Touted as a big win for fish, a plan to increase springtime spill at eight federal dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers was approved last week by a federal judge. In a prepared statement, Rhett Lawrence, conservation director for the Sierra Club in Oregon, said “Increased spill levels in 2018 will provide a much-needed boost for our struggling salmon and steelhead populations.” Liz Hamilton, the Executive Director of the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association (NSIA) said the decision is a “huge win” for fish and fishermen. Spill is a term for allowing water to flow over a dam instead of passing that water through turbines that generate electrical power.