Opinion

By The Columbian
September 16, 2025

The drawbacks to a Trump administration decision regarding salmon recovery are becoming clear. To summarize, the shortsighted policy has negative long-term impacts.

As media outlet Washington State Standard reported last week: “Northwest states, tribes and environmental groups are moving to restart litigation against the federal government over its hydroelectric dam operations in the Columbia River Basin that have harmed endangered native fish species.”

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said: “The federal government has put salmon and steelhead on the brink of extinction and once again broken promises to tribal partners. Extinction is not an option. Oregon will return to court to hold the federal government accountable and ensure these iconic fish runs have a future.” A spokesman for Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said our state is not a plaintiff in the case but has filed a brief in support of the plaintiffs.

For decades, salmon runs have been declining throughout the Columbia River Basin. Billions of dollars in recovery efforts have seen mixed success, and years of court battles have slowed the development of a consensus about how to best approach the issue.

In 2023, the Biden administration forged a $1 billion agreement with multiple stakeholders for working toward salmon recovery. The Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement included a provision to halt any existing lawsuits. The plan did not call for the breaching of four hydroelectric dams along the lower Snake River in Washington, but it did create a pathway toward removal.

In June of this year, however, the Trump administration withdrew from that agreement. The move halted potential progress; more important, it opened a door for the resumption of lawsuits.

In the process, the decision highlighted the capricious nature of the federal government under Trump. A “fact sheet” issued by the White House at the time heralded the decision for “stopping radical environmentalism” and “putting America first” — empty buzzwords that are the hallmark of Trump’s management. There is nothing radical about working to save salmon, which for millennia have been a cultural and economic cornerstone of the Northwest.

At the same time, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright claimed that removal of the Snake River dams would cost the region more than 3,000 megawatts of hydroelectric generating capacity, demonstrating that the administration rarely is encumbered by facts. The average yearly output of the dams is approximately one-third of that.

But that is not the largest concern. As The Columbian wrote editorially: “The biggest shortcoming of the action is that it offers no solutions. It simply rejects an agreement, forged between multiple stakeholders, without offering a path forward for generating power, providing irrigation, enhancing river transportation and improving accessibility for salmon.”

The decision to withdraw from the agreement appears to be driven solely by desires to undermine any progress that could be associated with Joe Biden’s presidency. There are good arguments for maintaining the lower Snake River dams and the hydropower and benefits they provide. There also are good reasons for breaching the dams in an effort to improve salmon runs and, by extension, the orca population that relies on salmon for sustenance.

But rather than consider those issues and offer possible avenues for moving forward, the Trump administration simply threw the process into reverse. A resumption of lawsuits is an inevitable — and costly — result of that ill-conceived policy.

The Columbian: In Our View: Salmon policy ill-conceived, puts process in reverse

Salmon Columbia River © Dave McCoy

By Liz Hamilton For The Oregonian/OregonLive
Sep. 15, 2025

Hamilton is policy director of the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association, which is one of the coalition organizations advocating for salmon and steelhead restoration.

Last week, a coalition of conservation, fishing and clean energy groups, along with the states of Oregon and Washington and four Lower Columbia River Treaty Tribes, requested that a federal judge in Oregon lift a stay of long-running litigation to protect Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead.

Yes, this 30-plus year-old legal battle over how to save imperiled wild salmon and steelhead is back on.

We’re not relishing returning to court, but unfortunately, it’s what we must do after the Trump administration in June unilaterally and abruptly withdrew from the historic Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement. That win-win agreement, reached in 2023, was starting to implement a comprehensive plan to not only restore salmon and steelhead within the Columbia Basin but to also address our region’s energy needs, which are fed in part by the dams that have strangled salmon populations. The pact called for investing more than $1 billion of federal funding for habitat restoration, tribally-led clean energy projects and planning to replace services, like irrigation and transportation, provided by the four lower Snake River dams.

But with that agreement now torn up by the Trump administration, we must use every tool at our disposal to keep fighting for these iconic fish that are intertwined with our health and well-being, economy, promises to tribes and our ways of life.

In addition to our request to lift the stay, we also plan to ask the court next month to order the federal agencies that manage the federal Columbia Basin dams to make immediate changes to their operations to prevent salmon extinction.

It’s too soon to talk precisely about the relief we’re seeking, and whether others might join us. But we’ve previously requested — and were granted — measures like requiring dam operators to increase how much water is spilled over the dams.

Because the federal government has never come up with an adequate plan to mitigate or prevent the harm the federal dams within the Columbia Basin cause to listed salmon species, we keep returning to court — and winning. Over the history of litigation that spans three decades, three different federal district court judges have declared six different federal dam management plans illegal.

The most recent dam management plan — the 2020 plan — is no better. It continues this pattern of failure by putting the needs of endangered salmon last. We challenged that plan in 2021 — but paused that litigation when we entered into the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement in 2023.

Years of work went into developing that agreement, but the blueprint that underpins it, is still in place. The Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative was developed by the states of Oregon and Washington and four lower Columbia treaty tribes — the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and the Nez Perce Tribe. And it continues to guide our actions today and for the future. Even with Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement, the parties involved in the effort continue to work together on short-term goals as well as long-range planning for future opportunities.

Don’t forget that the governors of Oregon and Washington in 2024 both signed executive orders pledging to take all actions necessary, in cooperation with the tribes, to fulfill commitments to the restoration initiative. In Oregon, this includes monthly cabinet meetings to address coordination of salmon recovery efforts.

The states, tribes and non-governmental organizations are working together to prioritize federal funding requests to restore the Columbia Basin and make the most of limited federal funding that is still available. We’re also engaging in fish and energy planning processes with the Northwest Power and Conservation Council to ensure restoring fisheries remains a top priority for the Council, which is responsible for developing plans that balance both energy and fish and wildlife in the Columbia Basin.

Essentially, we’re continuing with the parts of the agreement that we can, even without federal support. That includes completing studies on how to update and modernize the irrigation and transportation services provided by the four lower Snake River dams in the event Congress authorizes their removal. We also hope to finish a study on the economic benefits of recreation opportunities created by a free-flowing river.

Without federal support, it’s less likely we can continue a study on how to replace the energy now provided by the dams, but experts are working on ideas for that too. Breaching the four lower Snake River dams remains a key centerpiece action needed for wild salmon and steelhead recovery — and we can continue planning and working toward that vision even now.

Though we’re returning to court, we aren’t giving up on these comprehensive plans for Columbia Restoration that solve multiple problems simultaneously and make common sense for the region. Fortunately, we have strong regional leadership from our states, Pacific Northwest tribes and many others — who also won’t let that happen.

We won’t give up on these fish — and no one else should either.

The Oregonian Opinion: Back to court, but our regional work to protect salmon will continue

I was down by Granite Point on the Lower Granite reservoir where I and many Washington State University and University of Idaho students did or usually go swimming and it is full of toxic algae, this is in line with the other reservoirs along the Upper and Lower Snake River. Signs say don’t go in the water, eat the fish, let your animals in the water. What about all the wildlife that drink the reservoir water? How is that affecting their health?

This issue continues to push the only solution to salmon recovery: clean water in the reservoirs that we all need as living organisms. Even the hydropower generated at all the federally owned dams are paid for by us taxpayers. How come we don’t get free electric? Even the Dams on the Lower Snake, where does that power go? Does it stay in the local community or does the Bonneville Power Industry sell it on the Grid to other states or the highest bidder? The hydro-electric system on the Snake River is not only a hazard but a waste of money. We need to develop alternative energy that doesn’t cause salmon to go extinct or create toxic lakes from algae.

Julian Matthews

Pullman

The Spokesman-Review: Clean water the answer to salmon recovery

A recent article, and an op-ed published two days later, describe opposing viewpoints regarding breaching the four Lower Snake River dams. One includes recycled misinformation that overstates the dam’s role. The other shows the science clearly supporting breaching and river restoration.

Fifty years ago, the four Lower Snake River dams were completed, ignoring outcry by many tribes (with over 10,000 years as conservationists) and government officials across the political spectrum. Today, the Southern Resident orcas that rely on Snake River salmon for food are on the brink of extinction. The hatcheries that were supposed to compensate for destroying the river ecosystem have failed to sustain wild salmon populations, many of which are almost gone. Hatchery fish currently play a critical role in feeding the orcas and preventing the collapse of the Columbia Basin ecosystem, but only wild fish can produce sustainable, plentiful runs.

Fifty years ago, we didn’t know climate change would turn the slack water behind the dams into death pools for salmon, who die in water above 72 degrees Fahrenheit. We didn’t know the slack water lakes behind dams would become methane factories or would waste 30,400-acre feet of water/year through evaporation. We didn’t know all mitigation efforts would fail, leaving salmon on the brink of extinction despite $26 billion in spending.

Fifty years after the Snake River dams were completed, can they continue coexisting with salmon? We now know the answer is a resounding “no.” The dams must go. Now.

Erica Tuell

Spokane

The Spokesman-Review: Breach the dams, save the ecosystem

The Northwest Power Act mandates that the Bonneville Power Administration “protect, mitigate and enhance” fish and wildlife populations harmed by dams and their warm-water reservoirs, write the authors. Pictured is the Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River in Colton, Whitman County, on March 4, 2025. (Kevin Clark / The Seattle Times)

Aug. 7, 2025
By Zachariah Baker and Tanya Riordan

We have a remarkable opportunity to bolster imperiled salmon and steelhead runs in the Columbia River Basin, moves that would strengthen our economy, support clean energy and uphold the values that define our Northwest way of life.

The Northwest Power and Conservation Council — a little-known but essential multistate agency — is building a road map for the next round of investments in clean energy and salmon recovery in the Columbia Basin. Should the council fully embrace this opportunity, we could see the adoption of science-based measures that regional fish managers believe will make a difference for salmon runs perilously close to extinction, as well as a set of recommendations for meeting clean, affordable and reliable energy goals.

Unfortunately, the Bonneville Power Administration, the region’s largest energy supplier, is working to thwart this potential. BPA has taken the unprecedented position that it should no longer be obliged to meet the council’s long-held salmon recovery goals, despite hydropower’s well-documented and far-reaching harms to our native salmon and steelhead runs. BPA’s stance is shocking, cynical and alarming.

Tribal members fish for spring Chinook for ceremonial and subsistence purposes on the Columbia River in April. (Erika Schultz / The Seattle Times)

The council must push back on BPA. Decades of collaboration and hard-won progress on both clean energy and salmon recovery are at risk — coming at a time when threats from a changing climate grow more dire. In fact, this is the council’s job, articulated in its mission statement: “To ensure, with public participation, an affordable and reliable energy system while enhancing fish and wildlife in the Columbia River Basin.”

Mandated by the 1980 Northwest Power Act, the council is overseen by governor-appointed representatives from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. It has the responsibility and authority to ensure that BPA and other dam operators make smart investments in energy resources and work to restore salmon and steelhead runs. It does this by developing two back-to-back plans — a 20-year power plan, revised every five years, and a fish and wildlife program, also revised every five years.

While the council is currently working to develop the next iteration of both plans, at issue right now is its fish and wildlife program, built on decades of analysis that created benchmarks for salmon and steelhead recovery.

According to the council’s rigorous work, 10 million to 16 million adult salmon and steelhead historically returned to the Columbia River annually, a number that has plummeted to fewer than 2.5 million adult fish today. The council also determined that the biggest driver of that decline was hydropower — the dozens of dams and their reservoirs that have cut off and degraded thousands of miles of once highly productive spawning, rearing and migratory habitat.

The council used this analysis to establish its numerical target for the Columbia Basin — an annual average return of 5 million adult fish. It has repeatedly reaffirmed that interim goal — a fraction of historic abundance but an important start — as a way to address losses attributable to hydropower and drive BPA’s operations.

The council is collecting input as it creates its 2026 fish and wildlife program. Many, including state and tribal fish managers, have proposed measures that could help the region finally achieve this interim goal of 5 million fish — from improved hydrosystem operations to the reintroduction of salmon in areas blocked by dams.

BPA, however, is calling on the council to reduce or eliminate its long-held goal of 5 million returning adult fish and argues it has no responsibility to try to meet the target if it is retained. In its comments to the council on May 19, BPA said it no longer wants the target to be a legal obligation or “a yardstick for program success.”

BPA’s position is harmful — an insult to the ratepayers who have invested millions of dollars in the power purveyor over the years and to all of us who care about wildlife and tribes. It also does not square with BPA’s obligations under the Northwest Power Act, which mandates that BPA “protect, mitigate and enhance” fish and wildlife populations harmed by dams and their warm-water reservoirs.

Indeed, BPA’s effort to walk away from its responsibilities strikes at the heart of our region — our economic vitality, recreational fishing culture, commitments to tribes and special way of life.

Much is at stake. We urge the Northwest Power and Conservation Council to step up during this historic moment and work to help the region transition to clean, affordable and reliable energy, and rebuild abundant wild salmon and steelhead populations before it’s too late.

Zachariah Baker: is the regional and state policy director for the Seattle-based NW Energy Coalition.

Tanya Riordan: is the policy and advocacy director for the Seattle-based Save Our wild Salmon Coalition.

Seattle Times: BPA plan puts progress on clean energy and salmon recovery at risk

Wed., July 16, 2025

By Sarah Dyrdahl

While much attention goes to what divides us, I think we have more in common than not. That is the lesson from the Yakima River, where government, the Yakama Nation, conservationists and agriculture have united to address urgent water and salmon scarcity in central Washington. It’s a successful model we can apply to the Columbia Basin.

In 2023, the U.S. government, the states of Washington and Oregon, and four tribal nations set aside decades of confrontation over dams, fish conservation, and treaty rights and signed the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement.

It was deeply disappointing, then, when the executive memorandum came down last month, withdrawing the federal government from this historic $1 billion commitment to restore the Northwest’s primary river basin.

As a lifelong conservationist, I felt profound loss for the region I love and strive every day to protect. A healthy Columbia Basin is the linchpin of life in the Pacific Northwest. Our clean water, our farms, our energy, our salmon and the 137 known animal species they support, our intertwined local economies – all of this, and more, depend on the river.

Ending this federal investment is a setback, but it doesn’t mean threats to the Columbia and its tributaries, including dams, habitat loss, overharvesting and warm waters, have also disappeared.

Where does the Pacific Northwest go from here? Giving up on the Columbia Basin is not an option. We must find another way, rooted in collaboration and shared values.

Occasional increases in salmon returning to the basin are held up as signs of hope, but sadly, they don’t tell the whole story. What matters most for long-term recovery are unique populations of healthy and abundant wild fish.

The scientific reality is grim. Returning stocks of Columbia River fish are nowhere near the interim goal of 5 million by 2025, set by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council in 1987, let alone the 10 to 16 million wild fish that returned historically.

“Context is important when we’re talking about fish status and facts,” a fisheries biologist for the Nez Perce Tribe explained at a news conference last month.

Of the 16 salmon and steelhead stocks that once spawned above where Bonneville Dam sits today, four are extinct and seven still listed under the Endangered Species Act. In the Snake River basin, spring/summer stocks of chinook salmon are nearly functionally extinct.

These are signs of a continuing crisis. They should motivate all who live, work and depend on these rivers to come together on local solutions.

We know how to restore the Columbia. We have a blueprint based on decades of relationships, knowledge and expertise that addresses thoughtful actions for recovering salmon.

At the same time, we must ensure tribes, communities and the farmers who support a multibillion-dollar agricultural industry thrive. Washington state agencies must complete their studies into how services provided by the four dams on the lower Snake River can continue when the dams are breached.

The state Legislature directed agencies to plan for service continuity in four areas: 1. Transportation alternatives to wheat barging along the lower Snake; 2. Water from a free-flowing river for farms and municipalities; 3. River recreation; and 4. Clean energy projects in lieu of hydropower. So far, these studies show great promise.

The reservoir behind Ice Harbor Dam irrigates up to 55,000 acres of farmland, and Lewiston and Clarkston use the reservoir behind Lower Granite Dam for municipal water. A plan by the Department of Ecology shows there will be more than enough water in a free-flowing lower Snake River to cover these needs.

Likewise, the Department of Transportation’s initial work on rail and road options for moving wheat from Eastern Washington, Idaho and Oregon looks viable.

Boaters, hikers, fishers, jetboaters, whitewater rafters and the cruise industry provided input to the Recreation and Conservation Office about the benefits and tradeoffs of restoring a free-flowing river.

The state’s energy study will be completed in 2026. Given that the four dams on the lower Snake generate just 4% of the region’s total electricity, there is every reason to feel positive about alternatives here, too.

We have work to do in the Columbia. Fortunately, the tribal leadership and the state, community and environmental groundswell remain. It’s up to us to stay connected on a vision for healthy rivers, a strong economy, and vibrant communities. Instead of maintaining status quo in a world that can no longer sustain it, we can reimagine and work toward a thriving region for everyone – now, and for future generations.

Sarah Dyrdahl is a watershed ecologist who has worked throughout Washington, Oregon and Alaska for over 20 years. She is the Northwest regional director for American Rivers, a national conservation organization working to make every river clean and healthy for people and wildlife. She lives in Eugene.

The Spokesman Review: Sarah Dyrdahl: Reimagining the Columbia