org/events/lectures-talks/2022-09-29/artist-talk-carolina-caycedo?mc_cid=7a48b56e29&mc_eid=cbc4fe5143

  The London-born Colombian artist, who now lives in Los Angeles, recently had a solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. She has held residencies around the world, including one at the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, Calif.

  You can view her 12-minute film “Reciprocal Sacrifice,” which takes viewers on the journey of a salmon seeking to return to its spawning grounds in the Sawtooth Mountains, at https://vimeo.com/744377457?mc_cid=7a48b56e29&mc_eid=cbc4fe5143.

  DAM ART FOR KIDS

• The Sun Valley Museum of Art will hold two free Afternoon Art sessions for families with children between the ages of 5 and 12, on Friday, Sept. 30, at The Museum in Ketchum. The first begins at 1:30 and the second at 3:30.

Families are welcome to drop in any time.