Wild Salmon & Steelhead News

Wild Salmon & Steelhead News is published regularly by the Save Our wild Salmon Coalition. Read on to learn about the Columbia-Snake River Basin’s endangered wild salmon and steelhead, the many benefits they deliver to people and ecosystems, and the extinction crisis they face today - unless we act! Find out how SOS is helping lead efforts to restore health, connectivity, and resilience to the rivers and streams these fish depend upon in the Columbia-Snake Basin and how you can get involved to help restore healthy, abundant, and harvestable populations and sustain more just and prosperous communities. To learn more and/or get involved, contact Martha Campos.

Table of Contents:

1. 'Get Out The Vote' & Unite for our home, lands, water, salmon, orca, and each other! 
2. New Southern Resident calf born into L Pod
3. Coming soon: 2026 'Hot Water Report' for the lower Snake and Columbia rivers
4. Northwest Power and Conservation Council adopts a new 2026 Fish & Wildlife Program and works to create a Regional Power Plan
5. Finding Current: Spring Chinook salmon and the Tucannon River - by Don J. Miller
6. Join summer advocacy events!
7. Salmon Media Round-up 

1. 'Get Out The Vote' & Unite for our home, lands, water, salmon, orca, and each other! 

This month, we launched our 'Get Out the Vote' (GOTV) Campaign! In partnership with over 35 organizations, coupled with beautiful artwork, we’ve developed posters, voter resource cards, stickers and a pledge to vote - to inspire and encourage people to unite and vote for our home, lands, waters, salmon, orca, and each other.

Participating in elections is essential for a healthy and just society and for re-imagining and resetting our relationships with each other and the natural world upon which we depend. Voting is at the heart of our democracy in the U.S., and yet, recent data shows that midterm elections see less than half of the voting-eligible population participate. Our democracy today is fragile and in peril, and it is paramount that we all participate in order to uphold it.

Please join us in making waves this election season! We’re seeking volunteers this summer to help distribute and display posters in visible locations across our region - encouraging folks to vote with wild salmon, orcas and healthy communities in mind! Click here to sign up to volunteer with us and receive a beuatiful VOTE t-shirt, with artwork by Washington State artist Sue Coccia!

Visit wildsalmon.org/vote to join upcoming GOTV events, sign the pledge to vote with salmon and orca in mind this fall, and start creating your voting plan and encouraging others to do the same!

GET OUT THE VOTE

2026 Poster Artwork by © Ramon Shiloh, ©Kat Martin, ©Oonaugh Foster-Bill, ©Aiden Pando, ©Lynn McClain

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2. New Southern Resident calf born into L Pod

L130 ©Center for Whale Research

On June 14th and 15th, the Center for Whale Research (CWR) scientists observed a new Southern Resident orca calf, designated L130, when members of J and L pods traveled through the Salish Sea. Based on the calf's size, behavior, and physical characteristics, CWR estimates the calf is between 1 and 3 months old!

"Every calf matters," said Darren Croft, Executive Director of the Center for Whale Research, in an email. "This birth is a reminder of both the resilience of these whales and the responsibility we all share to ensure their future."

During CWR’s observation of the Southern Residents, biologists could not locate L129, an L pod calf that was first spotted in February. Only about half of the calves born into the Southern Residents survive through their first year, due to intertwined threats, said Michael Weiss, Research Director for CWR, in a Seattle Times article.

The news of L130's birth and L129's absence comes at a time when researchers, advocates, and a growing community of committed orca advocates are raising awareness about the threats facing Southern Resident orcas during Orca Action Month. The Southern Residents' survival depends upon coast-wide and year-round Chinook salmon abundance, with historically important river systems including the Fraser, Columbia-Snake, and Klamath River Basins.

Scientists agree that essential actions to recover Southern Residents must prioritize rebuilding abundant key Chinook salmon stocks by removing the four lower Snake River dams to restore Snake River salmon runs, restoring salmon habitats across the Columbia-Snake River Basin, and protecting marine habitats in order to increase Southern Residents’ ability to sustain themselves and rebuild their numbers.

Learn more about endangered Southern Resident orcas on Orca Action Month’s opening webinar, featuring experts and advocates who discuss important state and federal legislation impacting Southern Resident orcas, the importance of voting this fall, and how you can get involved.

WATCH THE WEBINAR RECORDING

Learn more:

• Seattle Times: New southern resident orca calf spotted as another vanishes
• Center for Whale Research: Southern Resident orca interactive map, where you can read more about encountered orcas and immerse yourself in the stories and photographs from these memorable days on the water.
• Orca Behavior Institute: StoryMap: Southern Resident Killer Whales: 20 Years Endangered

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3. Coming soon: the 2026 'Hot Water Report' for the lower Snake and Columbia rivers 

Save Our wild Salmon and coalition partners will soon kick off our annual summer series: Hot Water Report: Warming Waters in the Lower Snake and Columbia Rivers.

We first launched the Hot Water Report 11 years ago to document and raise awareness about the devastating river conditions salmon and steelhead face in their migration to and from the ocean. The lower Snake River dams transformed a healthy, free-flowing and life-giving river into a series of large, warm, stagnant reservoirs — creating an unhealthy and unnatural ecosystem that now supports large toxic algal blooms in summer and fall — that harms salmon, steelhead, other fish and wildlife, and nearby communities.

Once-abundant anadromous fish in the Snake River must now pass through eight federal dams and their increasingly hot, stagnant reservoirs as juvenile and adult fish attempt to complete their journey to and from the Pacific Ocean. Scientists have identified the 68°F threshold as the biological limit that water temperatures must not exceed in order to protect salmon and steelhead.

In addition to the harms to already-imperiled fish populations caused by the federal hydropower system in the Columbia and Snake rivers, we expect 2026 to be a year of extremely challenging river conditions. Scientists are predicting a return of El Niño this summer — which can include extreme heatwaves and heatdomes, produce widespread toxic algal blooms, increase ocean temperatures affecting young salmon growth and survival, and intensify on-going drought, low snowpack, and low river flows. All of this is expected to significantly increase mortality of juvenile and adult salmon and steelhead.

Stay tuned as we launch the Hot Water Report, where we will track water temperatures in real-time and highlight related issues and challenges facing the Columbia and Snake rivers, including the opportunities to improve them in order to recover healthy, resilient fish populations and the benefits they deliver to the Northwest and nation’s economy, ecology and culture.

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4. Northwest Power and Conservation Council adopts a new 2026 Fish & Wildlife Program and begins works to update its Regional Power Plan

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council (NPCC) recently finalized its 2026 Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Program. Thousands of salmon and orca advocates and scores of regional NGO’s invested a tremendous effort to encourage the Council to develop a robust comprehensive Fish & Wildlife Program that would uphold the obligations defined in the Power Act to “protect, mitigate, and enhance” fish and wildlife populations impacted by hydropower operations in the Columbia Basin at this critical time.

The new Program includes many of the recommendations that had been submitted by regional Tribal and state fishery experts. Importantly, it also soundly rejected Bonneville Power Administration’s (BPA) cynical request to abandon its long-held 5 million annual adult fish return goal for the Columbia Basin and absolve BPA of any legal requirement to help to meet that goal. Tragically, the Northwest has not made meaningful progress in the past 20+ years to meet the Council’s interim goal of 5 million fish annually. BPA and the federal hydro-system operations has long been - and today continues to be - the most significant contributors to declining fish populations and river health in the basin.

Unfortunately, the Council failed to include State and Tribal fisheries managers’ recommendation to provide 'maximum spill' at the eight federal dams on the lower Snake and Columbia rivers during the month of August. Regional scientists broadly support spill as one of our most effective near-term tools to boost the survival of imperiled salmon and steelhead, especially in the face of the deadly warming river conditions they are expected to encounter this summer.

The adoption of the 2026 Fish & Wildlife Program has come at a critical time. Fish must run the gantlet of the federal dams and reservoirs, drought conditions, low snowpack, and the return of a strong El Niño that can bring with it heatwaves, toxic algal blooms, and increased temperatures in the Pacific Ocean that harm salmon’s growth and survival. As a result, many scientists fear high mortality for juvenile and adult salmon and steelhead in 2026 across the Northwest. Stronger policies and higher levels of funding will be needed in the years ahead if we hope to protect imperiled salmon from extinction and begin to rebuild abundant and fishable populations. This will require increased leadership not only from the Power and Conservation Council, but also from Congress and federal agencies, as well as BPA’s commitment to salmon recovery.

Read our full press release on the Council’s Fish & Wildlife Program

NORTHWEST POWER AND CONSERVATION COUNCIL PREPARES TO RELEASE ITS DRAFT 9TH REGIONAL POWER PLAN - WITH BIG IMPLICATIONS FOR SALMON & ORCA.

With the release of its Fish & Wildlife Program, the Council has turned its attention to the other half of its Congressionally mandated duties: to develop a new 20-year Northwest Regional Power Plan. This edition of the plan – the ninth – seems certain to be the most consequential since the first, back in 1983.

Why do we say that the 9th Plan will be the most “consequential” since the first? Because demand for electricity – which has been fairly flat over the last two decades thanks largely to conservation (energy efficiency) – is projected to take a big leap in the years ahead. Right now, the Pacific Northwest uses a bit more than 20,000 average megawatts of electricity (for scale, Seattle City Light customers currently consume about 1100 average megawatts). By 2046, the Council forecasts we’ll need 50-100% more electricity – 30,000 to 40,000 megawatts. This increase will be driven by demand from data centers and by building and transportation electrification.

Meeting this demand over time will transform our region’s energy sector, and bring new challenges to salmon and steelhead and the health and management of Columbia and Snake rivers. Exactly how the Northwest region rises to meet this growing demand for electricity will have big implications for how hydropower dams are operated going forward, as well as for the climate crisis confronting salmon and steelhead.

As part of developing the 9th Power Plan, Council staff have publicly released a plethora of modeling runs and scenario analyses, and some specific draft recommendations. Salmon, orca and fishing advocates and their allies are calling for a robust buildout of new clean energy resources and battery storage. This is critical to reduce our region’s dependence on hydropower, but also invest in the new resources needed to replace the power from the lower Snake River dams. And here the news is relatively good. Across all of the 9th Power Plan scenarios, the Council models include thousands of megawatts of new conservation (energy efficiency), renewable solar and  wind, battery storage and other clean energy technologies and resources.

We need your help this summer! The Council is expected to release its draft plan in late July, followed by a 60-day comment period. When the draft plan is released, we will need your help to engage your networks to ensure the Council develops the strongest possible plan call - including necessary hydro measures that have been identified by Tribal and state regional fishery managers to address the impacts and challenges facing endangered fish populations in the Columbia-Snake River Basin. 

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5. Finding Current: Spring Chinook salmon and the Tucannon River

From the desk of Don J. Miller

Tucannon Spring Chinook smolt beginning their 360 mile journey to Pacific ©Don J. Miller

Don J. Miller is a retired Registered Nurse, photographic artist, conservation advocate, and volunteer with several NGO’s, including Save Our wild Salmon. Recently, Don traveled to the Tucannon River, a tributary of the Snake River, to witness the release of endangered Tucannon River Spring Chinook juvenile salmon. Read more to hear Don’s reflections on this river.

"Lyons Ferry in southeastern Washington State is not an area well known to many. The nearest town, Starbuck, has a population of 147 and its solitary 100 ft. tall high-rise is a grain elevator. Though sparse in population, Lyons Ferry is a place of many intersections—two railroad lines, a state highway, high voltage power lines, and three rivers: the Snake, Palouse, and Tucannon. Prior to placement of a bridge in 1968, the Lyons family operated a four car ferry on the Snake River at the site of a traditional Native American river crossing. I came here this spring to learn more about the highly endangered Tucannon River Spring Chinook salmon.

On April 17, I arrived at the Lyons Ferry Marina operated by the Port of Columbia where I spoke with two fishermen. Both were having good success, one for walleye and the other for catfish. As they cleaned their catch, they extolled the virtues of their fish; they are plentiful and, unlike salmon, have either unrestricted or generous limits. These friendly fishermen offered me fishing tips and advice on avoiding sediments in the reservoir if going out by boat, but, I have not come to fish.

In three days, I planned to witness the release of 18,000 Tucannon Spring Chinook smolt from Lyons Ferry Fish Hatchery just across the river from the marina. In the meantime, I wanted to explore and learn more about the river that historically spawned this once robust population of Spring Chinook."

READ THE FULL STORY

Tucannon salmon release pond and staff members from the Lyons Ferry Fish Hatchery, Nez Perce Tribal Fish Hatchery, and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. ©Don J. Miller

Don J. Miller is a retired RN and photographic artist. Prior to retirement, Don worked in oncology and diabetes education and participated in art fairs with his photography. As an RN, he joined volunteer medical trips to Haiti, China, El Salvador, and Bangladesh. Those cultural experiences as well as his love of the planet have inspired his images.

Since retirement, Don volunteers in conservation work on behalf of Columbia Basin salmon with Save Our wild Salmon, Yellowstone buffalo with Buffalo Field Campaign, and African elephants with Elephant Human Relations Aid, and provides presentations about those experiences. You can see more of Don’s work at delicatelightphotography.com 

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6. Join summer advocacy events!

We hope to see you at these events and check out wildsalmon.org/events to join more events near you!

August 27 - 30: Sawtooth Salmon Festival

SAVE THE DATE: Celebrate salmon and all the gifts they bring to the Northwest on August 27 - 30! Idaho Rivers United and The Sawtooth Interpretive & Historical Association are hosting the Sawtooth Salmon Festival, a FREE community celebration of the 900-mile journey of Idaho’s salmon from the ocean to Redfish Lake in Stanley, Idaho. Join the fun with Salmon Tours & Viewing - Live Music & Bands - Tribal Dancers - Speakers - Crafts & Activities - Artists & Vendors - & more!

September 11 - 12: Free The Snake Flotilla

Join SOS and many other NGOs at Nimíipuu Protecting the Environment's Free The Snake Flotilla, on September 11-12 at Hells Gate State Park in Lewiston, ID. Gather in community, meet fellow advocates, learn from Tribal leaders and other experts, and celebrate the profound opportunities a free-flowing lower Snake River and abundant salmon and steelhead will bring—Tribal justice, ecosystem health, community resilience, recreation, and much more.

Let's come together and take action to heal the Snake River and its imperiled salmon and steelhead populations!

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7. Salmon Media Round-up

Here are a few recent stories about the urgency and opportunity today for salmon and orca recovery and river restoration:

News:

• Columbia Insight: How data centers pose a unique threat to NW Tribes
  Learn more about data centers on Columbia Riverkeeper’s report - Dirty Secrets: Data Centers Drive Demand for Gas in Oregon, Washington

Opinions:

• Idaho Capital Sun Commentary: On our watch: Salmon extinction on the Middle Fork Salmon River in the heart of Idaho

• Idaho Statesman: Propaganda won’t change the facts. Idaho’s salmon are in deep trouble

• Tri-City Herald: Power officials are bending the truth to dismiss their harm to salmon

• Spokesman-Review: Cracks widening in the lower Snake River dams

• Tri-City Herald: Removing Snake River dams could have surprising benefits

• Tri-City Herald: It’s going to be a rough year for water. It isn’t because of salmon  

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Wild Salmon & Steelhead News is published regularly by the Save Our wild Salmon Coalition. Read on to learn about the Columbia-Snake River Basin’s endangered wild salmon and steelhead, the many benefits they deliver to people and ecosystems, and the extinction crisis they face today - unless we act! Find out how SOS is helping lead efforts to restore health, connectivity, and resilience to the rivers and streams these fish depend upon in the Columbia-Snake Basin and how you can get involved to help restore healthy, abundant, and harvestable populations and sustain more just and prosperous communities. To learn more and/or get involved, contact Martha Campos.

Table of Contents:

1. Our progress to defend salmon and steelhead from extinction – and support their recovery
2. Court-ordered relief to protect endangered salmon and steelhead does not imperil reliable, affordable power
3. NextGen Salmon Collective summer internship applications!
4. Salmon advocacy and community-building in the Inland Northwest and Southwest Washington
5. Join SOS at upcoming advocacy events!
6. Save Our wild Salmon Coalition members and friends gather in Portland!
7. Salmon Media Round-up

 1. Our progress to defend salmon and steelhead from extinction – and support their recovery

Pilgrimage © Josh Udesen, 2020, acrylic painting on birch panel, 24" x 30"

With the start of spring, salmon and steelhead have begun their ancestral migration – as recently hatched juveniles high in the Columbia-Snake River Basin swim toward the ocean and as adults return from the ocean in search of their spawning gravels. Their miraculous full-circle migration spans many thousands of miles from freshwater to salt and back again. Unfortunately, this annual ritual, which not long ago saw as many as 16 million adult fish returning each year, has shrunk today to a trickle. Some populations have been lost altogether; many others return today at just 1 or 2 percent of their historic abundance. The federal dams and their reservoirs on the lower Columbia and lower Snake rivers today are the main driver of these precipitous population declines.

Still, the Northwest native fish's persistence and fidelity to place lies at the heart of its encouraging resilience. It’s devotion to completing this journey year after year in the face of such obstacles and barriers inspires us also - to continue our work with you and many others to protect, restore, and reconnect the healthy waters and habitats across the Columbia-Snake River Basin that native fish - and all of us - rely upon and benefit from.

Thanks to your support and our collective advocacy, and despite such challenging times, we’re successfully defending against attacks coming from Washington D.C. We’re continuing to make progress, build power and maintain momentum regionally – supporting the Six Sovereigns alliance and its salmon recovery funding priorities in Congress, securing new funding from the Washington State legislature to continue to advance lower Snake River dam service replacement planning, and much more. Our successful defense work to date, as well as our policy and funding progress regionally, has been dependent on YOU – your calls, letters, and other advocacy and activism to educate your friends and family, and support and pressure on policymakers. Working together, we're demonstrating strong public support and a positive vision for present and future generations who will benefit from a healthy, resilient, and sustainable Columbia Basin, with clean water, healthy rivers and ecosystems, abundant salmon, steelhead, and orcas, and vibrant communities.

Defending the Endangered Species Act by blocking the ‘ESA Amendments Act’:

On Earth Day this year, House leadership had cynically scheduled a floor vote to pass the ‘ESA Amendments Act' (H.R. 1897). Notwithstanding its modest title, this bill would have gutted the Endangered Species Act and eliminated critical protections and recovery programs for wild salmon and steelhead, and hundreds of other imperiled species across the Northwest and nation.

Thanks to an amazing mobilization in the Northwest and across the country, hundreds of NGOs and many thousands of people called and wrote their House members to oppose this devastating legislation. As a result of the public outcry, Speaker Mike Johnson canceled the vote at the last minute when he realized that he no longer had the votes needed to pass it. This win reflects what polls consistently show: People strongly support the Endangered Species Act and strongly oppose allowing species to go extinct. Like our successful efforts last year to protect our public lands, waters, and wildlife, together we sent our representatives a message they couldn’t ignore: to protect endangered species and our nation’s special natural heritage, and to continue supporting their recovery and restoration.

Of course, this battle is far from over. The bill’s lead sponsor, chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources and Arkansas Representative Bruce Westerman, commented that he will continue to work on provisions and intends to bring a similar bill to the floor for a vote soon. We will stay vigilant and continue our strong advocacy together!

After the so-called ‘Amendments’ bill was pulled and the vote canceled, House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member and California Representative Jared Huffman applauded our collective and effective advocacy to protect what we love: “Americans will reject any legislation that leads to their wildlife disappearing forever. That is who we are as a country. We protect what we love, and we pass it on… We will keep fighting alongside them for an Endangered Species Act strong enough to bring these animals back for the next generation, and for a country where our children inherit the same wild beauty, we were lucky enough to grow up with.”

Washington State legislature approves additional funding to advance lower Snake River dam service replacement studies:

Earlier this year, the Washington State legislature included critical new funding in its annual budget to continue advancing the replacement planning of the energy and recreation provided by the lower Snake River dams! Governor Ferguson had included these line items in his proposed budget released in December – and the legislature supported them in its final budget as well!

In 2023 and 2024, the Washington State Legislature allocated funding and directed state agencies to develop replacement plans in partnership with federal agencies. Four plans are needed to develop roadmaps for replacing the dams’ energy, water supply, transportation, and recreation services. These planning processes are critical near-term steps in preparation for dam removal in the future. Replacing the dams’ current services with alternatives will help ensure communities remain vibrant and everyone moves forward together. In June 2025, however, the Trump Administration terminated the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement (RCBA) and withdrew the federal government’s partnership with the region. Fortunately, elected leaders in Washington State and Oregon continue to support many of the RCBA’s priorities and purposes, and have continued to advance these planning processes regionally.

Most recently, in the 2026 legislative session, even amid a state budget deficit, Washington State approved funding and designated resources to complete planning efforts for energy and recreation (transportation and irrigation planning processes are well underway, led by state agencies, and additional funding was not necessary at this time).

Salmon, orca, and fishing advocates are deeply grateful to Governor Ferguson and legislative champions for their leadership to ensure we plan for a resilient future without the four outdated and harmful lower Snake River dams, honor tribal treaties, and recover the once-great salmon runs of the Columbia and Snake River Basin.

Tribes, conservation and fishing advocates’ court win secures emergency measures to protect Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead from extinction:

This past fall, plaintiff groups led by Earthjustice and supported by the lower Columbia River Tribes and states of Oregon and Washington filed a motion asking the U.S. District Court in Portland to lift the litigation stay that had been in place as part of the historic Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement (RCBA) that was unilaterally terminated by the Trump Administration last June. The court lifted the stay and plaintiff groups moved quickly to request preliminary injunctive relief in time for the 2026 salmon migration season (now underway). The plaintiffs' request asked the court to modify federal dam and reservoir operations – and other emergency actions – in order to increase survival of endangered adult and juvenile fish migrating through the lower Columbia and Snake rivers to the ocean.

Since our last newsletter, the District Court sided with the plaintiffs’ request and ordered modifications to the federal hydro-system operations starting this spring, including increased spill at all eight dams on the lower Snake and Columbia rivers between April 4 and August 31, when most of the juvenile salmon and steelhead are migrating downstream to the ocean.

Spill allows young ocean-bound fish to pass over the dams rather than through the lethal turbines and arrive at the ocean more quickly and safely. Spill is necessary because of repeated failures by BPA and other federal agencies to adequately protect salmon, but it is not sufficient by itself to recover imperiled Columbia basin fish populations – especially those that spawn and rear in the Snake River and its tributaries.

Salmon, orca, and fishing advocates applaud the Tribes, States, and non-governmental organizations for securing these emergency actions, and we appreciate that the court moved quickly to issue its decision. This order will improve the survival of fish imperiled by the federal dams and give us humans additional time to develop and implement a durable, long-term salmon recovery plan that must include lower Snake River dam removal.

SOS brings advocates and experts to Washington D.C. to support Fiscal Year 2027 Appropriations necessary for critical salmon recovery programs:

In March, Save Our wild Salmon Coalition hosted a team of clean energy and salmon experts to travel to Washington D.C. to meet with members of Congress and advocate for Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead. As many populations face extinction today, it is critical that we adequately fund programs and implement policies to support their recovery.

Our team met with 16 Congressional offices over 2.5 days! We thanked them for championing last year’s funding priorities from the Six Sovereigns, despite the administration's significant attacks on these programs. The Fiscal Year 2026 (FY2026) appropriations requests by the Six Sovereigns (four Lower Columbia River Treaty Tribes and the states of Washington and Oregon) were actively supported by SOS and more than three dozen NGOs. They included key federal programs that support the restoration of salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin. Thanks to critical leadership from Northwest Congressional offices, these essential programs will receive funding this year at levels similar to those in 2024.

This year, the administration has once again put forward a budget proposal to Congress that slashes environmental and salmon recovery funding. As part of our ongoing advocacy in Washington D.C., we are urging members of Congress to support the Six Sovereigns’ FY2027 appropriations requests - to continue investing in restoration efforts and preventing salmon and steelhead extinction.

TAKE ACTION TODAY: Urge your Northwest members of Congress to support the Six Sovereigns’ salmon recovery appropriation requests for FY2027.

TAKE ACTION

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2. Court-ordered relief to protect endangered salmon and steelhead does not imperil reliable, affordable power

Monumental I © Rachel Teannalach, 2022 oil on canvas 48 x 48

On February 25, 2026, Judge Michael Simon of the U.S. District Court in Portland granted (salmon advocates) plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction to modify federal dam and reservoir operations to protect threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead from further harm. The court ordered increased water spilled over eight dams on the lower Columbia and Snake rivers. The court-ordered spill enables juvenile fish to pass over the dams rather than through lethal turbines, and speeds them towards the ocean.

The federal agency defendants in this lawsuit have recently filed a notice of intent to appeal the District Court decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), the federal agency that sells Columbia Basin hydropower, is not one of the federal defendants in this case but has mounted its own counterattack on the judge’s ruling. BPA recently announced it will carry out an “expedited” rate case to account for what it claims are significant revenue losses due to the court-ordered spill operations that provide critical relief for endangered fish. The agency has claimed that as much as a 6.4% increase in rates for power sold to regional utilities will be required. BPA and allied utilities have also claimed that the spill order imperils reliability and creates the risk of blackouts

These alarmist claims are grossly inflated and grievously misleading. Until the Trump Administration tore it up in June 2025, river operations had been guided by the 2023 Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement (RCBA) negotiated between the Biden Administration, four Northwest Tribes, and the States of Oregon and Washington. The relevant provisions of the RCBA were broadly similar to the spill recently ordered by Judge Simon, though not identical (and included $300 million in BPA capital costs not included in the court order). In 2024, BPA Administrator John Hairston told Congress under oath that implementing the RCBA would increase BPA rates by 0.05% per year, accumulating to 0.7% over the ten-year life of the agreement. He expressed no concerns about system reliability under the RCBA. Indeed, Judge Simon explicitly recognizes long-standing operational practices that provide the federal government with tremendous flexibility to modify hydropower operations whenever there is any risk to power system reliability or during emergency conditions.

The court order does not imperil reliable, affordable energy across the region.

What is different now is that BPA, emboldened by an anti-conservation White House and Congress, is reverting to its historic prioritization of power production over salmon and steelhead production. Last year, BPA told the Northwest Power and Conservation Council that its Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Program, intended to “protect, mitigate, and enhance” fish and wildlife impacted by hydroelectric dams in the Columbia Basin, should eliminate its long-standing goal of doubling adult salmon and steelhead returns to the Basin and absolve BPA from any responsibilities to contribute to salmon recovery programs moving forward.

Instead of working with states, Tribes, plaintiffs, and stakeholders to ensure energy reliability, affordability, and solutions to protect and mitigate harm to our environment and imperiled salmon and steelhead, BPA is putting up roadblocks that harm our progress toward collaborative solutions for a resilient energy future.

Federal Defendants and utilities are also spreading misinformation about harm to salmon during spill operations, like gas bubble trauma (when water becomes supersaturated with gas, mostly nitrogen). Studies such as the Fish Passage Center’s Annual Comparative Survival Study (a long-running, empirically-based collaborative salmon and steelhead life cycle monitoring program) have shown that dissolved gas levels under the current managed spill conditions do not have a negative effect on smolt survival.

The real harm to Snake River salmon and steelhead? The lower Snake River dams and their hot, stagnant reservoirs. During the summer, water temperatures in the lower Snake and Columbia rivers routinely reach lethal levels between 70-73°F. The longer and the higher water temperatures rise above 68°F, the greater the harm to the fish including: increased susceptibility to disease, reduced reproductive potential (by reducing egg viability), suffocation (warm water carries less oxygen), and in the worst case - death.

Spill will not increase ratepayer rates. BPA’s reckless energy decisions will.

At the same time, BPA is making unfounded claims about rate impacts due to court-ordered measures to aid salmon survival, many ratepayers are facing higher energy bills due to BPA’s choice to join Southwest Power Pool’s Markets+, an Arkansas-based energy trading market. Without a near-term course correction, BPA will officially start to buy and sell energy in that market in October 2028. According to BPA’s own consultants, the region's households and businesses will pay more than $400 million in higher power bills each year, in a Markets+ energy market. And these losses would persist indefinitely into the future.

As a result, five Northwest groups have filed a legal challenge to BPA’s recent market choice, arguing it violates federal law. BPA would save far more money than any potential costs of the court order simply by choosing another day-ahead energy market, the California-based Extended Day Ahead Market (EDAM), rather than Markets+.

We need BPA to commit to its public responsibilities and ensure it develops a more sustainable energy system that also safeguards salmon, bolsters orcas, and upholds tribal treaty rights. The Columbia-Snake hydro-system today is the single greatest source of human-caused mortality for these endangered salmon and steelhead, and we need to change how we manage and steward the Columbia and Snake rivers in order to protect and rebuild sustainable fish populations, including the restoration of the lower Snake River.

Read below for information on BPA’s failures:

• Washington State Standard: Guest Opinion: Salmon are not to blame for Bonneville Power Administration failing to meet its responsibilities
• Idaho Capital Sun: Guest Opinion: BPA follows time-worn pattern: Blame salmon for its own failings to adapt
• Seattle Times: Guest Opinion: Ruling on Columbia, Snake dams was a lifeline for salmon

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3. NextGen Salmon Collective summer internship applications are now closed! 

NextGen Salmon Collective is a space for young advocates to develop their community organizing and advocacy skills with the goal of rebuilding abundant wild salmon and steelhead populations in the Columbia-Snake River Basin by protecting and restoring the healthy, resilient rivers and streams they depend upon.

This team-based internship will support passionate and creative students to educate and mobilize their peers on the importance of Columbia-Snake River restoration and the benefits they bring to people and ecosystems. Interns will plan and execute strategic community outreach projects and advocacy initiatives in collaboration with other youth organizers across the region.

Hear from a NextGen student leader about their experience joining the collective:

"Being in a cohort of young people who are so incredibly passionate about salmon restoration has been an amazing opportunity to learn about grassroots organizing. My favorite part was traveling to D.C. with advocates from across the region to talk to lawmakers about the importance of salmon to so many communities in the PNW. As a dual Politics and Environmental Analysis major, I loved the chance to put what I've learned in class into practice with what I've learned in NextGen and really feeling my confidence and advocacy skills grow along the way." - Marin P.

Learn more about NextGen Salmon Collective here. Stay tuned for the next application cycle to apply! If you have any questions, please reach out to Abby Dalke abby@wildsalmon.org

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4. Salmon advocacy and community-building in the Inland Northwest and Southwest Washington
By Abby Saks, Inland Northwest Grassroots Organizer & 
Tyler Troelsen, Western Washington Organizer

SOS staff members Abby Saks and Tyler Troelsen are leading community organizing and advocacy activities in the Inland Northwest and Southwest Washington!

Together, advocates are building public support and political leadership to restore the lower Snake River and its imperiled wild salmon and steelhead. Here is more from Abby and Tyler on recent and upcoming projects to educate and engage people and support and pressure our elected officials to become champions for salmon and orca recovery and help to uphold our nation’s promises to Northwest Tribal Nations.

Abby Saks, Inland Northwest Grassroots OrganizerINLAND NORTHWEST: After a mild but gray winter, the Inland Northwest has begun to warm up and see the sun, meaning it’s time for outdoor event season! I always enjoy this time of year, as it means I can get outside at events and talk with community members across the region about salmon, SOS, and how they can get involved in supporting salmon recovery.

As industry groups continue to propagate misinformation about salmon, we are actively working to disseminate accurate information into Inland Northwest communities through letters-to-the-editor, community events (such as film screenings and salmon walks), and presentations to various community groups and college classes/clubs. Education like this is crucial for building well-informed public support for science-based solutions, like 'dam spill' and lower Snake River restoration. We’re excited to join partners in hosting a couple of events in May and June, including our Spokane Book Club (May 6), the Yakima Environmental Justice Film Series (May 15), and a Salmon Bike Ride and Kayak in Yakima (June 6). We'll have a tabling presence at community gatherings throughout the spring and into Pride Month, and we are also excited to begin our Get Out the Vote work through poster distribution, launch events, and more.

As always, if you’re interested in learning more about volunteering with SOS in the Inland Northwest, reach out to me at abbys@wildsalmon.org, or join us on Zoom or in-person (in Saranac Commons, Spokane) on May 12 at 5:30pm for our May Salmon Advocate meeting.

Tyler Troelsen,
Western Washington OrganizerSOUTHWEST WASHINGTON: Over the past several months, my organizing work in Southwest Washington has focused on building a strong, connected base of environmental advocates through consistent relationship-building and accessible entry points for engagement. We've launched our SW WA Environmental Advocacy Brunches, which serve as informal but highly effective spaces for coalition-building across organizations and issue areas. These gatherings bring together a diverse mix of community members, from long-time advocates to those newly getting involved. At these brunches, we share ideas, align priorities, and strengthen collaboration around conservation, climate, and public policy. If you would like to join our May Environmental Advocacy Brunch, please feel free to reach out, I would love to see you there!

This spring, we raised our collective voices to protect our land, water, salmon, and communities at large events like the No Kings III rally and the Roadless Rule Area Conservation Act happy hour and town hall, where I met many of you from the Southwest Washington region!

Looking ahead, I am working on 'Get Out the Vote' activities as well as leading outings on threatened public lands and rural listening sessions to connect and work together for a healthier and more sustainable Southwest Washington. 

I hope you will join us at these opportunities to expand our movement-building: connecting with our ecosystem, wildlife, and each other, and channeling our energy into meaningful advocacy and political action. If you’re interested in learning more or to volunteer with me in Southwest Washington, reach out at tyler@wildsalmon.org!

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5. Join SOS at upcoming advocacy events!

May 21: RENEWAL webinar featuring Kiliii Yüyan!

This spring, Save Our wild Salmon Coalition, Braided River, and NGO partners are co-hosting RENEWAL, a webinar series that invites you to renew and reimagine our commitment to each other, our non-human neighbors, and the special places we all call home.

Join us as we share stories of renewal, positive change, and resilience, and spotlight inspiring work under way to repair and recover the lands, waters, and wildlife in the Columbia Basin, across the Northwest, and beyond.

RSVP TODAY

May 19: Hear the People, Heal the River Action Hour

You're invited to Hear the People, Heal the River Virtual Action Hour! Join to hear updates on issues impacting salmon recovery and the health of the Columbia-Snake rivers!

On our May 19th Action Hour at 12:30pm PT, we will cover how to get involved with SOS' collaborative ‘Get Out the Vote’ community organizing project - to elevate the upcoming election and encourage others to vote with salmon and orca and our Pacific Northwest home in mind. We’ll also provide a policy update and opportunities to get more involved and help defend keystone environmental policies and funding under threat today.

RSVP TODAY

September 11-12: Free The Snake Flotilla

SAVE THE DATE: Join SOS and many other NGOs at Nimíipuu Protecting the Environment's Free The Snake Flotilla, on September 11-12 at Hells Gate State Park in Lewiston, ID. Gather in community, meet fellow advocates, learn from Tribal leaders and other experts, and celebrate the profound opportunities a free-flowing lower Snake River and abundant salmon and steelhead will bring—Tribal justice, ecosystem health, community resilience, recreation, and more. Join forces with hundreds of others to call on our policymakers to become champions of salmon recovery in the Columbia-Snake River Basin.

Let's come together and take action to heal the Snake River and its imperiled salmon and steelhead populations!

We hope to see you at these events and check out wildsalmon.org/events for updates on future events.

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 6. Save Our wild Salmon Coalition members and friends gathered in Portland!

Save Our wild Salmon Coalition member organizations from across the Northwest region came together for a day full of connection, celebration, and planning for the advocacy ahead.

Coalition members approved an updated board of directors, including three new leaders: Abbie Abramovich (Idaho Conservation League’s Salmon Program Senior Associate), Lia Brewster (Sierra Club’s Conservation Campaign Strategist), and Amy Grondin (co-owner of Duna Fisheries and F/V Arminta). Please join us in welcoming Abbie, Amy, and Lia! You can learn more about our board members here!

During this especially challenging time, together, we paused and reflected on our mission and work with others to protect and restore wild salmon and steelhead and the benefits they bring to our lands, waters, and communities. We are thankful to our coalition member organizations for their support and many valuable contributions and to supporters like you, who bring your energy, ideas, and action to realize a more sustainable and resilient future for the Columbia-Snake River Basin and Northwest! 

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7. Salmon Media Round-up

Here are a couple of recent stories about the urgency and opportunity today for salmon and orca recovery and river restoration:

News:

• Spokesman Review: Judge orders hydropower changes on Columbia, Snake to help salmon
• CLEARING UP: Simon Orders More Spill, But No Drawdowns or Conservation Measures

Op-eds and LTEs:

• Washington State Standard Commentary: Salmon are not to blame for Bonneville Power Administration failing to meet its responsibilities
• Seattle Times Guest Opinion: Ruling on Columbia, Snake dams was a lifeline for salmon
• Idaho Statesman Opinion: Running out of time: Breach the Snake River dams not to save salmon
• Lewiston Tribune LTE: Need for healthy rivers
• Spokesman-Review LTE: Hydropower changes to help salmon
• Spokesman-Review LTE: Breach the dams
• Seattle-Times LTE: Salmon: Much-needed progress

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Wild Salmon & Steelhead News is published regularly by the Save Our wild Salmon Coalition. Read on to learn about the Columbia-Snake River Basin’s endangered wild salmon and steelhead, the many benefits they deliver to people and ecosystems, and the extinction crisis they face today - unless we act! Find out how SOS is helping lead efforts to restore health, connectivity, and resilience to the rivers and streams these fish depend upon in the Columbia-Snake Basin and how you can get involved to help restore healthy, abundant, and harvestable populations and sustain more just and prosperous communities. To learn more and/or get involved, contact Martha Campos.

Table of Contents:

1. Connections and Community 
2. Court hears arguments for and against advocates’ request for improved dam operations to help endangered fish in the Columbia and Snake rivers in 2026 
3. Speak up for salmon and rivers during the Northwest Power and Conservation Council comment period!
4. Calling all artists! Northwest Artists Against Extinction Call for Art 2026
5. Join SOS and friends at upcoming advocacy events!
6. Salmon Media Round-up

1. Connections and Community 

Heritage Species © Annie Brulé

Like you, all of us at Save Our wild Salmon are dismayed by what we are seeing across the country – the escalating violence toward immigrants and communities fighting for the protection of human rights, and attacks on democracy and the environment.

What is happening in Minneapolis can and is spreading elsewhere, including the Northwest. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity affects the whole community – when people are afraid to leave home, it impacts schools, daycares, food banks, healthcare centers, and more. Other policies under the current administration call for continued rollback or threats to environmental protections, leaving communities even more vulnerable to health issues and the destruction of the land, waters, and wildlife that are crucial to our economy, culture, health, and well-being.

These issues are all connected. Protecting our neighbors, our communities, and our environment are concentric circles of care that overlap and intersect. In times of uncertainty and an unknown future, we can learn from nature about the resiliency to overcome difficulties and keep our hope and love alive.

In their migration journey, salmon and steelhead travel thousands of miles to reach the ocean and then back to their spawning grounds, giving their lives to people and many other species for sustenance and survival. Salmon deliver marine nutrients hundreds of miles from oceans to support and sustain a diversity of life in communities, rivers, streams, forests, and wildlife. Despite the barriers they encounter, salmon persevere and continue their ancient journey from river to ocean to river to sustain future generations of people, environment, and wildlife.

As salmon and steelhead sustain the next and future generations, we must too. Together, in solidarity, we can protect one another, salmon, rivers, and the environment from institutional violence. We must continue our strong advocacy to envision a world that liberates communities, rivers, salmon, and the environment, and to live freely, authentically, and with love at the center.

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2. Court hears arguments for and against advocates’ request for improved dam operations to help endangered fish in the Columbia and Snake rivers in 2026

Speakers and attendees at a press conference held in downtown Portland on Feb. 6, taking place prior to opening arguments for renewed litigation against the federal government to protect endangered salmon runs. Speakers included representatives from Yakama Nation, Earthjustice and the Northwest Energy Coalition. (Photo by Jarrette Werk, Underscore Native News)

Several Save Our wild Salmon staff joined other conservation and fishing advocates on February 6 to hear the oral arguments before the U.S. District Court in Portland. Plaintiffs led by Earthjustice, joined by the State of Oregon, are seeking emergency measures to protect imperiled fish populations that are harmed by the Columbia Basin federal hydro-system's dams and reservoirs.

After a four-year pause to allow time for negotiation and collaboration between the federal government and regional sovereigns/salmon advocates, litigation challenging the adequacy of the 2020 Federal Salmon Plan (Biological Opinion) was restarted after the Trump Administration terminated the historic Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement (RCBA) last June. The RCBA was first announced in 2023 by the Biden Administration and an alliance of Six Sovereigns: 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, the Nez Perce Tribe, and the states of Oregon and Washington.

The RCBA represented a critical first step toward realizing the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative (CBRI), the comprehensive and holistic strategy developed by the Six Sovereigns to recover endangered Columbia Basin fish, invest in communities and infrastructure, and advance new clean energy resources. Despite the termination of the RCBA, the CBRI continues to be the Northwest’s most promising way forward to recover salmon, uphold our nation’s promises to Tribes, and invest in communities and our energy grid.

The termination of the RCBA is an enormous missed opportunity by the federal government to advance collaborative regional solutions, and it left salmon advocates no choice but to return to court and request interim emergency measures to prevent extinction and give these fish a fighting chance to survive and recover.

Attorneys for the plaintiff group represented by Earthjustice, the State of Oregon, the Nez Perce Tribe, the Yakama Nation, Washington State, and federal defendants provided oral arguments over three hours about the emergency injunctive measures that they have requested begin next month.

The 2026 migration season for Columbia and Snake river fish is fast-approaching. Juvenile fish will begin migrating to the ocean in March, about the same time that adult fish begin return to the river in search of their spawning gravels.

According to Earthjustice’s October 14 press release:

• The requested operational changes by plaintiffs are “science-based measures recommended by state and tribal fishery managers that change operations of the current Columbia Basin hydropower system to improve salmon survival as they migrate past dams and reservoirs in the Columbia and Snake Rivers. These changes include increased ‘spill,’ which allows juvenile fish to pass over the dams instead of through lethal turbines, and lowered reservoir elevations, which decreases the time salmon spend migrating through stagnant, overheated waters.”
• “The groups and Oregon are also requesting a set of emergency conservation measures for some of the most imperiled populations that are on the brink of collapse. These include removing passage barriers slowing the migration of Tucannon River spring Chinook, a population that is rapidly approaching extinction, as well as increasing federal efforts to control predators like invasive walleye and some birds that prey on salmon and steelhead.”

After the conclusion of oral arguments, the court encouraged parties to confer and identify common ground on the requested injunctive relief measures and to report back to the court by February 20, 2026. The judge indicated that he would issue a ruling soon afterward.

For more information on the Feb. 6 oral arguments, here are links to two media stories:

• AP: Oregon, Washington and tribes head back to court after Trump pulls out of deal to recover salmon
• Courthouse News: Judge eyes interim dam changes in revived Columbia Basin salmon fight

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3. Speak up for salmon and rivers during the Northwest Power and Conservation Council comment period!

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council (NPCC) is now in the process of updating its 5-year Fish and Wildlife Program – a regional plan for mitigating harm to endangered native fish caused by dam and reservoir operations in the Columbia and Snake River Basin.

With the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement abandoned by the current administration and efforts underway to weaken the Endangered Species Act, the NPCC 2026 Fish and Wildlife Program is one of the Northwest’s best opportunities to mitigate further harm to imperiled fish populations caused by hydropower operations in the Columbia Basin and make actionable progress towards recovery goals.

We are extraordinarily appreciative to all of you who have advocated during this current public comment process, whether you submitted a comment online, joined an in-person hearing, or shared this opportunity far and wide with your networks! We are almost at the finish line of this comment process (it closes on March 2!), but we need your help to submit a comment and/or testify at the last NPCC online hearing – on February 24 from 3:30 – 6:00 pm PST.

Please join us in urging NPCC to chart a course towards affordable, efficient, and reliable energy that also protects and restores abundant fish populations.

SUBMIT YOUR COMMENT TODAY to help ensure the Council’s final Fish & Wildlife Program includes:

• Elevated “spill” over the lower Snake and Columbia river dams through August 31 to protect out-migrating juvenile salmon and steelhead.

• Accountability for the Bonneville Power Administration to achieve Program goals and its legal obligation to protect and enhance fish populations impacted by the hydropower system.

• Acknowledges lower Snake River dam breaching as a necessary measure to achieve the Council’s 5 million fish goal – and protect Snake River fish from extinction.

Learn more about submitting a written comment at wildsalmon.org/NPCC

ATTEND THE ONLINE HEARING 

Speak up for salmon, rivers, and all who depend on them at NPCC’s last hearing online on February 24th at 3:30pm-6pm PST.

• Register by webinar using this link. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information about joining the webinar. If you plan to comment, please send your full name and date of this webinar (February 24) to meetingorganizer@nwcouncil.org. Contact CouncilIT@nwcouncil.org with any technical questions.
• Let SOS know you are planning to testify here and we will share resources for the hearing. Thank you again for your advocacy! 

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4. Calling all artists! Northwest Artists Against Extinction Call for Art 2026

What can you do to make a difference in times like these? MAKE ART that inspires change! Northwest Artists Against Extinction and Save Our wild Salmon Coalition are launching our 2026 open call for Advocacy Art.

We're looking for artwork designed to move hearts and minds this year and in the upcoming fall election, reminding people what’s at stake in our Northwest home. Similar to 2024, we will develop a series of posters, swag, cards, postcards, and digital communications that urge people to keep salmon, orcas, and Tribal justice at the forefront of their hearts and minds when voting in 2026.

This opportunity is open to all artists and all mediums. Create something stunning and inspiring, or share this opportunity with the artists in your life. Submit your artwork by March 30, 2026.

Read more about the 2026 Advocacy Art Call and submission guidelines here.

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5. Join SOS and friends at upcoming advocacy events!

Southwest Washington Environmental Advocacy Brunch
When: Sunday, March 1st at 11am
Where: Hidden House Event Space, Vancouver, WA
What: Join us for a morning brunch bringing together environmental and politically engaged folks from across Southwest Washington. 

Come build community with fellow advocates working for a healthier and more sustainable Southwest Washington and connect with members and volunteers from groups like Vancouver Audubon Society, Washington Conservation Action, Save Our Wild Salmon, Loo Wit Group, and more.

RSVP TODAY!

Hear the People, Heal the River Virtual Action Hour
When: Tuesday, March 24th at 12:30 PT
Where: Zoom
What: Join us in taking collective action to protect salmon and defend the historic progress made towards salmon recovery by attending our monthly Virtual Salmon Advocacy Action Hours! In these action hours, you'll hear updates on issues impacting salmon recovery and the health of the Columbia and Snake rivers, ask questions, and, most importantly, get resources and information about how you can take action.

We hope to see you at these events and check out wildsalmon.org/events for updates on future events.

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6. Salmon Media Round-up

Here are a couple of recent stories about the urgency and opportunity today for salmon and orca recovery and river restoration:

News:

• KOMO News: New Southern Resident orca calf spotted in Strait of Juan de Fuca - Center for Whale Research biologists documented a brand new calf with L pod on February 16, 2026 near Race Rocks, in the Strait of Juan de Fuca (see photo on the right). The calf, designated L129, was travelling with L55 matriline, and was seen alongside both L55 herself and her daughter L103.

• Inlander: Salmon supporters lament a repeating cycle as a Northwest fish and wildlife plan still aims to restore runs after 40+ years

• Underscore News: Legal Battle Over Columbia Basin Dams Returns to Court

• Clearing Up: Judge Urges Mediation and Compromise Prior to CRSO Lawsuit Decision

• Columbia Insight: Trump kiboshed salmon recovery deal. Can this plan fill the gap?

• News Tribune: The ‘Six Sovereigns’ are fighting for the Columbia River basin’s future. Who are they?

LTEs

• Inlander: Federal agencies must agree to a workable plan to protect salmon in the Columbia Basin

• Columbian: Letter: Take care of the salmon

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Wild Salmon & Steelhead News is published regularly by the Save Our wild Salmon Coalition. Read on to learn about the Columbia-Snake River Basin’s endangered wild salmon and steelhead, the many benefits they deliver to people and ecosystems, and the extinction crisis they face today - unless we act! Find out how SOS is helping lead efforts to restore health, connectivity, and resilience to the rivers and streams these fish depend upon in the Columbia-Snake Basin and how you can get involved to help restore healthy, abundant, and harvestable populations and sustain more just and prosperous communities. To learn more and/or get involved, contact Martha Campos.

Table of Contents:

1. The fight for salmon, their rivers, and the spirit and identity of the Northwest.
2. Join in: Giving Tuesday (December 2) and SOS’ Year End Giving Campaign!
3. The path forward must be paved with facts and dialogue... not harmful and misleading soundbites!
4. The profound silence of a sick river.
5. Join the RECIPROCITY webinar with Rena Priest on 11/20 at 6pm PT!
6. 'And So it Flows' by Erik Sandgren, Northwest Artist Against Extinction collaborative partner
7. Welcome Tyler Troelsen, Western Washington Organizer!
8. Salmon media roundup

1. The fight for salmon, their rivers, and the spirit and identity the Northwest.

Pilgrimage, 2020, acrylic painting on birch panel, 24" x 30" © Josh Udesen

The past year has brought significant setbacks and challenges for salmon, their rivers, people, and our communities. Historic agreements have been dismantled, federal agencies gutted, and our lands, waters, and species are under attack. Meanwhile, our rivers are sick and getting sicker, with an historic drought, low snowpack, rising water temperatures, toxic algal blooms, and imperiled species struggling to survive.

And although the setbacks are heartbreaking, Save Our wild Salmon and Coalition Partners are fighting back—in our communities, in Washington D.C., in the courts, and across the region.

We're fighting to protect salmon and steelhead across the Columbia Basin, and given the challenging political landscape at the national level, we’re focusing more than ever to build power in the Pacific Northwest—to defend against attacks and to seize important opportunities that are essential for advancing long-term recovery priorities.

Actions and opportunities include the Northwest Power and Conservation Council's Fish and Wildlife plan, supporting partners' renewed litigation and emergency measures to provide immediate help for at-risk native fish, continuous engagement with policymakers, and strengthened grassroots advocacy.

We're embracing our strength and power together—to stand up collectively for what salmon need—now and in the future.

SOS team and partners travel to Washington D.C.:In early November, our team and advocates from across the Northwest met with members of Congress in our nation’s capitol! The team included an energy expert, partners from Idaho Rivers United and American Whitewater, a NextGen student leader, and SOS staff members Tanya Riordan and Abby Dalke. We traveled to D.C. to speak up for healthy and abundant salmon populations and the benefits to communities, cultures, and ecosystems across the Pacific Northwest.

Despite the historically long-running government shutdown and deeply disturbing political battles to keep people fed, provide access to healthcare, manage inflation, and secure appropriations for critical basic needs and services, members of Congress and their staff embraced our conversations regarding the crisis facing salmon and what they can do right now to help protect against further harm and extinction.

We shared deep concerns about the precarious status of salmon and steelhead across the Columbia-Snake rivers, and we asked for leadership and support to advance necessary solutions to save these iconic species at the heart of our region’s identity— and ensure they survive into the future.

It’s clear that our democracy and political system is very broken right now—but we also know our voice and advocacy does make a difference still, and engaging our policymakers matters!

We had many heartfelt and informative conversations—and we’re looking forward to continued coordination with members of Congress and many other policymakers to ensure we prioritize and advance meaningful solutions to restore our beloved salmon and steelhead—and honor the spirit and identity of the Northwest.

Columbia-Snake River Litigation: Salmon Advocates are back in Court!

Lower Snake River Dam © Ecoflight

The Columbia-Snake River Basin once sustained 10-16 million salmon and steelhead, and a wide variety of other native fish species. Today, over one-third of the historic salmon and steelhead populations are extinct, and many of those that remain are endangered and declining—due primarily to the harmful impacts of federal hydropower operations.

In 1991, Snake River sockeye salmon became the first Columbia Basin salmonid to be listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and in response, in 1992, the first legal action ensued.

Since then, 6 federal plans—required to address hydropower impacts and recover ESA-listed species—have been declared illegal and inadequate by a federal judge. Each time, the Court has requested the federal agencies to develop a new plan that complies with the law.

Meanwhile, in 2025, only 14 wild Snake River Sockeye salmon were able to reach their spawning grounds in central Idaho. Only 14! They are worse off now than when they were first listed as endangered, not better.

And now, following the Trump Administration’s abrupt and unilateral withdrawal from the historic agreement to restore Columbia basin and invest in communities, plaintiffs, led by Earthjustice, are left with no alternative but to return to court to seek critical near-term actions to improve the survival of out-migrating juvenile salmon and steelhead and adults returning to the river in search of their natal spawning beds.

In order to survive and recover, the Northwest's native fish need more dam spill and water flow during their migration - to cool waters and reduce travel time to the ocean. The emergency measures recently requested by the Plaintiffs in U.S. District Court include changes to dam operations to address these urgent needs, such as increased spill, lower reservoir levels, and other conservation measures.

Save Our wild Salmon Coalition is not an official party to the litigation, but many of the involved NGOs are Coalition Partners and we're actively supporting the Plaintiffs' request for the emergency measures necessary, and are strongly advocating for the urgent implementation—in time for upcoming 2026 spring salmon migration. Wild salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and Snake rivers and their tributaries are running out of time.

Northwest Power and Conservation Council's new Fish & Wildlife Program:

In 1980, Congress passed the Northwest Power Act, triggered by the twin crisis of rapidly declining salmon populations in the Columbia-Snake Basin, (amid fears that salmon could be listed under the ESA), and the need for smart energy development and planning. The fears about the future of the fish were warranted, of course, and by 1999, a total of 13 Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead stocks had been listed under the Endangered Species Act.

The Northwest Power Act mandates that Columbia River power production and fisheries be managed as coequals and created the Northwest Power and Conservation Council—to develop and regularly update a Fish & Wildlife Plan and Regional Energy Plan to “protect, mitigate, and enhance” fish and wildlife populations in the Columbia-Snake Basin impacted by dams.

In 1987, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council set an interim annual goal of five million fish returning to the Basin. This goal was established to directly address the minimum (5-11 million fish) impacted by hydropower operations in the Columbia Basin. Current basin-wide returns (wild and hatchery fish) are less than half of that goal at about 2.3 million—nowhere near the 5 million interim goal, nor the historic abundance of 10-16 million.

Right now, the Council is working on amendments to update its Fish & Wildlife Program and is in the early stages of updating its Regional Energy Plan. As an initial step in the Fish & Wildlife Program, the Council received recommendations from state, federal, and Tribal fisheries managers, and Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), among others.

BPA’s recommendations and their lack of accountability or interest to uphold their obligation to salmon was shocking. BPA requested the Council to abandon its long-held goal of 5 million adult salmon and steelhead returning annually to the Columbia Basin to spawn, and requested the Council to eliminate BPA’s legal obligation to meet any numerical goals the Council sets.

SOS and partners delivered a petition to the Council recently, with over 2,500 signers asking the Council to:

• Uphold the “interim goal” of 5 million adult salmon and steelhead returning annually to the Columbia Basin
• Analyze and prioritize changes in hydropower operations to speed smolt travel time from natal rivers to the ocean
• Include ALL recommendations from State and Tribal fisheries managers in the updated Fish and Wildlife Plan
• Affirm BPA’s responsibility to “protect, mitigate, and enhance” salmon populations “consistent with” the Council’s Fish and Wildlife Program

Thank you to all who took action for fish & wildlife, and communities in the Columbia Basin! Stay tuned for upcoming advocacy opportunities and to provide feedback to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council. A draft Fish and Wildlife Plan will be released soon, and a public comment period will be available to share your input.

A comprehensive Fish and Wildlife Plan that incorporates all the recommendations from State and Tribal Fishery managers is our best pathway forward right now to implement regionally supported, longer-term actions for salmon and steelhead throughout the Columbia Basin.

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2. Join in: for Giving Tuesday (December 2) and SOS’ Year End Giving Campaign!

Giving Tuesday is coming up on Dec. 2 – and it kicks off our year-end giving campaign. Your generous financial support is critical to ensuring that SOS has the resources we need to advance our work together to protect and restore rivers, salmon, and orcas, and defend the Pacific Northwest’s special way of life.

Together, we are working every day to defend our gains, create and seize new opportunities, and engage with Northwest people and policymakers for a brighter, more resilient, and more hopeful future with healthy rivers, thriving salmon, and the many gifts they bring.

With your help, we continue to lean into our strengths – collaborative leadership, education, inspiration and organizing, policy advocacy, and strategic communications. We’re focused on supporting and pressing key Northwest policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels to champion Columbia-Snake salmon and the Southern Resident orcas that rely upon them.

Thanks to your strong support and advocacy, SOS has made a real difference in 2025 – look for highlights of our shared accomplishments coming soon. Our work and program impact wouldn’t be possible without you, and we’re incredibly grateful for your support and partnership. Please donate to SOS today to help us carry our momentum into the new year!

GIVE TODAY!

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3. The path forward must be paved with facts and dialogue... not harmful and misleading soundbites!

The Six Sovereigns' State and Tribal Fishery Managers wrote a letter to Northwest River Partners and Northwest Public Power Association regarding their recent misleading ad campaign about the status of salmon returns in the Columbia Basin.

The letter focuses on clarifying the true status of distinct salmon and steelhead populations in the Columbia Basin. The letter also encourages increased dialogue and agreement "on the challenges our region faces as we seek to chart a path forward for healthy, abundant salmon and steelhead populations and clean, reliable, and affordable energy. We share your priority of ensuring affordable and reliable energy in the Pacific Northwest.”

The Fishery Managers stated in the letter, "when it comes to characterizing the state of Columbia Basin salmon recovery – which our entities collectively assess and manage along with our federal colleagues and other regional sovereigns – we are less confident that we are operating from shared facts. Far from being recovered, many salmon stocks are at high risk of extinction, and most populations are far from sustainable healthy and abundant levels."

The false claims and misleading narrative on the status of salmon that is being pushed onto the public by heavily funded industry lobby groups is based on incomplete and misleading aggregate data and faulty comparisons from the 1930s.

The Fishery Managers explained, "aggregate dam counts provide useful information, but they are of limited value in assessing the status of the individual runs. Progress toward recovery is assessed on a stock-by-stock basis by looking at spawner counts. Based on these counts, most individual stocks of naturally reproducing salmon and steelhead in the interior Columbia Basin are struggling. While lumping together all fish passing various dams is an incomplete measure, total returns do provide a helpful snapshot within the broader context described above and with appropriate caveats. But comparing current total fish numbers with those observed in the 1930s does not provide an accurate picture."

To understand the urgency and crisis facing salmon, it's important to discuss the unique and specific status of each individual stock. Here are a few of the facts conveniently left out of the misleading ad campaign:

• The Columbia-Snake River Basin once sustained 10-16 million salmon and steelhead, and a wide variety of other native fish species. Today, over one-third of the historic salmon and steelhead populations are extinct, and many of those remaining are considered quasi-extinct.
• In 2025, only 14 wild Snake River Sockeye salmon were able to reach their spawning grounds in central Idaho.
• Snake River Spring/Summer Chinook is one of the species hovering closest to extinction, especially the Tucannon Spring Chinook population. In 2025, Fishery Managers relocated Tucannon stocks away from the Snake River as an emergency and high-risk measure, in an attempt to prevent the population from becoming extinct.
• Wild salmon returns to the Snake Basin are 0.1% to 2% of their historical abundance. The chart above depicts the status of each of the ESA-listed interior Columbia Basin Stocks. See Six Sovereigns' Fish Facts for current status of each ESA-listed Interior Columbia-Snake Basin Stocks)

Inaccurate and deceptive public advertising campaigns are as old as junk food, Coca-Cola, and cigarettes. And this case is no different. The harms caused to the public are longstanding and dangerous, and ultimately a roadblock to effective dialogue and building the necessary solutions to address large-scale and urgent issues. Much like the tobacco industry that used harmful advertising practices and catchy slogans to mislead the public – industry lobby groups are attempting to deceive the public about the crisis we and salmon are facing– instead of acknowledging the facts and bringing actual solutions and a spirit of true partnership and collaboration that move us ALL forward together.

Save Our wild Salmon and Coalition Partners will continue fighting for salmon, advocating for affordable and clean energy, and advancing solutions that work for all of the people and communities who rely on and cherish our river.

We invite the industry groups to join us in this effort and help pave the pathway forward with facts, meaningful solutions, and true collaboration!

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 4. The profound silence of a sick river.

Scott Putnam worked for decades as a Regional Wild Salmon and Steelhead Trout Fisheries Biologist. After retiring in Lewiston (ID) in December 2024, he’s spent much of his time documenting the presence of toxic algal blooms on the lower Snake River and their impact on fish and local communities. This past summer and fall, eleven toxic algal blooms were documented across the Columbia-Snake Rivers. Concerned about the effects of the toxic algal blooms and the need for additional public information, Scott created a 7-minute film, The Sound of Silence, Two Visions for One River, highlighting the profound silence of a sick river.

This is the third consecutive year of worsening toxic conditions across the lower Snake River. The four lower Snake River dams transformed this once highly productive river and prolific salmon migration corridor into a series of stagnant reservoirs, creating unhealthy, hot, toxic river conditions, including increasingly prominent and dangerous toxic algal blooms.

Toxic algal blooms contain microcystins, a liver toxin that can pose a significant health risk if touched, ingested, or inhaled. Microcystins are dangerous to people, pets, and imperiled salmon and steelhead. Health advisories posted warned people NOT to be in or even around the river, preventing access to important cultural, recreational, and economic activities and connection to the river.

Factors that contribute to these toxic blooms include high temperatures, hot and stagnant water conditions, and an influx of nutrients (namely nitrogen and phosphorus) usually entering via runoff. The combination of these conditions is most likely to materialize in late summer and early fall, when water and air temperatures are often at their highest (and precipitation and snowpack at their lowest). The lower Snake River dams create these conditions, forming slow-moving reservoirs that trap heat and toxic nutrients throughout the summer.

Toxic algal blooms and high water temperatures create dangerous conditions for migrating salmon and steelhead by increasing their susceptibility to infections, causing oxygen depletion, and slowing or stopping their migration entirely.

Toxic algal blooms are a strong indicator of the poor health of our river and ecosystem. As we’ve seen with other restored rivers such as the Klamath, when rivers function as they are meant to, with cold, free-flowing water and healthy habitats, they can heal and rapidly restore the balance of the ecosystem.

The question is, as Scott asked in The Sound of Silence, Two Visions for One River, “The Snake River’s unhealthy condition is serious enough and the timeframe for change short enough to warrant all parties come together now to effectively communicate and decide: Will society, including you, choose to restore the sounds of flowing waters, and with them, the health of the Snake River? Or, will society accept the river’s adulterations, substitutions, consequences, and with them, the sound of silence?

Watch and share the shorter versions of the film on SOS' social media and on Scott Putnam's YouTube channel: 

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5. Join the RECIPROCITY webinar with Rena Priest on 11/20 at 6pm PT! 

Join Raven Chronicles Press, North Cascades Institute, & SOS for a virtual evening with award-winning author and poet Rena Priest on November 20 at 6pm PT!

In her new book, Positively Uncivilized, Priest examines the impact of human inhabitants on the planet earth. Alongside personal accounts of the deterioration of salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest and the loss of Indigenous history, the twelve essays in her new collection emphasize the necessity of community to overcome the damage done by socioeconomic and political systems designed to isolate and silence those who are vulnerable to these unfair systems.

The 90-minute webinar will include a reading, a moderated discussion, and a Q&A with attendees. Sign up today to join the final RECIPROCITY webinar of 2025! Following your registration, a Zoom link will be sent directly to your inbox.

SIGN UP TODAY!

In October, SOS, Oregon Wild, and Washington Wild hosted the RECIPROCITY webinar featuring Lynda V. Mapes, award-winning journalist and author of The Trees are Speaking – Dispatches from the salmon forests.

We were honored and grateful to spend an evening with Lynda Mapes as she shared her journey to salmon forests of the east and west coasts, listening and learning from Indigenous Peoples, new foresters, and the ecosystems themselves. Throughout Lynda's presentation, we were inspired by her photographs of diverse landscapes and forests, and by her reflections on the connections we as humans have with forests, salmon, rivers, and the soil beneath our feet. Watch the recording here!

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6. And So it Flows
By Erik Sandgren, Northwest Artist Against Extinction collaborative partner
November 8, 2025

Deep Stream of Summer, watercolor ©Erik Sandgren

I have just returned, sated, to Portland from the Big Apple. For a month, I traded the Columbia, Tualatin, and Willamette Rivers of my neighborhood here for the Hudson, Delaware, and East River while visiting world-class exhibitions there. Art derives from both nature and other art, and so I have returned, like a salmon ready to spawn, to native waters with strong feelings and intention about how that urban and cultural stimulus will affect my studio practice here.

Fine Asian pieces in the Metropolitan Museum, ancient artifacts, some contemporary artists, and revisits with work of Cézanne, Ruth Asawa, John Marin, Wassily Kandinsky, Ben Shahn, and George Morrison have each spoken to me through their tough and honest confrontations with the art and nature of their times. Their various sensibilities consistently produced striking and highly individuated forms derived from their respective convictions about the world at large. Each has discernible arcs to their production as they mastered some things, became aware of others, and as their worlds changed around them.

For the Classical Chinese, what we call landscape painting is named by combining the characters for Mountain and Water. My own practice reflects this insight: alternating between water and rock: apparent flux and fluidity contrasting with relative fixity. The act of painting shifts constantly for me between the poles of touch and concept, object and space, observation and imagination. I constantly seek a resonant equilibrium between these antipodes.

Back home with Pacific Northwest waters, realizing esthetic form in the service of truth increasingly feels like an act of resistance and non-conformity. All the more reason to carry on.

And so it flows.

Erik recently concluded a solo show, “Ravens: Landscapes of Thought and Memory,” at Art Adventure Gallery in Madras, Oregon. Erik’s work can be seen at the “Naturally Northwest: Prints and Poems” exhibition with Northwest printmakers at the Grey Raven Gallery in Beaverton, OR, which opened on November 10th. In addition, find his work at The Portland Art Museum Rental Sales Gallery’s Member Artists 2025 Winter Show. And from March 4 – April 18, 2026, Erik will exhibit in a group show titled “Where We Belong,” at Karin Clarke Gallery in Eugene, OR.

We are deeply grateful to Erik for granting SOS permissions to gift a limited run of prints for a set of our supporters.

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 7. Welcome Tyler Troelsen, Western Washington Organizer!

Tyler Troelsen, Abby Dalke, and Joseph Bogaard at the Rise Up Northwest in Unity Convening, hosted by the Nez Perce Tribe and the Columbia Snake River Campaign.

We are excited to introduce a new staff member joining the team, Tyler Troelsen! Tyler is the Western Washington Organizer working for Save Our wild Salmon Coalition and Sierra Club.

Tyler is a lifelong Vancouverite with deep roots in Southwest Washington and a strong passion for environmental justice. Tyler graduated from the University of Washington, where he studied Political Science and Law, Societies, and Justice, with a minor in Spanish. His interest in politics and advocacy began at an early age, and his fieldwork began with door-to-door fundraising at age 19. He previously worked on the congressional campaigns of both Rep. Kim Schrier (2022) and Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (2023-2024), and he served as a session legislative aide to state Senator Rebecca Saldaña (2023). Most recently, he worked as Field Director for a successful ballot measure campaign to restore levy funding for Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries.

Now, Tyler focuses on building a broad, diverse coalition in Southwest Washington to support the recovery of wild salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin and to protect public lands for future generations.

He enjoys swimming with his local team, running, reading, and spending time outdoors. Whether on the trail or at the doors, Tyler is driven by a vision of a more sustainable, equitable future for his home region.

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8. Salmon media roundup

Here are a couple of recent stories about the urgency and opportunity today for salmon recovery and river restoration:

Opinion:

• Spokesman-Review: Clean power and abundant salmon – both are possible written by Josh Mills, local fisherman and Mike Leahy, Senior Director of Wildlife, Hunting and Fishing Policy with the National Wildlife Federation.
• Spokesman-Review Letters to the Editor: Keep fighting to protect our beloved salmon written by Scott Putnam, Lewiston, Idaho
• Spokesman-Review Letters to the Editor: Impact of dams on the salmon written by Amy G. Mazur, Moscow, Idaho
• Everett Herald Guest Opinion: Scuttling Columbia Basin pact ignores peril to salmon written by Joseph Bogaard, executive director of Save Our wild Salmon Coalition
• Seattle Times Opinion: We’re back in court for Columbia Basin salmon’s survival written by Amanda Goodin, attorney with Earthjustice.
• Washington State Standard Opinion: Federal agencies need a workable plan to protect salmon in the Columbia Basin written by Marc Sullivan, western Washington coordinator at Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition.
• Spokesman-Review Guest Opinion: The importance of the Columbia River Treaty for our communities, economy and environment written by Tanya Riordan, Policy and Advocacy Director for the Save Our wild Salmon Coalition. Tom Soeldner, retired clergyman and educator who helps to coordinate the One River, Ethics Matter project and volunteers with the Sierra Club’s Columbia River Team.

News:

• Seattle Times: Oregon, environmental groups ask courts to help Columbia Basin fish
• KOMO News: Orca calf J-64 likely dead, Center for Whale Research to monitor future encounter
• OPB: Klamath River temperatures changed dramatically after dam removal. That’s helping salmon swim farther upstream

Documentaries:

• OPB documentary: First Descent: Kayaking the Klamath follows Indigenous kayakers on a historic journey after dam removal. The nonprofit Ríos to Rivers and its program Paddle Tribal Waters organized the expedition, which was the first source-to-sea descent of the Klamath since the removal of J.C. Boyle, Copco 1, Copco 2, and Iron Gate dams in 2023 and 2024.
• People of the Salmon, a public radio documentary and podcast by Jane Fritz and Justin Lantrip, explores the Nez Perce Tribe’s historical, cultural and spiritual connection to the five species of ocean-going salmon in the Columbia River system, the impacts from the eight dams on the rivers, and Nez Perce Tribal Fisheries restoration efforts. Learn more and listen to the podcast at mythweaver.org or on Spotify and Apple Podcasts under Voices of the Wild Earth.

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Wild Salmon & Steelhead News is published regularly by the Save Our wild Salmon Coalition. Read on to learn about the Columbia-Snake River Basin’s endangered wild salmon and steelhead, the many benefits they deliver to people and ecosystems, and the extinction crisis they face today - unless we act! Find out how SOS is helping lead efforts to restore health, connectivity, and resilience to the rivers and streams these fish depend upon in the Columbia-Snake Basin and how you can get involved to help restore healthy, abundant, and harvestable populations and sustain more just and prosperous communities. To learn more and/or get involved, contact Martha Campos.

Table of Contents:

1. A summer full of activism and connection with the land, water, salmon and community!
2. Our work ahead to recover healthy salmon, orca, and rivers
3. The RECIPROCITY webinar series is back for fall 2025! 
4. Honoring Dr. Jane Goodall (1934-2025)  
5. Salmon media roundup

1. A summer full of activism and connection with the land, water, salmon and community!

In these extraordinarily challenging times, SOS staff found solace, energy and inspiration this summer in the opportunity to connect with many community members across the Northwest and the healthy lands, clean waters, and fish and wildlife we all hold dear.

In August, Tanya Riordan, Abby Saks, and Abby Dalke gathered on the banks of the lower Snake River near Lewiston to prepare for the annual flotilla hosted by our good friends and allies at Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment (read more about it below!). We were scurrying around to set up, when we were stopped in our tracks by a mesmerizing flock of swallows flying above our heads. Swooping and swirling in every which way, the birds were flying in a jumbled yet also highly coordinated and unified pattern. This spectacular sight, Tanya shared with us, is called murmuration. The birds moving en masse offer several key survival tactics – safety in numbers; leading the flock to roost, staying warmer together at night; and a visual invitation to straggling birds to join the flock. While we stood in awe, we were reminded of an important lesson: the power of the flock; the strength in community and the profound impact of collective care for one another.

This issue of the News recaps and highlights just a few of our activities this past summer - getting our hands dirty and feet wet in the Columbia Basin. Thank you to those who were able to join us at various events. As always, consider this your invitation to join our flock at future events, too. You are always welcome.

Envisioning a Restored Snake River Flotilla led by Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment - August 15-16.

In mid-August, hundreds of community members gathered at Hells Gate State Park near Lewiston, Idaho, to envision a free-flowing lower Snake River. Advocates floated along the Snake River, encircling a "Free the Snake" banner while Tribal leaders spoke to the urgent need to restore the river and uphold our nation's longstanding promises to Indigenous People in the Snake River Basin and beyond. Nez Perce Elders welcomed Tribal canoe families ashore, followed by other participants of this year's flotilla. Ashore, we heard Indigenous leaders' stories about salmon's profound significance in Tribal communities, and the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative (CBRI) and how it will benefit salmon, ecosystems, and Tribal and non-Tribal communities alike. This powerful gathering culminated with a call to action - that participants contact their members of Congress and other policymakers to urge them to support the implementation of the CBRI and restore salmon abundance across the Basin.

Flights above the Snake River Basin with EcoFlight - August 13-14.

With the help of our coalition partners at EcoFlight, we hosted several flyovers of the Snake River Basin to help policymakers better understand this river and the surrounding landscape as well as the urgency and opportunity presented by lower Snake River restoration. Boarding a small six-passenger plane, we took off with policymaker staff, Tribal leaders, an energy expert, and a local farmer. Looking down at the reservoir behind Lower Granite Dam, we spotted a spreading toxic algal bloom - another sign of the river's degraded health. We veered south, flying over the Tucannon River, that flows into a warm, stagnant reservoir on the lower Snake. The Tucannon represents an urgent and compelling case study. This river demonstrates that the most advanced tributary habitat restoration efforts cannot protect imperiled salmon if out-migrating smolts must run the gauntlet through multiple, hot, stagnant reservoirs filled with non-native predator fish during their journey to the Pacific Ocean.

Huge appreciation to EcoFlight for helping us all see the Basin from a new perspective!

Sawtooth Salmon Fest hosted by Idaho Rivers United (IRU) and the Sawtooth Interpretive & Historical Association (SIHA) - August 26-28.

As August came to an end and Idaho’s salmon persevered through their 900-mile journey home to the heart of the Rocky Mountains, we joined friends and allies in Stanley, Idaho for Sawtooth Salmon Fest, an annual event hosted by IRU and SIHA celebrating this epic migration. Before the festival began, IRU’s Tom Stuart and Stephen Pfeiffer led us on a search for spawning salmon along the banks of the Salmon River and its tributaries. Originally named for the bright red sockeye that once filled its waters during spawning season, Redfish Lake and other Stanley Basin lakes that the Salmon River flows from saw a combined 14 wild salmon return in 2025. Our struggle to find any sockeye (wild or otherwise) swimming upstream was a stark reminder of the multitude of obstacles that Idaho’s salmon must overcome to return and spawn, including and especially the eight dams and 140 miles of hot, toxic, and stagnant reservoir waters on the lower Snake River between the Tri-Cities and Lewiston, ID.

Our time at Sawtooth Salmon Fest itself was absolutely energizing. We connected with all sorts of amazing community members through a very popular activity, creating beautiful works of salmon art. Over a hundred participants joined us to use Northwest Artists Against Extinction-designed stencils to create salmon prints. It was a beautiful way to end the weekend: gathering in community and creating advocacy art for salmon, while the Sawtooth Mountains stood in the backdrop and the Salmon River flowed freely right behind us.

Thank you to IRU and SIHA for hosting this amazing event, and we hope to see you all at Sawtooth Salmon Fest next year!

The Way of the Masks Journey led by Se’Si’Le - September 9-20.

In September, SOS was proud to support and participate in Se'Si'Le's 'Way of the Masks' journey as it toured through the Pacific Northwest, featuring powerful cultural events rooted in Indigenous artistry and environmental activism. The tour's message: protecting ancient forests is not just good policy — it's an integral part of Indigenous identity, our Northwest legacy, and our shared responsibility. Carved by Lummi Nation Master Carver Jewell James, a 12-foot cedar totem pole adorned with Coast Salish stories and symbols served as a striking visual and call-to-action for protecting our most sacred forests and the wild salmon that depend on them.

At each stop, local and Indigenous speakers shared heartfelt stories, prayers, music, and calls to action to protect ancient forests, wild salmon, and our Northwest home. Eight beautiful wooden masks, also hand-carved by Jewell James, was gifted in each location to a community leader who has played a key role in forest and salmon protection efforts.

Check out SOS' Events page to join events near you!  

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2. Our work ahead to recover healthy salmon, orca, and rivers

Thanks to your ongoing support and advocacy, we're making a strong and stead impression on regional policymakers and influential stakeholders and partners. Working with allies across the Northwest, we organized dozens of meetings and many thousands of grassroots/citizen contacts with Members of Congress, governors and local elected officials - urging them to defend our Northwest values and work collaboratively and consistently toward a more prosperous future for all, with healthy waters and abundant fish in the Columbia-Snake Basin.

Here are some recent developments and updates on the status of our rivers, endangered salmon and steelhead, and Southern Resident orcas, and our work ahead to protect and restore a healthier and more resilient Columbia-Snake Basin and Pacific Northwest.

Tragic death of a Southern Resident calf:

On September 12, Alki (J36) was observed by researchers at the Center for Whale Research carrying a dead female neonate calf with its umbilical cord still attached. This was not her first loss. Alki’s 2-year-old son Sonic (J52) died in 2017, and she is known to have experienced multiple miscarriages in recent years. We will never know for certain the exact cause of this calf's death, but we do know that the lack of salmon continues to be the single greatest threat to the survival of the Southern Resident orcas. Despite many years of effort to better protect Southern Resident orcas and many populations of Pacific Northwest salmon, both continue to teeter on the brink of extinction. These tragic deaths of the Southern Residents underscore the urgent need to rebuild abundant salmon populations in the Columbia-Snake Basin and across the Pacific Northwest. Scientists agree that rebuilding Spring/Summer chinook salmon in the Snake River Basin is essential priority to protect orcas from extinction. Removing the four lower Snake River dams represents our nation's greatest river/salmon restoration opportunity anywhere on the West Coast.

Dangerous water conditions in the lower Snake River:

This summer, all eight lower Columbia and Snake River reservoirs experienced sustained water temperatures above 68°F – the biological and legal limit scientists tell us is needed to protect cold water fish like salmon and steelhead from harm or death.

The hot water temperatures now regularly occurring in the summer months in the Columbia and Snake rivers impact the behavior, reproductive success, and survival of all upriver populations of salmon and steelhead. At a minimum, elevated water temperatures can significantly delay in their migration journey to Idaho. At higher temperatures, impacts can worsen and include disease, degraded egg and milt quality, and death. Hot water impacts on salmon and steelhead behavior and health can also impact Tribal and non-tribal fisheries, harming these communities and economies. 

The lower Snake River reservoirs also now routinely test positive for microcystins in the summer and fall months. Microcystins are a toxin that can harm the liver and is commonly responsible for human and animal poisonings, and habitat degradation. Already under stress due to warm temperatures in all eight reservoirs, salmon and steelhead must now also migrate through toxic algal blooms that can cause dangerous oxygen depletion and changes in pH levels.

Sovereigns and NGOs return to court to protect imperiled salmon and steelhead:

On September 11, a coalition of conservation, fishing, and clean energy groups, along with the states of Oregon and Washington and four Lower Columbia River Treaty Tribes, filed a motion with the U.S. District Court in Portland to lift a stay or pause in litigation that had been put in place as part of the historic Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement (RCBA).

Across nearly three decades of litigation, three different federal district court judges have declared six federal dam management plans inadequate and illegal for protecting imperiled wild salmon and steelhead populations in the Snake and Columbia rivers as required by federal law. The most recent 2020 federal salmon/dams plan, developed during the first Trump Administration, is no exception. Plaintiffs in the case - the Nez Perce Tribe, the state of Oregon and conservation and fishing NGOs led by Earthjustice - made a decision to pause this long-running litigation in 2021 and work with the Biden Administration with the hope of developing a durable, long-term solution to protect and restore endangered wild salmon and steelhead populations. Then in December 2023, the Biden Administration and Northwest Tribes, states, and stakeholders announced the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement. The RCBA represented a first significant step toward implementing a comprehensive and collaborative plan to protect and rebuild salmon abundance, expand clean energy resources, honor Tribal treaty rights, and restore healthy ecosystems while supporting a robust Pacific Northwest economy. Importantly, the agreement included planning and funding to replace the services provided by the lower Snake River dams.

However, in June 2025, the Trump Administration suddenly terminated the RCBA and walked away from this historic collaboration to recover the Northwest's native fish, invest in communities and begin to solve some longstanding regional problems. Without the agreement in place, plaintiffs have been left with no alternative but to return to court to challenge the inadequate 2020 federal salmon plan and to ask the court to require critical near-term changes in the operations of the dams and reservoirs to provide urgently-needed survival benefits for migrating salmon and steelhead. See this factsheet for additional details on the status of fish populations.

Save Our wild Salmon Coalition deeply appreciates the leadership of the plaintiffs, and we hope the court acts expeditiously to approve the urgent measures needed to improve the dismal survival rates of salmon and steelhead in time for the upcoming 2026 spring-summer migration season.

Read more:

• Idaho River United News: IRU Returns to Court to Defend Snake River Salmon & Steelhead
• Earthjustice Press Release: Groups Return to Court to Protect Imperiled Columbia Basin Salmon
• The Oregonian Opinion: Back to court, but our regional work to protect salmon will continue

Congressional hearing on the harmful bill “Defending Our Dams Act” - Sept. 4:

On September 3, the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries held a hearing for the “Defending our Dams Act” (H.R. 2073), introduced earlier this year by Rep. Newhouse (WA-04). If passed, the legislation would stop progress to restore a freely flowing lower Snake River restoration by prohibiting federal funds or activity to understand and/or study lower Snake River dam removal or service replacement. H.R. 2073 would also prevent the implementation of the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative (CBRI) — the comprehensive strategy developed by the Six Sovereigns to recover salmon abundance in the Columbia basin while investing in clean and affordable energy, healthy communities, and modernized infrastructure.

Salmon and fishing advocates thank Representatives Huffman, Hoyle, Randall, and Stansbury of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee for attending this important hearing and voicing their strong opposition to this harmful legislation. Here are a few quotes from the hearing:

• Representative Huffman: “In December of 2023, four Tribes, two States, five federal agencies, and nonprofits all reached a historic agreement on Columbia River salmon restoration…called the Resilient Columbia Basin agreement. President Trump blew that up in June with this Presidential Memorandum entitled ‘Stopping Radical Environmentalism to Generate Power for the Columbia River Basin’... there's nothing radical about honoring tribal treaty rights or wanting functional salmon runs that people can actually fish, or building clean energy to address all climate change and salmon extinction.
• Representative Hoyle: “Unfortunately, I can't get behind the fact that HR 2073 would ban studies into what it would take to replace or modify these dams, but we shouldn't tie our own hands for being able to research their impacts, even while we acknowledge that right now, there is no other way to replace that power.”
• Representative Stansbury: “It's important to understand that there has been decades of litigation on the lower Snake River to ensure that the historic damming of those rivers that impact the salmon fisheries that are subject to numerous treaties of our Tribes and the federal trust responsibility are rectified. At the end of the day, this is not just about the restoration of that vast watershed and the river and ecosystem that it sustains, but it is also compliance with both federal law and tribal trust and treaty responsibilities. I humbly but emphatically oppose that bill.”

Nez Perce Tribal Chairman Shannon F. Wheeler also testified at the hearing, asking Congress to reject the bill. “The wild runs are indeed in dire straits,” said Chairman Wheeler. “This bill would tie the hands of federal agencies and set the United States on an unambiguous course to destroy wild Snake River salmon runs, which would abrogate our Treaty-reserved rights to fish in all our usual and accustomed fishing areas.” Chairman Wheeler reminded Congress that the dams block access to some of the most pristine salmon and steelhead habitat in the Lower 48, and that the health, culture, and treaty rights of Columbia Basin Tribes are inseparable from the survival of wild fish runs.

We thank Chairman Wheeler and all who contacted their representatives to oppose this bill and called upon them to work collaboratively to implement the CBRI, the only existing plan today that comprehensively addresses the issues facing salmon, the health of our rivers, community needs, and infrastructure. The CBRI represents an historic opportunity for the people of the Northwest and nation - and we all need to work together to support the Six Sovereigns leadership in collaboration with others in the region to move it forward.

Act Now! Petition to restore the Columbia Basin's native fish and hold BPA accountable:

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council is now working on amendments to update its region-wide Fish and Wildlife Program. As an initial step in this process, the Council solicited recommendations from state, federal and tribal fisheries managers and accepted recommendations from others, including the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). BPA recommended that the Council abandon its long-held goal of seeing 5 million adult salmon and steelhead returning annually to the Columbia Basin to spawn. BPA further called on the Council to affirm that BPA was under no legal obligation to meet any numerical goal the Council might set.

In response, Save Our wild Salmon Coalition and partners released a petition calling on the Council to reassert its intended leadership role in undoing the vast damage hydropower development has done to fish and wildlife throughout the region and to hold BPA accountable to honor its legal obligations. Please add your name to the petition! Thank you all for signing and sharing the petition!

Sign the Petition 

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3. The RECIPROCITY webinar series is back for fall 2025! 

Join Oregon Wild, Washington Wild & SOS on October 23 at 6pm PT for the second fall installment of RECIPROCITY featuring award-winning Seattle Times reporter and author Lynda V. Mapes!

Lynda Mapes recently published The Trees are Speaking: Dispatches from the salmon forests, an essential read for those with a deep interest in environmental stewardship, Indigenous land rights, sustainable communities and the urgent challenges posed by climate change. With vibrant storytelling supported by science and traditional ecological knowledge, Mapes will share a call to rethink our relationship with forests and invite us into a world where trees are kin, not commodities.

Register for the Webinar here 

Last month, we were honored to hear from Dr. Christopher J. Preston, who spoke about his latest book, Tenacious Beasts, which brings to life nature’s formidable resilience through successful recovery stories from wolves in Europe, bison on America’s Great Plains, and humpback whales in the Atlantic and Pacific. We’re grateful to Dr. Preston for sharing the evening with us, full of optimism as well as guidance about how we might live more harmoniously alongside our animal kin. If you missed it, you can watch the webinar recording here.

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4. Honoring Dr. Jane Goodall (1934-2025)

Dr. Jane Goodall is widely known for her groundbreaking research on chimpanzees and unconventional approach, by Western scientific standards at the time, to learn from nature, acknowledging, for example, that the chimpanzees were astutely watching her, too. While the salmon ecosystems of the Northwest may seem far from the forests of Gombe, her deep commitment, vision, wisdom and humanity has moved and inspired millions of people here and across the planet. Dr. Goodall had an infectious, innate love for all that is living and a deep understanding of what it means to be a part of nature. She inspired countless people to get outside, poke around in nature, and ultimately grow into strong environmental leaders. Not only did she fundamentally change the way we, as humans, understand ourselves, she also paved the way for young leaders in science. Dr. Goodall's legacy offers us all an enduring gift of perseverance, patience, and hope.

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5. Salmon media roundup

News:

• Moscow-Pullman: Tribes, states push to revive Snake and Columbia River salmon lawsuit after Trump order
• Capital Press: Governors respond to ad placed by dam advocates
• The Seattle-Times: Legal battle reignites over Lower Snake River Dams, salmon
• WA State Standard: Lawsuits against federal government over Columbia Basin dams to resume
• Daily Astorian: Oregon, tribes return to court to save Columbia River salmon from extinction
• Columbia Gorge News: Lummi Nation totem pole visits Hood River, drums up opposition to potential roadless rule recission
• News Data: Klamath River Water Temperatures Responding to Dam Removal

Opinion:

• Idaho Statesman: Opinion: Snake River salmon lawsuits were on hold. Now we have to resume
• The Oregonian: Opinion: Back to court, but our regional work to protect salmon will continue
• The Columbian: In Our View: Salmon policy ill-conceived, puts process in reverse
• NewsData: Guest Column: The Righteous Shall Prevail, or Perhaps Fail?
• The Spokesman-Review: Breach the dams save the ecosystem
• The Spokesman-Review: Clean water the answer to salmon recovery

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Wild Salmon & Steelhead News is published regularly by the Save Our wild Salmon Coalition. Read on to learn about the Columbia-Snake River Basin’s endangered wild salmon and steelhead, the many benefits they deliver to people and ecosystems, and the extinction crisis they face today - unless we act! Find out how SOS is helping lead efforts to restore health, connectivity, and resilience to the rivers and streams these fish depend upon in the Columbia-Snake Basin and how you can get involved to help restore healthy, abundant, and harvestable populations and sustain more just and prosperous communities. To learn more and/or get involved, contact Martha Campos.

Table of Contents:

1. Remembering long-time salmon advocate and SOS Board Member Joel Kawahara
2. Pilgrimage to the Klamath Basin, by Abby Dalke, SOS Outreach Coordinator 
3. Salmon and fishing advocates applaud legal challenge to BPA’s misguided markets decision 
4. What’s next for Columbia Basin salmon? Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Fish & Wildlife Program  
5. A Majestic Matriarchy – Indigenous women shared inspiration and action for orcas and salmon 
6. Hot Water Report 2025: Snake River salmon and steelhead are in hot water – and toxic algal blooms 
7. Keeping the Pressure on Congress
8. Join SOS for The Way of the Masks Tour – September 7-20 – coming to a Northwest town near you!
9. Salmon media roundup

1. Remembering long-time salmon advocate and SOS Board Member Joel Kawahara

It is with the heaviest of hearts that we mourn the loss of Joel Kawahara, our dear friend, long time SOS board member, and tireless advocate for salmon. Joel's beloved salmon troller, the F/V Karolee, was recovered on August 13 by the Coast Guard and he was not on board.

This is a devastating loss. Joel was the very best of us – the most brilliant, generous, humble, compassionate, kind, thoughtful man and colleague and friend. He worked in service of salmon and their needs for as long as he fished. Joel was tireless as an advocate for salmon, their rivers, and the communities that salmon support, as reported in a Seattle Times article sharing the news of his passing: "They remember him as a bit of a Renaissance man, in touch with the water and deeply invested in his relationships and his duty to advocate for his industry, the salmon and habitat they rely upon. Kawahara testified before elected leaders about the impacts of hydroelectric dams on salmon, volunteered at streamside tree plantings and often fed his community with fresh-caught fish and oysters from his beach on Hood Canal or treats from his garden."

Joel served on the SOS board since the beginning in 1991, was the President of the Coastal Trollers Association, and was an active volunteer with the North Olympic Salmon Coalition. We need more Joels in the world today, not fewer. His absence will leave an immense hole in the fishing and salmon advocacy communities, and in our hearts. Joel’s guidance and leadership for our work will be deeply missed, but forever honored and remembered. A memorial site has been set up to share memories and condolences.

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2. Pilgrimage to the Klamath Basin, by Abby Dalke, SOS Outreach Coordinator

Earlier this month, I had the privilege of visiting the Klamath Basin – the ecosystem now known for the world’s largest salmon restoration project. The vision for my road trip was simple: travel from the headwaters of the Klamath River in Southern Oregon to its mouth at the ocean. Along the way, I hoped to learn from the leaders behind this historic effort, culminating in the Paddle Tribal Waters celebration in Klamath, California.

My first stop was Mt. McLoughlin. After a long day’s hike, I looked out over the basin, reflecting on the nearly 500 miles of newly free-flowing river and all the species and communities that rely on it. From there, I tried my hand at fly fishing in Spencer Creek (known for one of the first sightings of salmon returning). That night, I camped near the former J.C. Boyle Dam site, falling asleep to the sound of rushing water. The loud hum of the river filled me with gratitude and hope for the restoration I was seeing (and hearing) before me.

A few podcasts and a trail run through the Redwoods later, I arrived at the Paddle Tribal Waters Celebration, hosted by Rios to Rivers. Indigenous people from around the world gathered to share stories of preserving sacred spaces, and wisdom of honoring rights of nature. The energy of hundreds of people celebrating this historic moment was powerful beyond words.

My final stop was the estuary, where the river meets the sea. The sandbar stretched across the delta looked different from photos I had seen before – a reminder of the ever-changing landscape. I stood in awe thinking of the salmon that, generation after generation, continue to find the narrow channel, only 50 feet wide at most, to make their return to their ancestral spawning grounds.

A visit to the Klamath Basin will surely leave you feeling small in space and time, a humble and grounding reminder. After a century, the anadromous fish in the Klamath Basin can again return to their ancestral spawning grounds, and the ecosystem and river communities are rejoicing with the healing underway. This movement led by Indigenous leaders, the Yurok and Klamath Tribes, and river stewards and advocates, is guided full circle by the return of the salmon. A true testament to resilience.

Read more about the renewal of the Klamath Basin and the Paddle Tribal Waters gathering:

• Washington Post: Indigenous Teens Make First Descent of A Sacred River Finally Flowing Free
• OPB: Global solidarity at the mouth of the Klamath
• New York Times: First Time in 100 Years: Young Kayakers on a Ride for the Ages
• San Francisco Chronicle: First salmon swims all the way to Oregon after historic California dam removal

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3. Salmon and fishing advocates applaud legal challenge to BPA’s misguided markets decision

When the Bonneville Power Administration announced its intention to join an Arkansas-based energy trading market called Markets+, many observers found the decision baffling. Now, five Northwest advocacy groups have challenged the decision as unlawful.

The plaintiffs, represented by Earthjustice, have asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to review BPA’s market decision. Plaintiffs include three Save Our wild Salmon Coalition member groups: Sierra Club, NW Energy Coalition, and Idaho Conservation League.

The petition to the Court charges that by choosing a market consistently found to be more costly than the alternative California-based Extended Day Ahead Market (EDAM), BPA has violated the direction the Northwest Power Act gave Bonneville to prioritize the most cost-effective energy resources. The plaintiffs also state that BPA has failed to do a required analysis of the foreseeable environmental impacts the decision to join Markets+ would have, which the agency is obligated to do under the National Environmental Policy Act.

In a press release, SOS praised the groups challenging BPA’s decision, saying, “The Save Our wild Salmon Coalition appreciates the leadership and decision by conservation and clean energy advocates to file a lawsuit challenging the Bonneville Power Administration’s (BPA) decision to join the Southwest Power Pool’s Markets+ day-ahead energy trading market.”

SOS Executive Director Joseph Bogaard was quoted, saying, “BPA’s choice of Markets+ over the alternative Extended Day Ahead Market (EDAM) is inexplicable on multiple levels – system reliability, integration of new renewable energy, impacts on energy costs and imperiled Northwest salmon and steelhead – and we applaud the groups that have stepped up to advocate for the best interest of our region to take this legal action.”

The people of the Northwest need BPA to be a collaborative partner in our region rather than prioritizing the agency’s narrower interests and go-it-alone approach. Now more than ever, we need BPA leadership to be part of a holistic solution that addresses the federal hydro-system's impacts on salmon, invests in new transmission and clean energy resources, and maintains affordability. It’s unfortunate that legal action is necessary to ensure BPA lives up to its public responsibilities, honors Tribal Treaty rights, and considers the best interests of regional residents (and energy customers) and our clean energy and salmon recovery needs.

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4. What’s next for Columbia Basin salmon? Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Fish & Wildlife Program

In June, the Trump Administration withdrew from the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement (RCBA), undermining an historic and comprehensive approach to protect and recover imperiled salmon and invest in communities, clean energy and other critical infrastructure. This development was disappointing but not surprising.

Advocates for recovering endangered species, restoring healthier and more resilient ecosystems, and honoring our nation’s treaty obligations will seek progress in other arenas for the foreseeable future. One venue may very well be in court. The RCBA was an agreement reached between the federal government and six Northwest states and Tribes. One key element in the broad-reaching Agreement was a pause in litigation that was under way at the time to challenge an inadequate and illegal 2020 federal salmon plan that had been finalized in 2020 toward the end of the first Trump Administration. Although Save Our wild Salmon is not among the plaintiffs, ten of SOS’ coalition members are.

One arena that presents a critical opportunity for regional progress on salmon recovery is the update of the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s (Council) Fish and Wildlife Program that is currently underway. As directed by the 1980 Northwest Power Planning and Conservation Act, that program has the mission to “protect, mitigate, and enhance” fish and wildlife populations impacted by dams and their reservoirs in the Columbia-Snake River Basin.

The Council updates its F&W Plan followed by its Energy Plan every five years. As a first step in this process earlier this year, the Council sought recommendations from federal, state, and tribal fisheries agencies and other parties. Dozens of detailed recommendations were submitted, but it was the Bonneville Power Administration’s (BPA) that genuinely shocked salmon and clean energy advocates.

In their recommendations, BPA claims that the Council’s well researched and widely accepted estimate of pre-development salmonid returns to the Columbia Basin – 10-16 million adult fish annually – was grossly overstated. BPA also asserted that the Council exaggerates the role played by Columbia Basin dams and their reservoirs to diminish salmon runs, and that, as a result, Bonneville is shouldering an unfair burden of responsibility by being required to mitigate for, according to the federal power marketing agency, non-hydro related sources of mortality.

In keeping with BPA’s long history of poor natural resource stewardship as outlined in a joint Op-Ed by SOS and Sierra Club, BPA told the Council it should abandon its long-standing interim goal of 5 million adult salmon and steelhead returning to the river each year in favor of “no numerical salmon abundance goal.” Finally, BPA stated that if the Council insists on maintaining a numerical goal, it should (i) lower it significantly and (ii) concede that BPA had no legal obligation to meet, or even attempt to meet, that goal.

When the Council more recently sought public comments on these recommendations that it received, SOS responded with comments rebutting BPA’s assertions and strongly opposing its recommendations. Our comments highlighted what the Council should do and concluded that “The Council’s leadership at this time is essential and appreciated.”

SOS will continue to engage in this critical process in the coming months, as will our member organizations and their activists and supporters. Stay tuned for updates and next steps!

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5. A Majestic Matriarchy – Indigenous women shared inspiration and action for orcas and salmon

In June, several hundred people gathered at St. Joseph Parish in Seattle to listen and learn from the heartfelt words, visions, and voices of Indigenous women leaders from around the Northwest.

A Majestic Matriarchy was a meditative and inspiring evening woven together by experiences from Indigenous women from across the Pacific Northwest region who are leading the effort to protect and recover imperiled Southern Resident orcas and the Snake and Columbia river salmon they depend upon. This powerful event was presented by Se’Si’Le, an Indigenous-led nonprofit based in Washington State, with support from Save Our wild Salmon and a coalition of NGOs and faith-based partners.

With bellies full of Eva’s Wild delicious sockeye salmon, we heard from artists, faith leaders, policy experts, community organizers, and change makers. Their diversity of experiences and perspectives spoke in concert to the importance of healing and renewing our connection with ourselves, our communities, and the ecosystems upon which we all – like salmon and orca – depend.

At the end of the program, we called on Washington’s Governor Ferguson and Members of Congress to ensure that Washington State remains a champion for a robust implementation of the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative (CBRI). The CBRI is the comprehensive roadmap for salmon recovery and community investment recently developed by the ‘Six Sovereigns.’ It is a regionally generated plan to restore healthy and abundant salmon, to protect the Southern Resident orcas and many other fish and wildlife populations that benefit from salmon abundance, and to honor our nation’s promises to Tribal nations. You can lend your voice too – send a message to your elected leaders today!

“Art can break your heart at first, but then, it helps you see in a new way. [We can] move from sadness to understanding, and to action, and that’s how change begins.” – Fia De La O, Quechua, Artist and Third-year Bachelor of Applied Science student in Environmental Conservation at Skagit Valley College

“I’m so grateful I’m not on this trek alone. I didn’t have to start from scratch, thanks to the warriors before us and the champions that are still fighting the good fight. I already have the next generation coming forward to help pick up our pace and the orca and salmon haven’t given up yet.” – Kayeloni Scott, Spokane Tribal Member with strong Nez Perce ancestry. Executive Director, Columbia Snake River Campaign

The powerful convening will continue in September through the Way of the Masks tour, which will honor the ancestral Indigenous knowledge that all things are related to, and through, xaalh: a sacred balance of life. See below for more details on these upcoming events.

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6. Hot Water Report 2025: Snake River salmon and steelhead are in hot water – and toxic algal blooms 

In July, Save Our wild Salmon and 10 allied NGO partners kicked off our 10th annual series of the Hot Water Report. The Hot Water Report tracks water temperatures in real-time through the summer in the lower Snake and lower Columbia River reservoirs and elevates the consequences of the increasingly harmful impacts of high water temperatures and a changing climate on already-endangered cold water fish.

Three issues have been published so far this summer – the first dives into how the lower Snake and Columbia River dams have transformed a once-highly-productive healthy and free-flowing river into a series of large, warm, stagnant, seasonally toxic reservoirs that harm salmon and steelhead and severely impact their migration, reproductive success, and habitat quality.

Issue #2 focuses on the combined effects of hot, stagnant, and toxic water on salmon, humans, other animals, and ecosystems. The report also focuses on the path to recovery through the collaborative implementation of the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative (CBRI).

Our current issue spotlights Idaho Department of Health's recent health advisory, warning of “dangerous levels of toxin producing algae” in Brownlee and Hells Canyon reservoirs along the Snake River. We report on the status of Columbia/Snake River salmon and steelhead, featuring the Columbia Snake River Campaign's recent webinar with Jay Hesse, Director of Biological Services, Nez Perce Tribe Department of Fisheries Resources Management.

A recent article in the Columbian highlighted the role that the Hot Water Report plays in drawing attention to the triple threat today of heat, stagnant waters, and toxic algal blooms to salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and Snake rivers. “For [SOS executive director Joseph] Bogaard, the purpose of the Hot Water Report is explaining the extent of the crisis salmon face and highlighting solutions that government research has found will increase their survival, like removing the lower Snake River dams.”

Stay tuned for continuing coverage for the remainder of the summer.

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7. Keeping the Pressure on Congress

Chris Vertopoulos, the owner of Chris V’s Guide Service and treasurer for Northwest Guides and Anglers Association (NWGAA) and Herman Fleishman, the owner of Northwest Fishing Adventures and a member of NWGAA and Northwest Sportsfishing Industry Association, in Washington D.C.

Throughout August, Members of Congress and staff are back home in the Northwest during the Congressional Recess. We’re taking this opportunity to collaborate and coordinate with partners and allies across the region to elevate our advocacy and strategic communications to demonstrate the strong public support for funding and implementing Columbia/Snake river restoration priorities.

The Northwest’s native fish – and the great gifts they bring – are under unprecedented attack today. Strongly supported laws like the ESA and NEPA are in the crosshairs. Agency staff and funding are being slashed. And in mid-June, the Trump administration issued an order to terminate the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement (RCBA).

The RCBA was the Northwest first big step forward to realize the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative (CBRI) – a holistic strategy to recover Columbia Basin fish and invest in regional communities and infrastructure. It is inclusive and collaborative – a way forward that leaves no one behind. While the current administration may have walked away from the RCBA, the larger CBRI endures and will serve as a North Star to guide our region’s work forward.

We are grateful to the Six Sovereigns — the four lower Columbia River Treaty Tribes (Yakama, Umatilla, Nez Perce, and Warm Springs) and the states of Oregon and Washington — for their visionary leadership to ensure our region is on a pathway to recovery, resilience, and a more just and prosperous future. With the solutions outlined in the CBRI, we can restore salmon and other native fish to healthy and abundant levels, ensure a clean and socially just energy future, support local economic resilience, and honor long-standing federal commitments to Tribal Nations.

You can help in two ways:

1. Take action by sending a message to your elected leaders calling for a robust implementation of the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative (CBRI) and the opportunity it presents to restore healthy and abundant salmon and Southern Resident orcas, and honor our obligations to Tribal nations.
2. Show strong support for the continued implementation of the CBRI by posting, sharing, and following SOS' social media pages:

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8. Join SOS for The Way of the Masks Tour – September 7-20 – coming to a Northwest town near you!

Led by Se’Si’Le and the House of Tears carvers, Xaalh: The Way of the Masks Tour will bring attention to the emergent and urgent threats of the Trump Administration to Indigenous lands, waters, forests, and lifeways in the Pacific Northwest. The Way of the Masks campaign honors ancestral Indigenous knowledge that all things are related to xaalh: a sacred trust with the balance of life.

From September 7-20, with stops around the Northwest, we'll hear from Tribal and local leaders about the interrelatedness of Treaty rights and inherent rights, Indigenous ways of knowing nature and environmental justice, healthy rivers and salmon habitat, spiritual and ecological balance, and ancient forests and climate resilience. We invite you to join us!

September 7 – Bellingham, WA
September 8 – Olympia, WA
September 10 – Portland, OR
September 11 – Eugene, OR
September 13 – Klamath River
September 15 – Hood River, OR
September 17 – Asotin, WA
September 19 – Seattle, WA
September 20 – Lower Elwha, WA

Register for a Way of the Masks event  

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9. Salmon media roundup

Here are a couple of recent stories about the urgency and opportunity today for salmon recovery and river restoration:

News:

• Lewiston Morning Tribune: RFK Jr. avoids party line – Health secretary backs breaching; says U.S. treatment of Natives amounted to genocide
• The Columbian: Columbia Basin’s salmon are in hot water, literally, says report from Save Our Wild Salmon
• The Seattle Times: Environmental groups sue BPA over power market choice
• The Seattle Times: WA’s Tribal Canoe Journey is healing, celebrating, advocating
• Spokesman Review: 50 years after the Snake River dams were completed, can they continue to coexist with salmon?
• The Oregonian: Teens from NW tribes kayak Klamath to celebrate removal of dams and return of salmon
• The Oregonian: Salmon, tribal sovereignty, and energy collide
• Oregon Capitol Chronicle: As Trump cancels Columbia River deal, promises to Indigenous American tribes are still being broken
• Grist: Salmon, tribal sovereignty, and energy collide as US abandons Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement
• Cascadia Daily News: Report: To save Puget Sound’s orcas, governments need to act fast
• News Data: Salmon Managers Begin Safety-Net Strategy for Tucannon Spring Chinook

Opinions, Editorials, and Letters to the Editor:

• Idaho Capital Sun Commentary by Pat Ford
  • Salmon extinction in motion in Washington’s and Oregon’s Snake River
  • Salmon and steelhead extinction threshold science, and the ocean fish of northeast Oregon
  • The good work underway by Pacific Northwest salmon people in northeast Oregon
• The Seattle Times: BPA plan puts progress on clean energy and salmon recovery at risk
• The Columbian: Letter: Dam removal essential for salmon
• The Daily Herald: Comment: BPA adds to long history of poor resource management
• The Spokesman Review: Sarah Dyrdahl: Reimagining the Columbia
• Everett Herald Letter: Snohomish PUD should rethink support for BPA market decision
• The Spokesman Review: Letter: Remove dams, save our salmon
• Spokesman Review Guest Opinion: Fed ignores alternatives to generate electricity that would help Columbia Basin salmon runs

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