CONTACT:
Jacqueline Koch, Communications, National Wildlife Federation, kochj@nwf.org

Court-Ordered Emergency Actions Put Pacific Northwest on Course to Protect Imperiled Columbia Basin Salmon, Steelhead

Federal court in Oregon grants essential emergency measures to protect
endangered salmon and steelhead runs

PORTLAND, Ore. (February 25, 2026) — Court-ordered emergency measures to the operations of the Columbia Basin hydropower system not only will help protect imperiled salmon and steelhead, but also underscore the need for longer-term measures to recover the species. The decision is the latest chapter in the 30-plus year legal fight to restore Columbia River Basin salmon and steelhead runs, which are rapidly swimming toward extinction largely due to the cumulative, negative impacts of the four lower Snake River dams. Plaintiffs in National Wildlife Federation v National Marine Fisheries Service returned to court after the federal government unilaterally ended the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement.

“Because the federal government threw out a comprehensive plan that would have restored the Columbia Basin while investing in the region, returning to court is the only tool we have left to prevent the collapse of imperiled salmon and steelhead populations,” said Mike Leahy, senior director of wildlife, hunting and fishing policy for the National Wildlife Federation. “While these emergency measures are implemented, we’ll keep our eye on our long-term goal of helping the Tribes and the states restore Snake River salmon for the generations to come."

Columbia Basin salmon and steelhead, particularly those that return to the Snake River to spawn, persist at dangerously low abundance and many continue to decline toward extinction. Of the 16 salmon and steelhead stocks that historically return to spawn above Bonneville Dam, four are extinct, and seven more are listed under the Endangered Species Act as endangered or threatened, including all that return to the Snake River.

For most of these endangered and threatened salmon, the largest threat in their freshwater life stage is by far the harm caused by federal dams. These dams kill and harm salmon as they attempt to migrate past each dam and by transforming the river into a series of slack water, warm reservoirs.

###