Judge in salmon case does not dine on the fish, but believes in the law

PORTLAND — The man pressing the Bush administration on restoring Columbia Basin salmon — even if doing so means breaching some of the region's hydroelectric dams — doesn't like to eat the Northwest's signature fish.

U.S. District Judge James Redden finds it too oily, unless it has been barbecued in the Indian fashion on planks around an open fire.

At 78, he doesn't consider himself much of a salmon fisherman, though he cast spinners into the Rogue River in the 1950s when he was a young lawyer.

But in finding that the Bush administration's latest attempt to protect cheap hydroelectric power from the demands of restoring the Northwest's depleted salmon runs violated the Endangered Species Act, Redden sees himself as part of a "thin black line" of the judiciary that protects the public from the excesses of government.

"I'm looking down the railroad track and I see that law, and I think it's a good one, and I let it pass," said Redden, sitting in his downtown office high above the Willamette River, about 10 miles from its confluence with the Columbia.

"I'm convinced it can be done," he said of saving salmon. "I think it can be done without breaching the dams. And it may mean that someday they will be. Until then, you're going to follow the law and save the salmon."

Redden's background has prepared him well for making tough decisions, said Judge Alfred T. Goodwin of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, who presided as a trial judge over cases Redden argued decades ago as a lawyer.

"If you look at his résumé, it's pretty impressive," Goodwin said. "It reminds me a little of [retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice] Sandra O'Connor. She had the common sense that comes from running around the sagebrush chasing calves. Jim has this same kind of common sense.

"He's worked with people in a great variety of capacities. And he understands the political system and the tension that operates between the power of the government and the rights of the governed."

Redden also has his detractors.

James Buchal, a Portland lawyer representing irrigators who favor keeping the dams, has sought Redden's removal from the case, arguing that he has been biased on behalf of salmon. Redden has not allowed the irrigators to intervene.

"The practical effect of Judge Redden's intervention has been to elevate a political process over a quasi-scientific one," Buchal said.

"Instead of a biological opinion produced by scientists concerning the effect of dams on salmon, we will have the product of backroom deals among government agencies whose funding comes from blaming dams for fish losses."

Switching coasts

Redden was born in Springfield, Mass., the son of a dentist, and grew up during the Depression.

Before finishing high school, he joined the Army and served as a hospital medic in the post-World War II occupation of Japan.

He met his future wife, Joan, after returning home to finish two years of high school in one year, then went to Boston University on the GI Bill, studying business. He soon became an avid Red Sox fan and now counts Hall of Fame second-baseman Bobby Doerr as a friend. A photo of Fenway Park holds a place of honor in his office.

After graduating from law school in 1954, he headed west, first to Portland, then to Medford to work as a lawyer.

As a favor to a friend desperate to put up Democratic candidates, Redden ran for the Legislature in 1962 and was elected. He served three terms, rising to minority leader, and played a key role in passage of a law guaranteeing public access to Oregon's beaches.

Redden was later elected state treasurer, ran unsuccessfully for governor, and was state attorney general when President Carter named him a federal judge in 1980 — the only Democrat out of four judges named from Oregon that year, demonstrating a trust across party lines that Redden laments no longer exists.

"They say there's a thin blue line that protects the public from the criminals. There's also a thin black line that separates and protects the public from the state," said Redden. "That's what the Constitution is really all about — trying to keep that balance going when it's such an inconvenience for the political branch."

"Dams most harmful"

Politics is the core of the battle over dams and salmon.

Bush promised that none of the four lower Snake River dams would be breached, but conservation groups, Indian tribes and fishermen argue that is the only way to save imperiled Snake River runs.

Federal fisheries authorities conceded in 2000 that may be necessary, but in 2004 came up with a plan eliminating any prospects for their removal. The plan, known as a biological opinion, is required under the Endangered Species Act to ensure federally owned dams don't jeopardize the survival of the 12 threatened and endangered groups of salmon in the Columbia Basin.

It argued that because the dams came before the Endangered Species Act, only their operation, not their existence, was open to modification.

Last May, Redden rejected the plan, the third one he's found wanting.

"You've got to realize and do realize," Redden said, "that the dams are the most harmful" of all the factors affecting salmon — the so-called Four H's of hydro, harvest, hatcheries and habitat. "Everything else is secondary," he said.

The Bush administration is appealing Redden's ruling, disagreeing that the dams must be on the table.

But James Connaughton, chief environmental adviser to the president, has said the administration wants to further the collaborative process Redden initiated to help salmon. The White House also wants to eliminate fishing that harms listed salmon, and shut down hatcheries that interfere with restoration.

"He has made very clear we should be doing an even better job of looking at all the H's on the recovery side," Connaughton said.

On the threats faced by salmon