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