In an 18-page pastoral letter, “The Columbia River Watershed: Caring for Creation and the Common Good,” published late in February, the 12 bishops said that the river had been irresponsibly dammed, polluted and over-fished.
They called on all people of good will to “work together to develop and implement an integrated spiritual, social and ecological vision for our watershed home, a vision that promotes justice for people and stewardship of creation.”
The bishops suggested a number of ways to improve care for the river, but they stopped short of endorsing calls by radical environmentalists to tear down dams. They recommended an end to logging practices that harm the environment, suggested giving preferential loans to farmers who followed environmental protection measures, and called for restrictions on motorboats and all terrain vehicles.
The pastoral letter is the first written by Catholic bishops in two countries on a matter of social and political significance.
The letter was the result of three years’ research of Columbia’s ecosystem by a committee of bishops headed by Bishop William Skylstad of the diocese of Spokane, Washington. “We’d like people to reflect on how the river is a gift,” he told ENI. “And we think churches can be a good catalyst for helping people recognize we’re all responsible for it together.”
The Columbia River has one of the biggest drainage basins on the continent and serves an ecosystem of 259,000 square miles (650,000 square kilometers). The Columbia River has its source in Canada’s Rocky Mountains. The first third of its 1,200-mile course meanders through the Canadian province of British Columbia before entering the US states of Washington and Oregon.
A major tributary, the Snake River, flows through the states of Washington and Idaho with its headwaters in Wyoming. There are 14 dams on the two rivers, 11 of them in the U.S.
“The Columbia River watershed is one of the largest salmon-spawning grounds in the world,” says Canadian Bishop Eugene Cooney, whose diocese of Nelson includes much of central British Columbia. “This used to be one of the most productive salmon rivers in the world, and now the salmon are almost non-existent.” Salmon runs once numbered in the tens of millions, he said.
The Grand Coulee dam, in Washington State, is the biggest concrete dam in the U.S.—as high as a 46-story building—and the nation’s greatest single source of water power. Dams on the Columbia produce one-third of all hydroelectric power generated in the United States.
“One of the tragic things about Grand Coulee Dam is that it cut off all flow of salmon beyond that point,” says Skylstad. “There are no fish ladders. Some species of salmon that were spawned in Canadian waters are lost forever.
“There were a couple of things the bishops wanted to make sure—that the pastoral letter would not be a blaming document. It is a no-brainer [stupid act] to blame people. Everyone sees the damage that has been done in the past. However, it takes a lot of insight and spirituality to make good and wise decisions as we move into the future. [The pastoral letter] helps people in a spiritual way to view their responsibility for the common good in the river watershed.”
Bishop Skylstad said some environmental progress was already being made. “There has been a lot of work with regard to the cleanup at Hanford [Nuclear Reservation]. And there is a lot more sensitivity about the use of pesticides and forestry practices.”
The bishops’ letter states: “Contradictions in human behavior are evident throughout the region. There are beautiful farms and deteriorated riverbanks, degraded forests and landscaped community parks, chemical and radioactive wastes seeping into the rivers and conscientious children cleaning streambeds.
“The Columbia River Watershed stands as one of the most beautiful places on God’s earth. Its mountains and valleys, forests and meadows, rivers and plains reflect the presence of their Creator. Its farms and fishing boats, rural communities and cities, railroads, ports and industries reveal the varied ways in which peoples of the region have worked with earth’s beauty and bounty to derive their livelihood from the land and water.
“Living in and developing the watershed demanded courage, conviction, perseverance and vision. These same qualities are demanded now as we enter the Third Millennium … “
The Bishops are sponsoring public “teach-ins,” educating parishioners, informing national religious leaders and teaming up with environmentalists. The Bishops’ Columbia River Project has produced a reflection guide for parishioners to use in discussion groups, and a video is in production.
“The Columbia has enormous problems,” says Cooney. “Our major concern is reminding people that it is a gem of God’s creation, which should serve the common good rather than be exploited.”
Signatories to the document were: Archbishop Alex J. Brunett, Seattle, Washington; Archbishop John G. Vlazny, Portland, Oregon; Bishop Eugene J. Cooney, Nelson, British Columbia; Bishop Michael P. Driscoll, Boise, Idaho; Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Helena, Montana; Bishop Carlos A. Sevilla, Yakima, Washington; Bishop William S. Skylstad, Spokane, Washington; Bishop Robert F. Vasa, Baker, Oregon; Auxiliary Bishop Kenneth D. Steiner, Portland, Oregon; Auxiliary Bishop George L. Thomas, Seattle, Washington; Archbishop Raymond G. Hunthausen (retired) Seattle, Washington; Bishop Thomas J. Connolly (retired) Baker, Oregon.
Copyright © 2001 ENI.
Related Elsewhere
The Columbia River Pastoral Letter Project Web site offers the letter in French, English and Spanish, as well as background readings.In the March 2001 issue of Outside magazine, Bruce Barcott profiles Christian environmentalism past, present, and future, and suggests that religious activists on both sides of environmental debates will be extremely important, especially during the Bush presidency. Evangelical Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox environmentalists are (and anti-environmentalists) are all examined. There’s also a lengthy discussion of how this pastoral letter changed over time (such as the dropping of a section condemning “speciesism”).
The Evangelical Declaration on the Care of Creation and the Cornwall Declaration on Environmental Stewardship battle to stake out a biblical understanding of ecology.
