News Articles

Tuesday, October 7, 2025
By Matthew Weaver

Dam advocates placed a full-page advertisement in the Seattle Times last week asking Oregon and Washington’s governors to seek conversation, not lawsuits.

Oregon and Washington’s governors answered by saying it was the Trump administration’s decision to leave the December 2023 agreement negotiated between the Biden administration, several Pacific Northwest Tribes and their states.

“The Trump administration’s decision to walk away from the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement — without even contacting Washington, Oregon or the tribal signatories — ensured we ended up back in court,” Dan Jackson, deputy communications manager with Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson’s office, told Capital Press. “The agreement kept us out of the courtroom by creating a constructive partnership to address these issues without litigation. The administration made this choice.”

“The state of Oregon remains committed to a negotiated solution for Columbia Basin salmon recovery; it is precisely why the state of Oregon entered the 2023 agreement in good faith,” said Anca Matica, spokesperson for Oregon Governor Tina Kotek’s office. “The Trump Administration chose to walk away from that partnership, not us.”

The state will use every tool available, including litigation, to prevent extinction, Matica said.

“That said, our door remains open to anyone serious about achieving healthy and abundant salmon populations through real solutions and genuine partnership,” she said.

The ad was signed by the Northwest Public Power Association, Northwest River Partners, The Public Power Council, the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association’s Inland Ports and Navigation Group and Washington Association of Wheat Growers.

Several of the groups were intervenor defendants in the negotiation process, but felt shut out or ignored.

“We may not get a direct response, but we do want to impress upon Governors Kotek and Ferguson the sincerity of our organizations to collaborate on solutions that protect salmon while preserving reliable, carbon-free hydropower and maintaining efficient, sustainable river navigation,” said Leslie Druffel, co-chair for the navigation group. “We are eager to build new partnerships and strengthen existing relationships that allow all of us to achieve our respective goals.”

‘The science is clear’

Ferguson’s office has “regular” conversations with the groups, voicing the same concerns that appear in the ad, Jackson said.

“Endangered salmon and steelhead stocks on the upper Columbia and Snake River remain far below historical levels,” Jackson said. “Adding healthier salmon populations to inflate the numbers doesn’t change the fact that none of the listed populations have made meaningful progress toward healthier numbers in decades.”

“The science is clear: While total salmon numbers include both hatchery and wild fish, we must look at individual stocks as the Endangered Species Act requires,” Matica said. “The state of Oregon Governor’s Office is committed to continuing to work with regional sovereigns, stakeholders, and communities to ensure healthy and abundant fish.”

Irrigators’ perspective

Darryll Olsen, board representative for the Columbia Snake River Irrigators Association, called the advertisement, and the groups’ arguments about secret negotiations, “complete propaganda, as far removed from the truth as they can possibly be.”

The irrigators association was another intervenor defendant in the mediation process. They support the December 2023 agreement. Its members irrigate about 300,000 acres of Eastern Washington crop, vineyard and orchard lands.

Olsen argues that the dam advocacy groups “were offered every opportunity to convey their positions, or state alternatives, during multiple mediation sessions.”

The groups’ dissatisfaction with the litigation settlement agreement “made no sense whatsoever,” as it put a hold for five to 10 years on any decision regarding dam breaching, Olsen said.

“The intervenor defendants are the ones that goaded the Trump administration into canceling the regional process that was in play,” he said. “That was the opportunity to discuss things, and they basically executed it. That’s just complete hypocrisy.”

In a press release, the irrigators association affirmed its support for the 2023 agreement and the litigation pause, and called for continued “good-faith regional collaboration.”

“CSRIA supported the mediated settlement because it provided a structured, regional review process and avoided immediate, economically disruptive outcomes,” the press release states. “CSRIA will keep listening to plaintiffs and partners and work toward a durable regional solution."

Capital Press: Governors respond to ad placed by dam advocates

As local religious leaders give a blessing, people touch a totem pole created to generate awareness of the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule and the effects its possible rescission could have on forests. © Nathan Wilson

By Nathan Wilson Columbia Gorge News
Sep 23, 2025

HOOD RIVER — With President Donald Trump and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins moving to rescind the roadless rule, more than 100 people gathered at the Rockford Grange last Monday to submit comments in opposition and celebrate a totem pole specially carved for the cause.

Enacted in 2001, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule still protects about 45 million acres of largely untouched, federally-owned forests from roadbuilding and logging nationwide, including about 2 million acres each in Oregon and Washington, along with parts of the National Scenic Area. Rollins made the announcement, which paralleled Trump’s executive order to ramp up domestic timber production, on June 23, and the three-week period to issue public comment ended Sept. 19.

To stave off the potential rollback, House of Tears Carvers from the Lummi Nation, comprised of several tribes rooted in Washington’s northernmost coast and southern British Columbia, organized a nine-stop totem pole journey across the Northwest with Se’Si’Le, an Indigenous-led nonprofit.

Called Xaalh and The Way of the Masks, one of several campaigns since 2001, the 12-foot cedar totem depicts a bear transforming into a human, or vice versa, which is an important symbol from the legend “Bear and the Steelhead.”

As the tale goes, Bear is not allowed to hunt or fish while his wife is pregnant because of an agreement made with Salmon Woman, who let her children live in the village waters under certain conditions. Feeling the urge to provide for his wife, though, Bear went fishing one day. As he touched each of the children in their beds, Chinook, Sockeye and so on, all of their siblings downstream died, but it was no matter to Bear. He didn’t touch Steelhead, however, and that’s why, to this day, only Steelhead lives after swimming upriver to spawn.

“We live in a world where we are the pigs of the world. We consume more, waste more than any other people on Earth. Now, what type of example are we to the rest of the world? They need this forest,” said Jewell James, who carved the totem. “You should only take what you need and leave some for the seven generations away. You should leave more for them than you had when you came into this life.”

James explained that the totem pole represents transformation, a reminder that we must learn to love and work together. As he spoke, those listening filled out postcards destined for Washington, D.C., each with a short note on why they believed the roadless rule should remain in place.

“This move opens a new era of consistency and sustainability for our nation’s forests. It is abundantly clear that properly managing our forests preserves them from devastating fires and allows future generations of Americans to enjoy and reap the benefits of this great land,” Rollins said in a statement.

According to a 2020 study by the United States Forest Service (USFS), which Rollins oversees, a lack of roads has not hindered fire prevention efforts — historical fire maps indicate that forests with and without road have burned at similar rates since 2001 — and roads are strongly correlated with the spread of invasive species in national forests. Roadbuilding also increases erosion, affecting water quality and salmon, among other impacts.

While largely a result of the Northwest Forest Plan, total timber harvest in Oregon and Washington has dropped significantly since the late 1980s, particularly in national forests, according to data compiled by USFS. That’s had a severe impact on logging-depending communities like Skamania County, but James and the Lummi Nation see the roadless rule repeal as an irreversible step backward.

“When the government fails, whether that’s Democrats, Republicans, the House or the Senate, the presidency or the Supreme Court, the last power is the people,” James said. “You have to believe in your constitutional power. That’s your constitution. It’s a living document, so long as you exercise your right to vote.”

Apart from James, several organizations also spoke about their support for the roadless rule, including the nonprofits Save Our Wild Salmon, Friends of the Columbia Gorge and Columbia Riverkeeper.

“These forests offer critical habitat to countless species,” said Abby Dalke, the outreach coordinator for Save Our Wild Salmon. “Forests provide carbon sequestration and canopy cover in the face of a changing climate. Our forests are worth more standing, and we need to make sure they remain intact.”

James asked that everyone persuade at least 10 others to send letters as he wrapped up speaking, then the group went outside to bless the totem pole, led by Bethel’s Pastor Andy Wade, Pastor Miranda Bermes from Spirit of Grace and Thich Minh Tinh with the Mount Adams Buddhist Temple. James also presented Mayor Paul Blackburn with a ceremonial mask.

In order to successfully rescind the roadless rule, USFS must produce two environmental impact statements, the first of which includes another public comment period. The final rule is then subject to congressional review and potential litigation; all told, the process may last well into 2026 or longer.

As for the totem pole journey, James and Se’Si’Le headed to Idaho next before the totem arrived at its final resting place: with the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe near Port Angeles, Washington.

“Words are easy. It’s hard to commit,” said James. “It’s hard to put words that you speak into real action.”

Columbia Gorge News: Lummi Nation totem pole visits Hood River, drums up opposition to potential roadless rule recission

Hydroelectric dams harming salmon

September 15, 2025
By Mathias Lehman-Winters

On Thursday, Oregon, Washington, and four Lower Columbia River tribes announced they would resume litigation against the federal government over its hydroelectric dam operations in the region that have harmed salmon runs.

The move comes after the Trump administration pulled out of an agreement with Northwest states, environmental groups and the Lower Columbia River tribes; The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation; the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation; the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon; and the Nez Perce Tribe.

The renewed litigation aims to require the federal government to operate hydropower systems in a way that assists salmon migration downstream.

In a statement, Governor Tina Kotek said the state must move to protect salmon.

“Extinction of iconic Columbia River salmon runs is not an option; we can have both healthy and abundant fish runs and power to meet our growing energy needs,” Kotek said. “Working with the sovereign tribes and state of Washington, I have directed staff and agencies to protect existing salmon runs and advocate for sustainable salmon population restoration.”

In 2023, Oregon, Washington, and the four Lower Columbia Treaty Tribes created the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative, putting decades of litigation on hold and aiming to restore salmon runs and design a hydropower plan that honors treaty obligations.

Later that year, the federal government committed to short-term protections for salmon. The agreement put a pause on litigation — a pause which is now over. Tanya Riordan, policy and advocacy director with Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition, said she was appreciative of the leadership being shown by Oregon, Washington, tribal partners and non-governmental organization plaintiffs. “The resilient Columbia Basin agreement, it was an important and historic first step towards implementing the necessary measures to protect and restore endangered salmon in the Columbia and Snake rivers,” Riordan said. “In the absence of that federal agreement, because the Trump administration rescinded it, it’s important to ensure urgent actions are taken to protect salmon that are on the brink of extinction.”

Riordan said the plaintiffs are left with no option but to return to court and request injunctive relief to “stop and slow the … extinction.”

Daily Astorian: Oregon, tribes return to court to save Columbia River salmon from extinction

Algae in Iron Gate Reservoir © EcoFlight

By K.C. Mehaffey
Sep 8, 2025

Water temperatures in the Klamath River are responding to last year’s removal of four hydroelectric dams in ways that scientists say are beneficial to salmon, steelhead and other aquatic life.

Researchers and salmon managers are also seeing a lower prevalence of Ceratonova shasta (C. shasta), a parasite that has plagued juvenile salmon downstream of the stretch of river where the dams were removed (Clearing Up No. 2006).

Outbreaks of harmful algal blooms that prompted public health advisories are smaller and less frequent.

“If the dams remained in place, in the face of climate change all of those water quality impairments would have gotten worse,” said Crystal Robinson, Klamath Watershed program manager for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“We’re just opening up that river to be free-flowing, and basically just allowing it to do its normal hydrological things: scour the river, help with fish disease, help with the temperature aspect and get rid of blue-green algae,” she told Clearing Up.

The four dams—Iron Gate, Copco 1, Copco 2 and J.C. Boyle—were in a 38-mile stretch of the Klamath River, and their reservoirs covered about 2,200 acres of land.

In November 2023, the Klamath River Renewal Corporation took over the license of the dams [P-14803] from PacifiCorp after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the license surrenders and plans for the dams’ removals.

Last year, KRRC began drawing down the reservoirs in January. They were drained in time for spring runoff.

The removal work was completed in September 2024, and a contractor—Resource Environmental Solutions (RES)—oversees the multiyear restoration.

In its first year as a free-flowing river, scientists are already seeing dramatic changes in average daily water temperatures in the stretch of river. In general, the river warms up sooner in the spring, cools off sooner in the fall, and has much greater fluctuations between daytime and nighttime temperatures throughout the year.

Average daily Klamath River temperatures at the Iron Gate gauge. Resource Environmental Solutions

Caitlin Boise, the Klamath project’s water quality technical lead for RES, and Dan Chase, director of fisheries, aquatics and design for RES’ Western Region, teamed up to answer Clearing Up’s questions about the importance of the temperature changes in the Klamath River, and what they mean to salmonids and other aquatic life.

“Temperature influences nearly all chemical, physical, and biological processes in rivers,” the RES team told Clearing Up in an email. “These can include everything from the amount of oxygen the water can hold, to the rate of chemical reactions like decomposition of organic material, to the habitat that is actually available to fish and other aquatic species, to the speed at which fish and other aquatic organisms grow.”

In 2024 and 2025, temperatures at the former Iron Gate Dam reached 50 degrees Fahrenheit about one month earlier compared to 2023—the year prior to the drawdowns and dam removals.

Warmer spring water temperature can boost growth for emerging salmonids rearing in the river, according to a KRRC newsletter.

Robinson noted that means these young fish are ready to migrate downstream sooner, diminishing their chances of interacting with the C. shasta parasite.

She said the prevalence of C. shasta in juvenile salmon was lower this year compared to previous years.

Robinson said in the summer, the slow-moving reservoirs created an environment that allowed blue-green algae to thrive. For several years, parts of the Klamath River have been posted with public health warnings for people and pets to stay away from the toxic algal blooms.

“We’ve eliminated that public health threat,” she said, adding that fish exposed to the algal blooms can also have high levels of toxins.

Conditions are also better for fish in the fall.

In 2024, the water at the Iron Gate gauge cooled about a month earlier compared to 2023, reducing the potential for disease and thermal stress. Cooler water can also be a cue for migration and spawning, the newsletter noted.

“Basically, the reservoirs were creating conditions for fish where the temperatures were inhospitable during migration,” Robinson said.

She said this year, during the first week of September, a heat wave prompted salmon and steelhead migrating up the Klamath River to hold in place at the mouth of the Salmon River, where colder water was coming out of that tributary.

But as air temperatures cool back down, the river upstream will respond quickly, convincing the fish to continue their migration, she noted.

“That’s one of the things that we can see from the data that’s changed,” Robinson said.

Another benefit to fish is the daily fluctuations in temperature throughout the year.

In 2024, the average daily fluctuations at Iron Gate increased to about 5 F, compared to 1.75 F in 2023, and similar results are expected once the full dataset is available this year.

These fluctuations are important to native fish and salmonids because it gives them options, the RES team said.

“Cooler temperatures at night in a healthy river allow fish to more freely and easily move around the system. This increases the area they have access to forage as they are no longer restricted to small pockets of temperature refugia that remain isolated through the night. This also allows fish to redistribute and can help with density-related pressures like food availability and disease burden,” the team said.

The RES team said that Iron Gate is the point of comparison because it was the compliance dam for the Lower Klamath Project and has a long-term record. It was also “the end of the road for fish and now it’s the open gate.”

However, the team is seeing similar changes in temperatures downstream of the Copco 1 location, with temperatures warming up to a month in the spring, and cooling up to a month earlier in the fall, and daily fluctuations of about 4.8 F.

“The reach downstream of J.C. Boyle is unique in that there are a series of naturally occurring cold-water springs that make this one of the coldest stretches of river,” they noted, adding, “This is a crucial benefit of the project: fish again have access to this cool, high-quality habitat for the first time in over one hundred years.”

It’s not too soon to compare temperatures from before and after the dam removal, they said. And—with the massive restoration work to replant native grasses, trees and other plants, they’re expecting to see these temperature changes improve as the vegetation matures.

And while temperatures have improved in the stretch of river where the dams were removed, warm water is still coming downstream from Keno Dam. However, cold-water contributions below Keno dam—like J.C. Boyle Springs and Fall Creek—are no longer being lost and warmed in the reservoirs, the team said.

Along with passage—which did not exist while the dams were in place—the improved temperature regime and other environmental changes are expected to help salmon, steelhead and other native fish recolonize the upper Klamath River now, and in the years to come.

“We’re only 11 months past the completion of dam removal, and only several months since the first cohort of fish spawned in the newly reconnected habitat,” the RES team noted.

These salmonids now have hundreds of miles of habitat for adults to spawn, and for juveniles to feed and grow. And with the removal of reservoirs that provided habitat for nonnative fish, removing the dams also prevents some of their competitors and predators from continuing to thrive, they said.

News Data: Klamath River Water Temperatures Responding to Dam Removal

Columbia River tribes, Oregon, Washington and conservationists ask judge to lift litigation stay following Trump admin decision to kill agreement

Credit: Ecoflight

By Eric Barker | Outdoor and Environmental Editor
September 12, 2025

Columbia River tribes along with the states of Oregon and Washington asked a federal judge Thursday to lift a stay blocking further litigation over harm caused to salmon and steelhead by federal dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers.

The expected move was spurred by President Donald Trump’s executive order in June that torpedoed an agreement the plaintiffs had made with the Biden Administration to study dam removal on the Snake River while funding salmon recovery and tribal renewable energy projects.

According to documents filed Thursday in Oregon District Court, attorneys for plaintiffs and the federal government have agreed to a schedule that would resume legal filings in the case as soon as Oct. 8.

Shannon Wheeler, chairperson of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee, said salmon remain in danger of extinction and the status quo is neither alleviating that risk nor moving them toward recovery.

“If this wasn’t the answer to solving the problem, then what is,” he said. “We have to try to do whatever we can for the species.”

The 2023 agreement that was signed by the Nez Perce and other tribes in the basin was seen by salmon advocates as a breakthrough in their decades-long effort to recover wild salmon and steelhead that are protected by the Endangered Species Act. While it did not authorize dam breaching, it did call for studies focused on how to replace barging, power generation and irrigation made possible the dams. It also pledged $1 billion in spending on salmon recovery and renewable energy development. In exchange, the plaintiffs agreed to pause litigation in a three-decades-old case for at least five years.

The agreement was decried by agricultural groups, power interests and others who said they would be harmed by dam breaching and were not included in the talks that led to it.

In June, Trump directed members of his cabinet to withdraw from the agreement, calling it part of a “radical green agenda.”

In their motion Thursday, attorneys for the plaintiffs noted that when federal Judge Michael Simon at Portland approved the stay, he wrote it would serve the “orderly course of justice” as both sides seek remedies outside of the courtroom. With the Trump administration killing the agreement, they argued the stay no longer meets that standard.

“The Trump administration’s recent actions leave us with no choice but to return to court,” Earthjustice Attorney Amanda Goodin said in a news release. “Since this administration has reneged on this carefully negotiated agreement — with no alternative plan to restore our imperiled salmon and steelhead — we find ourselves once again on a course towards extinction of these critically important species. Earthjustice and our plaintiffs, alongside state and tribal partners, have spent decades protecting Pacific Northwest salmon and steelhead — and we won’t back down now.”

The legal fight over how much blame for dwindling wild salmon and steelhead runs should be placed on dams has been going on for more than 30 years. Salmon advocates have successfully challenged multiple iterations of the federal government’s plan to operate the dams while also trying to reduce the harm they cause to fish. Simon and his predecessor Judge James Redden have ruled the government’s plans that have dismissed dam breaching in favor actions like restoration of spawning habitat and spill water at the dams have not met the standards of the Endangered Species Act.

The latest version of that plan was written during Trump’s first term and prior to the agreement struck by the Biden administration, was being challenged by the tribes, conservation and fishing groups and the state of Oregon.

Moscow-Pullman: Tribes, states push to revive Snake and Columbia River salmon lawsuit after Trump order

Environmental groups backed by Northwest states and four Lower Columbia River tribes are moving to lift a pause on litigation after the Trump administration withdrew from a “historic” deal.

Credit: Ecoflight

By: Alex Baumhardt and Emily Fitzgerald
September 11, 2025

Northwest states, tribes and environmental groups will resume suing the federal government over its hydroelectric dam operations in the Columbia River Basin that have harmed endangered native fish species.

The move comes after the Trump administration in June withdrew from a “historic” deal made two years ago, when President Joe Biden was in office. This agreement called for putting long-running legal battles aside and investing in the restoration of endangered Columbia River fish runs.

Behind the litigation are 10 environmental groups backed by Oregon, Washington and four Lower Columbia River tribes: The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon and the Nez Perce Tribe.

Court fights over the dams had gone on for more than three decades before the pause. Now, they are back on, according to Amanda Goodin, an attorney with the environmental law group Earthjustice, which filed a motion Thursday in U.S. District Court in Oregon to end the multi-year pause on a 2021 lawsuit.

“The Trump administration’s recent actions leave us with no choice but to return to court,” she said.

On Oct. 8, Earthjustice will officially resume its lawsuit, spokesperson Elizabeth Manning said.

Earthjustice’s plaintiffs include the National Wildlife Federation, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Institute for Fisheries Resources, Sierra Club, Idaho Rivers United, Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association, NW Energy Coalition, Columbia Riverkeeper, Idaho Conservation League and Fly Fishers International, Inc.

Oregon’s attorney general, Dan Rayfield, said in a statement that Oregon, too, was ready to resume legal action.

“The federal government has put salmon and steelhead on the brink of extinction and once again broken promises to tribal partners. Extinction is not an option. Oregon will return to court to hold the federal government accountable and ensure these iconic fish runs have a future,” he said.

White House spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Thursday.

The 2023 Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement involved pausing active Snake River litigation for a minimum of five years while the federal government worked with tribes and states on a plan to advance recovery of native fish populations in the Columbia Basin.

At the heart of the issue are four Snake River dams that provide irrigation and emissions-free hydropower for nearby communities, but have also contributed to the near extinction of 13 salmon and steelhead populations that return to the Columbia Basin from the Pacific Ocean to spawn.

The fish are important to tribal health and sovereignty and to basin ecosystems, and the declines are hitting southern resident orcas off the coasts of British Columbia, Washington and Oregon that rely on salmon for food and that are federally listed as endangered.

“These wild native fish are essential to tribal cultures and important to sport, commercial, and tribal fishing communities and economies throughout the Pacific Northwest.  We can and must do better,” said Bill Arthur, the director of the Sierra Club’s campaign to protect salmon in the Snake and Columbia rivers.

The Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative included a roadmap for salmon and steelhead recovery, as well as steps to replace the energy, transportation, irrigation, and recreation services provided by the four lower Snake River dams so they could potentially be breached.

The agreement was a way to increase salmon populations and fishing opportunities while improving public services, cutting taxpayer subsidies and meeting promises made to the tribes, according to Mike Leahy, senior director of wildlife, hunting and fishing policy for the National Wildlife Federation.

In June, President Donald Trump signed a memorandum withdrawing the federal government’s support from the agreement, calling it “radical environmentalism” and saying completion of the restoration initiative would “be devastating for the region.”

“It’s been disappointing to see the federal government overrule all the progress made in the region in favor of returning to court,” Leahy said.

U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, a Republican who represents central Washington, is a staunch supporter of the hydropower dams. He is pushing a bill in Congress that would block federal funds from being used to tear down the Snake River dams or to study removing or altering them.

“Extreme environmentalist groups are once again trying to breach the Lower Snake River dams through litigation,” Newhouse said in an emailed statement on Friday. “The Lower Snake River dams are vital to our way of life in the Pacific Northwest, and I oppose any and all efforts to breach these critical pieces of infrastructure.”

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said in a statement that renewing the lawsuit is necessary to protect natural resources, preserve fish runs, and hold the federal government responsible.

“President Trump walking away from these commitments presents a very real threat at a time when the fish are on the brink of extinction. It also continues our nation’s shameful legacy of broken promises to sovereign tribal nations that this partnership sought to repair,” she said.

While environmental groups agree that going back to court is an essential next step, they have committed to finding other ways to continue restoring the Columbia Basin while the lawsuits are ongoing.

“We will nevertheless keep working with sovereigns and stakeholders across the Northwest to find real solutions to restore healthy, abundant salmon and bring our communities forward together,” said Columbia Riverkeeper Legal Director Miles Johnson.

WA State Standard: Lawsuits against federal government over Columbia Basin dams to resume