Transportation Study:

Secure at least $5 million in funding for a detailed Washington State Department of Transportation study to determine transportation alternatives to barging on the lower Snake waterway. This should include a timeline of repairs, upgrades, and investments for rail and roads that minimizes disruption and offers cost effective options to grain and fertilizer transport while ensuring a timeline of completion that avoids the extinction of salmon.

LSRD Energy Plan:

Secure at least $5 million in funding to analyze new electrical generation and transmission for lower Snake River dam removal and develop a detailed action plan. This plan would lay out how to maintain the reliability and adequacy of the existing electrical power system, will be consistent with the Clean Energy Transformation Act, and can replace fossil fuels currently used in the transportation, industry and buildings sectors.

Irrigation Analysis: 

Secure at least $500,000 in funding for the Washington State Department of Ecology, in consultation with other agencies as necessary, to conduct an analysis of continued water use for irrigation during lower Snake River dam drawdown and thereafter from a restored river.

Tribal Justice and Coordination: 

Ensure that the priorities of Northwest Tribes and opportunities for them are reflected in energy siting proposals, salmon recovery management and investments, and all lower Snake River dam removal infrastructure replacement processes.

Salmon Habitat Campaign Priorities:

Identify and secure targeted state (and federal) investments for salmon recovery and habitat projects to improve conditions for salmon across Washington State.

We are confident Washington State can lead efforts towards restoring Snake River salmon and replacing the lower Snake River dams' services, while highlighting the importance of treaty rights and promises made to Tribes, and providing economic opportunities for every corner of our state – farmers and anglers, Tribes, and local communities. Taking the above steps in the coming months and as part of the 2023 legislative session will ensure that we act on a timeline that will recover salmon.

TAKE ACTION: 

Time is running out for endangered salmon. Washington State residents, your state legislators need to hear from you on behalf of endangered Snake River salmon and steelhead!

Sign the petition urging WA State legislators to #StopSalmonExtinction and support critical investments to our region: https://p2a.co/aNQSqvf

For more information, please contact: Tanya Riordan, Save Our wild Salmon, Policy and Advocacy Director, tanya@wildsalmon.org 

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3. Background: Highlights and Milestones in 2021-2022 

Salmon are a keystone species that define our region’s ecology, economy, and communities. Salmon are central to many Northwest Tribes and critical to the survival of endangered Southern Resident orcas and more than 100 fish and wildlife species. Tribes are leading the way - working across our region to protect and restore salmon and their habitats, including in the Snake River. In winter 2023, the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) unanimously passed a new resolution, referencing their 2021 and 2022 resolutions, calling for action to protect and recover salmon abundance, including the removal of the lower Snake River dams and the replacement of their services with alternatives. The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) passed a similar resolution in 2021.

In early 2021, Rep. Simpson (R-ID) evoked a groundbreaking discussion in the Pacific Northwest when he proposed a comprehensive regional solution to restore endangered salmon and steelhead populations and invest in communities and critical infrastructure. His initiative combined lower Snake River dam removal with investments in clean energy, transportation infrastructure, waterfront, fishing and farming communities, and more.

Additional regional policymakers are engaging collaboratively, including Oregon’s former Gov. Kate Brown and Rep. Earl Blumenauer, when they announced their readiness to help develop a regional strategy that restores the lower Snake River and invests in communities.

Then in May 2021, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray and Gov. Jay Inslee in Washington State issued a joint statement that recognized the crisis facing Snake River fish, committed to addressing it, and – for the first time - placed dam removal squarely on the table for consideration.

In October 2021, Gov. Inslee and Sen. Murray issued a new statement outlining the next steps for a joint federal-state process on salmon recovery in the Columbia River Basin and the Pacific Northwest.

Fast forward to August 2022, Sen. Murray and Gov. Inslee took a historic step when they released their final Lower Snake River Dam Benefits Replacement Report and recommendations, outlining key actions for the Snake River as a central element of a larger set of important priorities and next steps designed to protect and restore abundant populations of salmon and steelhead across the Columbia Basin and the Northwest.

Their long-anticipated recommendations include this essential conclusion: 

“The science is clear that – specific to the Lower Snake River – breach of the dams would provide the greatest benefit to the salmon. Salmon runs in the Lower Snake River are uniquely impacted by the dam structures relative other watersheds, and the waters of the lower Snake River have unique potential for robust aquatic ecosystem and species recovery.”

With these documents, these public officials have put the Northwest and nation on a path to recover Snake River salmon and steelhead, by restoring this historic river as soon as their current services – energy, irrigation, and barge transportation – are replaced.

Sen. Murray and Gov. Inslee’s salmon recovery recommendations, and their report, followed a landmark agreement between the Biden Administration and salmon and fishing advocates, who are challenging a grossly inadequate Trump-era salmon plan in federal court. That agreement extended a pause in the litigation to allow time for both settlement talks and a set of key actions to help fish and their habitats. The plaintiffs – the Nez Perce Tribe, the State of Oregon, and Earthjustice on behalf of fishing and conservation groups – and the Biden Administration told the court earlier this summer that discussions have been productive and should be allowed to proceed by extending the pause to August 31st, 2023.

The Court swiftly approved the parties’ joint motion, and as part of the agreement, the Biden Administration made a series of commitments toward this goal:

"The Biden Administration is committed to supporting development of a durable long-term strategy to restore salmon and other native fish populations to healthy and abundant levels, honoring Federal commitments to Tribal Nations, delivering affordable and reliable clean power, and meeting the many resilience needs of stakeholders across the region.”

The science backs up urgent action to restore the lower Snake River. In September 2022, the Biden Administration's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a final report,  “Rebuilding Interior Columbia Basin Salmon and Steelhead.” Their report is the U.S. government’s definitive review of what science says is needed to recover endangered salmon and steelhead in the Columbia-Snake River Basin. The report identifies dam removal as an urgently needed “centerpiece action” for salmon and steelhead protection and restoration.

"For Snake River stocks, the centerpiece action is restoring the lower Snake River via dam breaching." 

Similarly, the American Fisheries Society (AFS), a highly respected professional organization representing more than 7,500 fisheries scientists and resource managers from around the world, released a new statement highlighting the need for lower Snake River dam removal in order to protect imperiled wild salmon and steelhead populations from extinction.

“When the body of scientific evidence is considered [...], it is clear that breaching the four lower Snake River dams is necessary to (1) substantially improve the probability of recovering these cultural and ecological keystone species to healthy and harvestable populations and (2) safeguard those fishes from extinction.”

With the tremendous leadership by Tribes and solutions-oriented advocacy from stakeholders, including utilities, shippers, growers, and others, this growing engagement by powerful decision-makers has been transformative – opening up a long-sought window of opportunity that can deliver big benefits to the lands and waters, fish and wildlife, and peoples and communities across the Northwest.

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4. NW Salmon Restoration Campaign Fact Sheets

Below you will find information on the four lower Snake River dams, energy, transportation, irrigation, Tribal Justice, and science.  

Download the 'NW Salmon Restoration Campaign Fact Sheets' here. 

A. Reducing Carbon Emissions, Saving Salmon, Restoring The Lower Snake River 

Washington State has set important goals to reduce statewide carbon emissions. At the same time, climate change is pushing the Snake River salmon runs — once one of the largest on the West Coast — towards extinction. To fulfill our treaty obligations and commitments made to Tribes, we must recover salmon to healthy populations, and we cannot achieve that with the four lower Snake River dams in place.¹ We’ve tried for decades, spent billions of dollars, it hasn’t worked.

• Salmon and steelhead in the Snake River basin are headed to extinction unless the four lower Snake River dams are removed.²
• Nearly half of the wild spring chinook populations in the Snake River Basin have crossed a critical threshold and are in an extinction spiral, according to analysis by the Nez Perce Tribe.³
• Salmon and steelhead are expected to rebound to abundant, fishable numbers once the dams are removed.

THE WARM WATERS BEHIND THE FOUR LOWER SNAKE RIVER DAMS ARE KILLING SALMON, AND CLIMATE CHANGE ONLY MAKES THAT WORSE

• In 2015, nearly every Snake River sockeye died in the lethally warm waters of the reservoirs the dams create.
• Upstream of the four dams are thousands of miles of pristine, cold-water habitat. Modeling shows that if the dams are removed the Snake River will be cool enough for salmon to migrate upriver.

IN A CHANGING CLIMATE, THE COLD, PRISTINE WATERS OF THE SNAKE RIVER ARE A REFUGE

• The Snake Basin contains 20% of the West Coast stream habitat occupied by salmon and steelhead.
• According to EPA modeling, by 2080 the Snake River Basin will provide more than half (65%) of the coldest, most climate resilient stream habitats for salmon and steelhead on the West Coast.

IT’S NOT JUST THE OCEAN, IT’S THE 4 LOWER SNAKE RIVER DAMS

• Salmon have rebounded at Hanford Reach. They swim in the same ocean and travel past the same predators to the confluence with the Snake and Columbia rivers; they are now a fishable population.
• Snake River salmon once provided nearly half the salmon on the West Coast but today are nearing extinction because of the four lower Snake River dams and the warm reservoirs behind them.

HYDROPOWER ISN’T CARBON NEUTRAL⁴

• The reservoirs behind the dams emit methane⁵ , and their carbon impacts may be more significant than previously understood. The US EPA is now including those methane emissions in its report of climate impacts.⁶ Other forms of renewable energy, such as wind and solar, have lower emissions than hydropower.

BARGING ON THE LOWER SNAKE RIVER ISN’T CARBON NEUTRAL

• Two studies analyzed the carbon emissions in the transportation system post-breach: Casavant and Ball at WSU in 2001⁷ and the Jaller report commissioned by American Rivers in 2022.⁸ Both conclude dam removal should have little impact on carbon emissions as grain transportation shifts away from barges. Both studies point out that the larger impact is truck miles (all grain leaves the farm on a truck) and that rail is increasingly efficient. Proponents of dams appear to use emissions data from the year 1980 and overlook truck miles driving grain to the river ports.

“Looking narrowly at energy and emissions environmental concerns, a drawdown of the Snake River for salmon restoration does not have a negative impact.” —Casavant & Ball ⁹

References:
1, 2. United States. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service, Rebuilding Interior Columbia Basin Salmon and Steelhead. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, September 30, 2022. 3. Nez Perce Tribe. Department of Fisheries Resources Management, Snake Basin Chinook and Steelhead Quasi-Extinction Threshold Alarm and Call to Action. Department of Fisheries Resources Management, 2021. 4. Scherer L, Pfister S (2016) Hydropower’s Biogenic Carbon Footprint. PLoS ONE 11(9): e0161947. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0161947

5. https://savethecolorado.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Patagonia-et-al-Update-Letter-regarding-GHGRP-Petition.pdf

6. Lohan, Tara. “United States Includes Dam Emissions in UN Climate Reporting for the First Time.” 2/3/23. The Revelator. https://therevelator.org/dam-emissions-reporting/

7, 9. Casavant, Ken, and Ball, Trent, Impacts of a Snake River Drawdown on Energy and Emissions, Based on Regional Energy Coefficients. Transportation Northwest, Dept. of Civil Engineering, University of Washington. August, 2001.

8. https://www.americanrivers.org/resource/study-snake-river-grain-transportation-and-carbon-emissions/

Download the 'NW Salmon Restoration Campaign Fact Sheets' here. 

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B. Background On The Four Lower Snake River Dams 

The lower Snake River dams were built to turn Lewiston, Idaho into a seaport. They do not control floods.

• TRANSPORTATION
  • Barge traffic has been in decline for over two decades.
  • 17% of the wheat exported at the Columbia ocean ports is barged on the lower Snake River.
  • 67% of the wheat exported from the ocean ports arrives there by rail.
  • Fertilizer components are barged upriver to Clarkston.
  • Containers and petroleum are no longer barged past Ice Harbor.

• IRRIGATION
  • 53,000 acres of farmland are irrigated from the Snake River, nearly all at the Ice Harbor pool.
  • 9 owners manage 92% of the irrigated land: the LDS Church, Crown West Realty, Harvard, and others.

• ENERGY
  • The four lower Snake River dams produce about 925 average megawatts of electricity each year, making up about 4% of the region’s power generation. They produce power largely from March to June.
  • No energy system is designed to last forever. Across the West, utilities are closing legacy coal and nuclear plants and replacing them with clean energy resources. For instance, in 2020, PacifCorp requested bids for a portfolio of 4,300 MW, to be ready in 2024. They received 36,000 MW of proposed project bids.
  • The dams are aging and will require 21 new turbines in the coming decade, costing over $600 million.

Download the 'NW Salmon Restoration Campaign Fact Sheets' here. 

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C. Energy

SMART PLANNING WILL DRIVE REPLACING THE POWER FROM LOWER SNAKE RIVER DAMS

The Northwest has a remarkable opportunity to initiate a historic energy transformation around climate change, endangered salmon, clean energy, and Tribal justice. NW Energy Coalition's white paper shows that:

• The energy services of the lower Snake River dams are important, but increasingly variable due to climate-change impacted water conditions.
• Those services can be replaced with a diverse set of clean energy technologies that are rapidly declining in cost and better able to fill future regional energy needs.
• Planning for changes in power system generation resources is a routine and well-defined task for the utility sector.
• Recently passed state policies and developing collaborative efforts across the region will continue to drive down costs while increasing the reliability and flexibility of the grid to meet demand.

THE LOWER SNAKE RIVER DAMS PROVIDE LIMITED, REPLACEABLE ENERGY SERVICES

• The lower Snake River dams produce about 925 average megawatts (aMW) of electricity each year, making up about 4% of the region’s power generation.
• This generation is highly seasonal: 51% of the lower Snake River dams’ annual output is from March to June.
• When they produce the most output is when the rest of the system is also producing significant output – often in excess of customer demand.
• Clean energy resources can replace and improve on these energy services, providing more output in summer and winter, when power is actually needed, resulting in better year-round reliability.
• The dams’ ancillary services, such as reserves and voltage control, can continue to be supported by renewables and batteries.

RENEWABLE RESOURCES ARE GETTING RAPIDLY CHEAPER

In 2018, Energy Strategies used contemporary renewable cost data in its lower Snake River dam replacement study. Since then, costs have dropped by approximately 50% (see figure: 'Reductions in the Levelized Cost of Renewable Energy, 2018-2021'), and are expected to continue to decline.

As an example of the significance of these cost reductions, in 2019, Idaho Power planned to add only 345 MW of solar and 60 MW of battery storage through 2039.

In its updated 2021 planning, factoring in reduced costs, the utility intends to add 1,105 MW of solar, 700 MW of wind, and 585 MW of battery storage by 2030.

REPLACING GENERATING RESOURCES IS A ROUTINE PROCESS

No energy system is designed to last forever. Across the West, utilities are closing legacy coal and nuclear plants and replacing them with portfolios of clean energy resources. This kind of replacement is not new or unusual: in 1993, several utilities replaced the closing Trojan Nuclear Plant (1,100 MW) with new resources.

Abundant amounts of renewables and energy storage have been proposed by developers:

• 2020, PacifCorp requested bids for a portfolio of 4,300 MW, to be ready in 2024. They received 36,000 MW of proposed projects bids.
• In 2021, Puget Sound Energy requested bids for a portfolio of 3,200 MW, to be ready in 2025. They received 18,000 MW of proposed project bids.
• Northwest-wide, utilities are planning to install nearly 20,000 MW of new renewables, customer-side resources, and storage before 2030.
• At the same time, developers have requested transmission service for more than 100,000 MW of renewable projects in the Northwest, though only a fraction of these will be built.

STATE POLICIES AND REGIONAL COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS ARE KEEPING THE SYSTEM RELIABLE AND AFFORDABLE

A rapidly advancing, more resilient, and integrated Western grid is also creating new opportunities for renewable energy to deliver clean energy to customers efficiently and affordably.

• The Western Energy Imbalance Market is helping member utilities create record-breaking financial and system benefits. Additonal market expansion is underway.
• The Western Resource Adequacy Program will provide coordinated use of capacity resources to meet peak hour needs and maintain reliability.
• The Investment in Infrastructure and Jobs Act and programs by the Department of Energy are laying the groundwork for significant expansion of the transmission system, which is needed to support the clean energy transformation of the grid.

CONCLUSION: For Snake River salmon and steelhead to recover to healthy levels and be resilient to climate change they need a free-flowing lower Snake River; in contrast, with effective and strategic planning the energy benefits of the four lower Snake River dams are replaceable with affordable, non-carbon emitting, reliable alternatives. This has been done before, and it can be done again.

References:
'LSR Hydro, Columbia Hydro, and BPA Demand by Month (2007-2020)' graphs data sources: Bonneville Power Administration and US Army Corps of Engineers Dataquery.

'Reduction in the Levelized Cost of Energy for Clean Technologies, 2018-2021' graph data sources: 2018 Energy Strategies Lower Snake River Dams Power Replacement Study, 2021 PacifiCorp RFP.

Download the 'NW Salmon Restoration Campaign Fact Sheets' here. 

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D. Impacts and Benefits of Dam Removal

TO KEEP OUR TREATY PROMISES AND STOP THE EXTINCTION OF SALMON AND ORCA WHALES, WE MUST PLAN NOW TO RESTORE THE LOWER SNAKE RIVER AND BREACH THE AGING DAMS

The four lower Snake River dams, built for navigation and costly to maintain, must be removed to restore salmon to abundant, fishable levels. The Snake River has 5,000+ miles of high quality habitat that once produced nearly half of all the spring/summer Chinook salmon from the entire basin.

THE IMPACTS OF DAMS ON SALMON ARE MORE THAN TWICE THAT OF HARVEST AND PREDATORS COMBINED 

Chinook salmon are a key food source for Southern Resident orcas off the Washington coast. Without enough salmon, they are starving.

Although ocean conditions vary and are trending warmer, salmon at Hanford Reach are thriving. They navigate the same conditions and dams up to the confluence at the Tri-Cities. The difference? The four lower Snake River dams.

In the Hanford Reach area, salmon swim in the same ocean, same river, and navigate the same predators, yet this small area produces 1.1 million fall Chinook on average. Opening up 5,000 miles of pristine coldwater habitat in the Snake is believed to be the best way to stop extinction and restore salmon and steelhead.

These four lower Snake River dams were built for navigation and nearing the end of their life cycle. They create barriers and reservoirs of slow and warmer water. Sometimes temperatures rise to lethal levels for salmon. Snake River salmon were one of the largest salmon runs on the Pacific and today are nearing extinction. We can turn that around.

Upstream of the four lower Snake River dams is half of all the coldwater habitat for salmon and steelhead in the lower 48 states. This habitat can be a lifeboat for salmon in the face of a changing climate.

Dams slow travel time, increase water temperatures, provide opportunities for predators, and put up multiple barriers. We have tried to recover salmon with the dams in place and it hasn’t worked; a restored river is our best way to restore salmon to the region and keep our promises made to Tribes.

Much is uncertain, including future ocean conditions. But our best chance to recover salmon and orca whales is to restore the lower Snake River.

Breaching the four lower Snake River dams and increasing spill to 125 percent total dissolved gas is expected to result in average returns of 586,000 adult spring Chinook to the mouth of the Columbia (all runs, originating above Bonneville Dam, hatchery, and wild) with higher (1,050,000) and lower (250,000) adult spring Chinook return estimates based on variable environmental conditions (M. DeHart, Fish Passage Center).

As presented in the lower Snake River dam panel discussion and webinar to the Washington Orca Task Force (September 27, 2018) and adapted in the Phase 2 report of the Columbia Basin Partnership. Based on Chapter 2 of the CSS (Comparative Survival Study) 2017 Annual Report.

References:
McCann, J., Chockley, B., Cooper, E., Hsu, B., Schaller, H., Haeseker, S., Lessard, R., Petrosky, C., Copeland, T., Tinus, E., Van Dyke, E., Storch, A., Rawding, D., 2017. Comparative Survival Study (CSS) of PIT-Tagged Spring/Summer/Fall Chinook, Summer Steelhead and Sockeye. 2017 Annual Report. BPA Contract # 19960200. Comparative Survival Study Oversight Committee and Fish Passage Center. htp://www.fpc.org/documents/CSS/CSS_2017_Final_ver1-1.pdf.

NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service), 2020. A vision for salmon and steelhead: goals to restore thriving salmon and steelhead to the Columbia River basin. Phase 2 report of the Columbia River Partnership Task Force of the Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee. Portland, OR. htps://s3.amazonaws.com/media.fsheries.noaa.gov/2020-10/MAFAC_CRB_Phase2ReportFinal_508.pdf?null.

Graphs developed by Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife from estimates in NMFS 2020. Data from NMFS 2020 as adapted from data in McCann et al. 2017.

Download the 'NW Salmon Restoration Campaign Fact Sheets' here. 

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E. Transportation

BARGING ALONG THE LOWER SNAKE RIVER HAS DECLINED

The four lower Snake River dams were built to turn Lewiston Idaho into a seaport. Over the past few decades, shipping has declined. Container on Barge shipping ended in 2015 and those goods now ship by rail. Petroleum no longer ships upriver past Ice Harbor.

Grain still ships downstream and fertilizer components and wind turbine blades ship upriver via barge.

 FREIGHT TRANSPORTATION ON THE LOWER SNAKE RIVER HAS BEEN IN DECLINE FOR OVER TWENTY YEARS

For example, the number of loaded barges locking through Lower Granite Dam (from the Ports of Lewiston, Clarkston, and Wilma) has declined from 1,233 loaded barges in 1994 to 314 loaded barges in 2018, a decline of 75%.

Barges once shipped paper, pulp, lumber, dry peas, lentils, and garbanzo beans in containers from the Port of Lewiston. They no longer ship these by container and shipping of paper, pulp, lumber and pulse has now disappeared from the river.

WASHINGTON GRAIN PRODUCTION, STORAGE, AND TRANSPORTATION 

Most wheat - 67% - gets to the Pacific Northwest Ocean ports on the Columbia by rail. 9% of all US wheat exports are barged on the lower Snake River. 

References:
'Loaded Barges Through The Snake River Locks and Dams (1993 - 2014)' graph data source: Sage, Jeremy and Casavant, Kenneth “Palouse Regional Freight Study: 2016.” Funded by Palouse Regional Transportation Planning Organization (PRTPO)

Download the 'NW Salmon Restoration Campaign Fact Sheets' here. 

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F. Irrigation

NEARLY ALL OF THE IRRIGATED LANDS ALONG THE LOWER SNAKE RIVER ARE AT ICE HARBOR, UP TO 53,000 ACRES.

9 owners manage 92% of the irrigated lands. There are 25 water withdrawals and 45 wells for agricultural use. 

MAP OF IRRIGATED LANDS AT ICE HARBOR BY OWNERSHIP 

Download the 'NW Salmon Restoration Campaign Fact Sheets' here. 

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5. Selected Resources by Sovereigns, Elected Officials, Stakeholders, and Others

• Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians Resolution: PDF - “Supporting And Thanking All The Leaders Who Have Heard The Voices Of The ATNI Tribes, Especially The Biden-Harris Administration, Senators Cantwell And Murray, Governor Inslee, Congressman Simpson, Former Oregon Governor Brown, And Congressman Blumenauer, For Steps They Are Taking Toward Salmon And River Restoration In The Pacific Northwest, And Toward Long-Ignored Tribal Justice For Our Peoples And Homelands” (January 2023)
• Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians Resolution: PDF - "Supporting And Thanking All The Leaders Who Have Heard The ATNI Tribes’ Voices, And Especially The Biden-harris Administration, And Senator Murray And Governor Inslee, For Steps They Are Taking Toward Salmon And River Restoration In The Pacific Northwest, And Toward Long-ignored Tribal Justice For Our Peoples And Homelands" (May 2022) 
• Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians Resolution: PDF - “Calling On The President Of The United States And The 117th Congress To Seize The Once-in-a-lifetime Congressional Opportunity To Invest In Salmon And River Restoration In The Pacific Northwest, Charting A Stronger, Better Future For The Northwest, And Bringing Long Ignored Tribal Justice To Our Peoples And Homelands”
• National Congress of American Indians Resolution: PDF - "Calling On The President and Congress to Invest in Salmon And River Restoration In The Pacific Northwest. The resolution states, “The true wealth of our region begins with the health of our rivers, fish, and the ecosystem they support, which is our culture, history and future.” 
• Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission: Energy Vision for the Columbia Basin (2022) Full Report & One-page factsheet 
• Nez Perce Tribe and the Nez Perce Fisheries: PDF - Snake Basin Chinook and Steelhead Quasi-Extinction Threshold Alarm and Call to Action (May 2021)

• Sen. Murray and Gov. Inslee: Lower Snake River Dam Benefits Replacement Final Report (Aug. 2022) PDF
• Sen. Murray and Gov. Inslee: Pacific Northwest Salmon Recovery Recommendations (Aug. 2022) PDF
• Gov. Inslee statement regarding final report for Joint Federal-State Process for salmon recovery in the Columbia Basin (Aug. 2022) Press Release
• Yakama Nation Reponds to Final Murray and Inslee Salmon Report (Aug. 2022) Press Release
• Energy, fishing, conservation groups respond to Sen. Murray's and Gov. Inslee's presumptive plan for dam replacement (Aug. 2022) Press Release
• The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation responds to draft Murray-Inslee Report on Lower Snake River Dams -- Honor the treaties. Protect our salmon. Breach the dams. (June 2022) Press Release
• Nez Perce Tribe Calls for National Leadership from the Administration and Congress -- Murray-Inslee Report on Replacing the Service of the Lower Snake River Dams. (June 2022) Press Release

• Letter from 96 NGOs to Biden Administration / Council on Environmental Quality (November, 2022) PDF
• Letter from 60+ NGOs to Senator Murray and Governor Inslee (Aug. 2022) PDF
• Letter from 60+ NGOs to Senator Cantwell (Aug. 2022) PDF
• Letter from 40 recreation businesses/organizations to Northwest policymakers asking for the restoration of the lower Snake River (Feb. 2021) PDF
• Letter from 68 scientists to Northwest policymakers on the need for lower Snake River dam removal to protect salmon and steelhead from extinction (Feb. 2021) PDF
• Letter from 55 scientists to Northwest policymakers documents how federal dams and climate impacts are increasing water temperatures in the lower Snake River and harming salmon survival and recovery (Oct. 2019) PDF

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6. Lower Snake River Media Round-up

Selected Editorials and Guest Opinions:

• Seattle Times Guest Opinion: Make salmon restoration a policy and budget priority By Rep. Debra Lekanoff (Oct. 3, 2022)
• Seattle Times Guest Opinion: Stop sacrificing Indigenous sacred sites in the name of climate change By Jeremy Takala, Tribal councilman for Yakama Nation and Lauren Goldberg, executive director of Columbia Riverkeeper (Sept. 25, 2022)
• Seattle Times Guest Opinion: The future of the Lower Snake River Dams: Do the right thing for salmon, tribes and communities By Delano Saluskin, chairman of the Yakama Nation; Kat Brigham, chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation; Jonathan Smith, chair of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon; and Samuel Penney, chairman of the Nez Perce Tribe (July 8, 2022)
• Spokesman-Review: Gregg Servheen: Removing Lower Snake River Dams the only way to save salmon (Feb.18, 2023)
• The Spokesman-Review: Helen Neville: The need to breach the Lower Snake River dams: A look at 2022 fish returns (Nov.10, 2022)
• Seattle Times Guest Opinion: Lessons from California on preventing power failures during heat waves By Nancy Hirsh, executive director of the NW Energy Coalition. (Oct. 10, 2022)
• OPB Reporter's Notebook: The racism, and resilience, behind today’s Pacific Northwest salmon crisis (Sept. 24, 2022)
• The Spokesman-Review: Walt Pollock, Rob Masonis and Bryan Jones: It’s time to work together to breach the lower Snake dams (Jun. 25, 2022)

Selected Media Coverage:

• Spokesman-Review: Overall run forecast calls for more fish than last year; numbers on the Snake River are down slightly (Feb. 5, 2023)
• High Country News: Can dam removal save the Snake River? (Jan. 1, 2023)
• OPB: Hundreds of gallons of oil leak into Snake River from Little Goose Dam (Oct. 31, 2022)
• E&E: GreenWire: NOAA calls Snake River dam breaching 'centerpiece' of salmon rescue (Oct. 3, 2022)
• KUOW: Breaching Snake River dams is needed to restore salmon, NOAA report says (Oct. 3, 2022)
• OPB: Federal report recommends removing four Lower Snake River dams to protect salmon (Sept. 30, 2022)
• KUOW: Youth rally to protect salmon in the Snake River (Sept. 27, 2022)
• The Lewiston Tribune: Speaking up for salmon (Sept. 23, 2022)
• The New York Times: Breaching Dams ‘Must Be an Option’ to Save Salmon, Washington Democrats Say (Aug. 31, 2022)
• KING5: Inslee, Murray recommend taking action to make breaching the Snake River dams a ‘viable option’. (Aug. 25, 2022)
• The Spokesman-Review: Snake River spring Chinook struggling like never before, feds decide against classifying them as ‘endangered’ (Aug. 25, 2022)
• The New York Times: Plaintiffs in Long Fight Over Endangered Salmon Hope a Resolution Is Near (Aug.15, 2022)
• OPB / ProPublica: How the BPA is contributing to salmon’s decline in the Northwest (Aug. 4, 2022)
• Tri-City Herald: ‘Who are we without salmon?’ Tribes gather along dammed Snake River to call for action (Aug.8, 2022)
• Idaho Capital Sun: Federal report says removing Snake River dams ‘essential’ to helping threatened salmon (July 19, 2022)
• King5: Advocates show support for removal of Snake River dams (July 14, 2022)
• AP News: White House: To help salmon, dams may need to be removed (July 12, 2022)
• The Seattle Times: Dam politics: Why public power utilities are pouring cash into the campaign to support Lower Snake River dams (June 26, 2022)
• Northwest Sportsman Magazine: Rally Held For Salmon, Breaking Lower Snake River Dams (June 27, 2022)
• The Oregonian: Several hundred take to Willamette River, Willamette Park to protect 4 Snake River dams (June 25, 2022)
• The Seattle Times: Indigenous carvers’ totem pole to journey across Pacific Northwest to bolster dam-removal movement (May 8, 2022)
• Indian Country Today: Totem pole journey 'Spirit of the Waters' from the Snake River to Salish Sea (May 13, 2022)
• East Oregonian: Totem pole journey calling for removal of Snake River dams stops at Tamastslikt Cultural Institute (May 17, 2022)
• The Olympian: Supporters march for salmon survival (April 2, 2022)
• Tacoma News Tribune: Activists rally in Tacoma for Northwest salmon — next event is April 2 in Olympia (Mar. 27, 2022)
• KIRO 7 News: Activists create human mural to support saving orcas, salmon (Mar. 4, 2022)

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July 19, 2019

Justus Caudell Salmon will first have to pass screening for IHN before being moved above Chief Joseph or Grand Coulee dams Nespeem – The Colville Confederated Tribes might be only weeks away from moving salmon above the Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams. At some point in the next month, the Colville Tribal Fish and Wildlife department will move Chinook from the Wells Hatchery above Chief Joseph and (possibly) above Grand Coulee dams as part of a “cultural release” if those salmon pass a screening for Infectious Hematopoietic Necrosis virus, a virus found in trout and salmon. CTFW director Randall Friedlander presented a 2019 Fish Passage plan to the Colville Business Council Natural Resource Committee, Tuesday. “We’re to the point that we could have fish ready to move by the end of this month or the first part of August,” said Friedlander, who noted the fish will be tested at Wells Hatchery on “a Monday or Tuesday. We won’t know the results until probably Wednesday or Thursday.” Pacific Aquaculture, which produces fish in Lake Rufus Woods above Chief Joseph Dam, has started inoculating their stock for IHN, but the private company will not complete their inoculation until next year, according to Friedlander. The movement of salmon into Lake Rufus Woods would represent the first migratory salmon above Chief Joseph Dam in 64 years. The movement of salmon to Lake Roosevelt or the lake’s tributaries would represent the first migratory salmon above Grand Coulee Dam in 77 years. The salmon would be from a surplus of the current summer Chinook run up the Columbia River, and CTFW’s Kirk Truscott stated the number of fish available could be as high as 500. In past years, surplus salmon had been distributed to the Colville tribal membership, and some of this year’s surplus is expected to be used for that purpose. According to Friedlander, the tribe currently has a state license to move the fish from the Wells Hatchery to Lake Rufus Woods and the CTFW director stated the tribe would work to get a second state permit to move the salmon above Grand Coulee Dam to Lake Roosevelt as well. Friedlander defined a cultural releases as a salmon release with the intent of “reconnecting traditionally with the resource and creating awareness of fish passage.” The director and others present noted a desire to hold a ceremonial event representing the occasion. “Because an event like this taking place is so significant, because we haven’t had fish above Chief Joseph, or above Grand Coulee Dam, in so long, being a reintroduction there does, in my eyes, need to be something done as far as recognizing that we are trying to help the salmon be brought back up there,” said Colville tribal member Jim Andrews. “I can only speak on my behalf,” said Andrews. “The way I see it is at least before they are released, something I would do is just sing a song for them and let them go. Acknowledge that yes we are helping them up there.” CTFW has published a call for input that reads, “The Colville Tribes’ Fish and Wildlife Department (CTFW) is seeking input from tribal elders and other interested tribal members regarding the first return of salmon above Chief Joseph Dam in 64 years and Grand Coulee Dam in 77 years.  A cultural release is being planned and we welcome your input. Our planning meeting will be held in the Auditorium, Lucy Covington Building (main floor) on Tuesday, July 23 from 12 noon to 2pm.

July 9, 2019

A photo taken of the southern resident killer whale known as J17 on New Year's Eve showed the 42-year-old female with so-called peanut head, a sign of starvation. J17 was not seen with the rest of her pod when researchers saw the family group on July 6, 2019. 

Two southern resident killer whales last seen in deteriorating health are now missing from their family groups.

Researchers with the Centre for Whale Research spotted J pod and K pod in Haro Strait over the weekend, but two orcas, J17 and K25, weren't with their families.

The centre hasn't declared the whales dead, but biologist Michael Weiss said "it's not looking good."

"These were two whales we were already really worried about. They were looking pretty emaciated, so to have them be the two that we can't seem to find in these groups is pretty alarming," Weiss said Tuesday.

K16 and K35, members of K pod, seen in Haro Strait on July 6, 2019. Their relative, K25, hasn't been seen since January and was not with the rest of the pod. 

The biologist said J17 hasn't been seen in weeks. The last photos of her show the 42-year-old female with peanut head — a misshapen head and neck caused by starvation.

K25 was emaciated when last seen in January. It's believed the 28-year-old male had been struggling to forage on its own after losing its mother, K13, in 2017. 

K25 has been tracked using aerial photographs since 2008. Scientists say the whale looks significantly thinner than in previous years when photographed in January. 

Weiss said it's common for male killer whales, which are extremely dependent on their mothers for food, to have trouble feeding in the first two to three years after the mother dies.

"There's a danger period," Weiss said.

Aerial images of J17, from September 2015 to May 2019. The latest images show she is emaciated and with signs of "peanut head" because of a drastic loss of fat. 

Weiss said the pods have left the mainland area, but researchers will continue to look for the missing whales when the groups return.

A week before researchers realized two adult whales are missing, they celebrated spotting all three pods that make up the endangered southern resident killer whale population.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans said in a tweet on Friday that they were happy to report researchers had encountered members of J, K and L pods off the west coast of Vancouver Island.

It said experts also saw a new calf swimming with its mother, J31.

The endangered whales had disappeared for much of June from their usual summer location off the southern end of Vancouver Island and around the U.S. San Juan Islands.

The residents are listed as a species at risk in Canada with just 75 left.

Contact: Kayeloni Scott, 208.621.4772, kayelonis@nezperce.org, www.nezperce.org

December 17, 2018

Agreement Increases Certainty of Beneficial Fish Operations and Sets Aside Litigation During the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Remand Period

Tribe Continues to Focus on Ensuring Full Analysis of Lower Snake River Dam Breaching

Lapwai, Idaho – Oregon, Washington, and the Nez Perce Tribe have reached agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bonneville Power Administration and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on fish passage spill operations at the mainstem Columbia and lower Snake River Dams for 2019-2021. This interim agreement increases the certainty of beneficial fish operations for juvenile fish passage in 2019-2021 using flexible spill and power principles, setting aside litigation until the completion of analysis of these dam operations required by the National Environmental Policy Act.

“The Nez Perce Tribe is pleased that this collaboration resulted in spill operations that are designed to benefit juvenile salmon passage in the interim, as the Tribe continues working to address the significant fish mortality from the dams and ensure a full analysis of lower Snake River dam breaching,” said Shannon F. Wheeler, Chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee.

The Nez Perce Tribe, as a fisheries co-manager, is actively involved in all aspects of salmon recovery in all forums to help rebuild natural runs to healthy, harvestable levels. The Tribe has actively participated in litigation concerning the impacts of the mainstem Columbia and Snake River dams on fish. The Nez Perce Tribe is also actively participating in the court-ordered NEPA remand process to advance and protect the Tribe’s interests. The Tribe has long supported breaching the four lower Snake River dams.

November 2, 2018

The Columbia Basin Bulletin

With continued low returns of summer steelhead into the Snake River and its tributaries, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife this week extended its one hatchery fish bag limit through the end of the year.

The Oregon one fish bag limit was set to expire Oct. 31, but underperforming steelhead runs across the Columbia River basin and numbers of steelhead in the Snake River have not proven strong enough to increase the bag limit, prompting the fish and wildlife agency to retain its one hatchery fish limit.

“Steelhead and salmon runs have been an overall disappointment this year, but we feel we can still offer some opportunity while meeting broodstock requirements and reducing impacts on wild fish,” said Kyle Bratcher, Acting District Fish Biologist in Enterprise, Ore. “Low densities of fish in the river will generally reduce interactions with wild fish but this regulation takes it a step further by reducing fishing effort as fish are caught.”

Snake River steelhead are crossing Lower Granite Dam, the upper of four lower Snake River dams, at less than 35 percent of the 10-year average, ODFW said in a news release Wednesday, Oct. 31.

Some 49,122 steelhead had passed Lower Granite Dam as of Oct. 31; 10,814 of the fish were wild. Last year on the same date the count was 72,327, with 13,877 wild. The 10-year average is 149,971, with 39,708 wild fish.

See the Northeast Zone Fishing Report in the Recreation Report for regulations.

The one bag limit regulation applies to the Snake River from the state line with Washington to Hells Canyon Dam, the Imnaha River, Big Sheep Creek, Grande Ronde River, Catherine Creek, Wallowa River and the Wenaha River.

Idaho Department of Fish and Game is also continuing its one hatchery fish bag limit on the same stretch of the Snake River through the end of December.