A quarter of the spring/summer Chinook populations in the Snake River Basin had fewer than 50 fish in 2024, a level so low it indicates functional extinction. Pictured are Young Chinook swimming at the Tucannon Hatchery near Pomeroy in Garfield County. (Erika Schultz / The Seattle Times)

Oct. 27, 2025
By Amanda Goodin / Special to The Seattle Times

Wild salmon and steelhead define our region. They’re woven into our way of life, our economy, our culture and our commitments to our region’s tribes. They feed our orcas and support our ecosystems. And they’re in trouble.

The Columbia Basin was once one of the largest producers of salmon in the world, with 10 million to 16 million wild salmon returning annually to spawn. Today, many of the basin’s salmon populations are hovering on the brink of extinction.

That’s why we’re returning to court — to fight for the survival of these fish.

Two years ago, we were on a path full of promise. The federal government, the states of Oregon and Washington, four lower Columbia Basin tribes, and conservation, fishing and renewable energy groups represented by Earthjustice signed a historic agreement to restore the Columbia Basin.

The 2023 Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement provided an unprecedented opportunity to invest in the intertwined needs of salmon recovery and regional energy resiliency. Because this agreement included real commitments to work together to recover salmon, we agreed to a multiyear pause in our long-standing litigation to protect salmon.

Unfortunately, this June, the Trump administration abruptly abandoned this win-win agreement.

Now, we’re back in court fighting to protect salmon while we also battle a misinformation campaign waged by industrial associations that benefit from the status quo. Case in point: On Oct. 2, five industry groups ran a full-page ad in The Seattle Times, followed by a digital advertising blitz, claiming salmon are on the rebound and decrying our return to court.

We’re going back to court because it’s our best path to prevent extinction and protect salmon now that the Trump administration has reneged on the agreement. These industry associations claim they want to talk now, but that time has passed; they had years to participate in the conversation about meaningful changes to help our imperiled native fisheries, but refused to do so.

Their claims that a court ruling protecting salmon would lead to blackouts and enormous rate increases are also alarmist. Federal analysis of the rate impacts of similar changes showed the impact would be quite low.

Their claims that salmon and steelhead are recovering are backed by data that conflates different species and runs that return to different regions in the basin, and by using historic lows as a reference point.

Here are the facts from federal, state and tribal fishery managers: Four of the 16 interior Columbia Basin stocks have already gone extinct. Of those that remain, seven salmon stocks are listed under the Endangered Species Act. The numbers are even more alarming for the Snake River Basin, where a quarter of the spring/summer Chinook populations had fewer than 50 fish in 2024, a level so low it indicates functional extinction.

Overall fish returns in the basin remain far below established recovery goals. Furthermore, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, a multistate agency responsible for ensuring affordable and reliable energy and healthy fish and wildlife in the Columbia Basin, determined that the biggest driver of this precipitous decline is hydropower — the dozens of federal dams and their reservoirs that have cut off and degraded thousands of miles of once highly productive habitat.

These dams hinder migration, kill and harm salmon and steelhead as they pass through turbines and turn cold, fast-flowing rivers into lethal warm-water reservoirs. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries recently reached a similar conclusion, stating in a 2022 report that breaching the four Lower Snake River Dams is a “centerpiece” to meaningful recovery for Snake River salmon.

We applaud the work of the Six Sovereigns — the governors of Washington and Oregon and the four Lower Columbia Basin tribes — who are helping our region find a new path forward with the development of a critical recovery plan, the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative. Like them, we know our region’s economy, culture and identity are intertwined with salmon and that a healthy region is a region where wild salmon thrive. That’s why we continue to fight for their survival.

Amanda Goodin: is an attorney with Earthjustice, representing conservation, fishing and renewable energy groups in the battle to protect Columbia Basin salmon.

Seattle Times Opinion: We’re back in court for Columbia Basin salmon’s survival