Hot Water Report: Warming Waters in the Lower Snake and Columbia Rivers
The Hot Water Report provides real-time data in the lower Snake and Columbia river reservoirs to detail the collective impacts of hot, stagnant, and toxic water on salmon and steelhead. The 2025 reports will focus on bringing the data to life, featuring stories from scientists, Tribes, and community members regarding the challenges salmon face, and the opportunities to heal the river and the ecosystem.
HOT WATER REPORT #1 - Issue 1 dives into how the lower Snake and Columbia river dams have transformed a healthy and free-flowing river into a series of large, warm, stagnant, toxic reservoirs that harm salmon and steelhead and severely impact their migration, reproductive success, and habitat quality. The reservoir behind the Ice Harbor Dam registered the highest water temperature of 68.79°F on July 4. The Dalles reservoir registered the highest water temperature at 69.26°F on July 8. Read more here.
Below are reports from 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2016.
HOT WATER REPORT #12 - September 17 - In this final Hot Water Report issue, we will summarize this year’s high water temperatures in the lower Snake and Columbia reservoirs and the number of days each of the reservoirs experienced above the 68°F threshold. Issue 12 will provide a brief update from the Nez Perce Tribe’s Department of Fisheries Resources Management on the Quasi-Extinction Threshold for Spring/summer Chinook salmon and steelhead. Given the current returns for wild Snake River Spring/Summer Chinook, steelhead, and sockeye, these fish are far closer to extinction than recovery.
HOT WATER REPORT #11 - September 9 - Welcome to the eleventh issue of the Hot Water Report: Warming Waters in the Lower Snake and Columbia Rivers. Click here for an update on current water temperatures in the lower Snake River from August 30 - September 9. In Issue 11, we will report on endangered Southern Resident orcas and the urgency to restore the lower Snake River through dam removal to bring salmon back to abundance along with restoring salmon habitats across the Columbia-Snake River Basin, and protecting marine habitats in order to protect Southern Residents from extinction.
HOT WATER REPORT #10 - August 30 - Welcome to the tenth issue of the Hot Water Report: Warming Waters in the Lower Snake and Columbia Rivers. Click here for an update on current water temperatures in the lower Snake River from August 24 - August 29. In Issue 10, Miles Johnson, Legal Director for Columbia Riverkeeper uncovers the critical role of the Clean Water Act in addressing dams’ hot water pollution to protect endangered salmon and steelhead from extinction and enable their recovery. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers now must put forward a new plan that examines all possible ways to cool the lower Snake River.
HOT WATER REPORT #9 - August 26 - Welcome to the ninth issue of the Hot Water Report: Warming Waters in the Lower Snake and Columbia Rivers. Click here for an update on current water temperatures in the lower Snake River from August 17 - August 23. In Issue 9, we report on toxic algal blooms recently found on the lower Snake River and tested positive for a liver toxin that is harmful to people and the river ecosystem and lethal to pets. These ‘blooms’ are visible across approximately 50 miles in two lower Snake reservoirs, and are expected to persist and expand in the months ahead.
HOT WATER REPORT #8 - August 19 - Welcome to the eighth issue of the Hot Water Report: Warming Waters in the Lower Snake and Columbia Rivers. Click here for an update on current water temperatures in the lower Snake River from August 8 - August 16. In Issue 8, Idaho Rivers United reports on the current status of adult wild Snake River Spring/Summer Chinook, steelhead, and sockeye. Despite decades of effort and many billions of dollars in recovery spending, these fish remain on the edge of extinction. Wild fish return as adults today at just 0.1-2% of historic levels - far, far below their historic and recovery levels.
HOT WATER REPORT #7 - August 9 - Welcome to the seventh issue of the Hot Water Report: Warming Waters in the Lower Snake and Columbia Rivers. Click here for an update on current water temperatures in the lower Snake River from August 1 - August 7. Read more on how the lower Snake River dams’ energy production is limited and as climate change worsens, the dams will only become more unreliable, especially during summer and winter demands, and will remain costly to maintain and operate the four dams.
HOT WATER REPORT #6 - August 1 - Welcome to the sixth issue of the Hot Water Report: Warming Waters in the Lower Snake and Columbia Rivers. Click here for an update on current water temperatures in the lower Snake River from July 25 - July 31. Read more on how adult salmon and steelhead must migrate through eight dams and their lethally hot water reservoir and fish ladders. Hot water flowing in fish ladders at each dam cause salmon and steelhead to stop or substantially slow their migration, severely reducing their ability to complete their journey and spawn.
HOT 
WATER REPORT #5 - July 25th - Welcome to the fifth issue of the Hot Water Report: Warming Waters in the Lower Snake and Columbia Rivers. Click here for an update on current water temperatures in the lower Snake River from July 18 - July 24. Read to learn more about the current status of Snake River sockeye, in which they are seeking refuge from hot water temperatures in the lower Snake River by moving into a cooler Mid-Columbia River and an emergency salmon transportation effort to save sockeye from warming waters.
HOT WATER REPORT #4 - July 17th - Welcome to the fourth issue of the Hot Water Report: Warming Waters in the Lower Snake and Columbia Rivers. Click here for an update on current water temperatures in the lower Snake River from July 11 - July 17. Read to learn more about the different water temperatures and their effects on juvenile and adult salmon, and we'll reflect on the importance of restoring a free-flowing lower Snake River to provide cold, clean, and healthy waters for salmon and steelhead.
HOT WATER REPORT #3 - July 10th - Welcome to the third issue of the Hot Water Report: Warming Waters in the Lower Snake and Columbia Rivers. Click here for an update on current water temperatures in the lower Snake River from July 3 - July 10. Read to learn more on historical and current wild Snake River salmon and steelhead returns and compare current returns to their established recovery goals to recover these populations to healthy and abundant levels and remove them from the Endangered Species Act list.
HOT WATER REPORT #2 - July 3rd - Welcome to the second issue of the Hot Water Report: Warming Waters in the Lower Snake and Columbia Rivers. Click here for update on current water temperatures in the lower Snake River from June 26 - July 2 and to learn more about why the four lower Snake River dams are a large source of mortality for Snake River salmon and steelhead.
HOT WATER REPORT #1 - June 27th - Welcome to the first issue of the 2024 Hot Water Report: Warming Waters in the Lower Snake and Columbia Rivers. Click here to learn more about how the lower Snake River dams and their reservoirs cause warming water temperatures that harm Snake River salmon and steelhead.
HOT WATER REPORT #11 - September 18 - In this final Hot Water Report issue, we will summarize this year’s high water temperatures in the lower Snake and Columbia reservoirs, the number of days each of the reservoirs experienced above the 68°F threshold, and review the current return status for Snake River salmon and steelhead in comparison to their recovery goals. Given the current returns for wild Snake River Spring/Summer Chinook, steelhead, and sockeye, these fish are far closer to extinction than recovery.
HOT WATER REPORT #10 - September 8 - Welcome to the tenth issue of the 2023 Hot Water Report. Read to view the Nez Perce Tribe’s Department of Fisheries Resources Management’s 2023 Snake River Basin Anadromous Fish Status Report Card that outlines (i) the historical returns for Snake River fish, (ii) forecasted 2023 returns for Spring/summer Chinook salmon and steelhead, (iii) Quasi-Extinction Threshold for Spring/summer Chinook salmon and steelhead and (iv) urgency to restore Snake River fish.
HOT WATER REPORT #9 - September 1 - Welcome to the ninth issue of the 2023 Hot Water Report. Read to learn more about this summer's adult returns for Snake River sockeye salmon. Unfortunately, hot water has prevented almost an entire generation of critically endangered Snake River sockeye from reaching their spawning grounds in Idaho. This year, just 24 natural-origin sockeye have been able to navigate through the lower Snake River dams and up to Idaho’s Stanley Basin to spawn.
HOT WATER REPORT #8 - August 24 - Welcome to the eighth issue of the 2023 Hot Water Report. In Issue 8, we’re addressing how the lower Snake River dams’ impact Snake River salmon and steelhead and their freshwater ecosystems. This issue also reports the current estimated status of Snake River salmon and steelhead returns as of August 17, 2023.
HOT WATER REPORT #7 - August 18 - Welcome to the seventh issue of the 2023 Hot Water Report. For Issue 7, we have a special addition of a series of articles about Southern Resident orcas and the urgency to restore the lower Snake River through dam removal to bring salmon back to abundance and significantly increase the amount of salmon available to the Southern Residents.
HOT WATER REPORT #6 - August 9 - Welcome to the sixth issue of the 2023 Hot Water Report. In this issue, Miles Johnson, Legal Director for Columbia Riverkeeper, uncovers the critical role of the Clean Water Act in addressing dams’ hot water pollution, also known as heat pollution, to protect endangered salmon and steelhead from extinction.
HOT WATER REPORT #5 - August 3 - Welcome to the fifth issue of the 2023 Hot Water Report: Warming Waters in the Lower Snake and Columbia Rivers. Read the fifth issue to view hot water temperatures in the lower Snake and Columbia rivers from July 26 - August 2 and to learn more about how salmon and steelhead declines impact the commercial fishing families in the Pacific Northwest.
HOT WATER REPORT #4 - July 27th - Welcome to the fourth issue of the 2023 Hot Water Report: Warming Waters in the Lower Snake and Columbia Rivers. Read the fourth issue to view hot water temperatures in the lower Snake and Columbia rivers from July 19 - July 25 and to learn more on how salmon and steelhead declines impact the Northwest recreational fishing economy.
HOT WATER REPORT #3 - July 19th - Welcome to the third issue of the 2023 Hot Water Report. Read to learn more on historical and current wild Snake River salmon and steelhead returns and compare current returns to their established recovery goals – the adult returns deemed necessary to recover these populations and remove them from the Endangered Species Act list.
HOT WATER REPORT #2 - July 12th - Welcome to the second issue of the Hot Water Report. Read the second issue to learn about the water temperatures suitable for juvenile and adult salmon as well as lethal, and the urgent need to restore a freely flowing lower Snake River to provide cold, clean, and healthy waters for salmon and steelhead.
HOT WATER REPORT #1 - July 6th - Welcome to the first issue of the 2023 Hot Water Report: Warming Waters in the Lower Snake and Columbia Rivers. Click on the link above to read the hot water temperatures in the lower Snake and Columbia river from June 28 - July 5 and learn about salmon and steelhead’s role in NW biodiversity.
HOT WATER REPORT 2022: #11 - September 16th
HOT WATER REPORT 2022: #10 - September 8th
HOT WATER REPORT 2022: #9 - September 2nd
HOT WATER REPORT 2022: #8 - August 18th
HOT WATER REPORT 2022: #7 - August 10th
HOT WATER REPORT 2022: #6 - August 3rd
HOT WATER REPORT 2022: #5 - July 27th
HOT WATER REPORT 2022: #4 - July 20th
HOT WATER REPORT 2022: #3 - July 13th
HOT WATER REPORT 2022: #2 - June 29th
HOT WATER REPORT 2022: #1 - June 22nd
HOT WATER REPORT 2021: #12 - September 8th
HOT WATER REPORT 2021: #11 - September 1st
HOT WATER REPORT 2021: #10 - August 25th
HOT WATER REPORT 2021: #9 - August 18th
HOT WATER REPORT 2021: #8 - August 11th
HOT WATER REPORT 2021: #7 - August 4th
HOT WATER REPORT 2021: #6 - July 28th
HOT WATER REPORT 2021: #5 - July 21st
HOT WATER REPORT 2021: #4 - July 14th
HOT WATER REPORT 2021: #3 - July 7th
HOT WATER REPORT 2021: #2 - June 30th
HOT WATER REPORT 2021: #1 - June 23rd
HOT WATER REPORT 2020: #8 - September 2nd
HOT WATER REPORT 2020: #7 - August 26th
HOT WATER REPORT 2020: #6 - August 19th
HOT WATER REPORT 2020: #5 - August 12th
HOT WATER REPORT 2020: #4 - August 5th
HOT WATER REPORT 2020: #3 - July 29th
HOT WATER REPORT 2020: #2 - July 22nd
HOT WATER REPORT 2020: #1 - July 15th
HOT WATER REPORT 2019: #1 - July 5th
HOT WATER REPORT 2019: #2 - July 12th
HOT WATER REPORT 2019: #3 - July 19th
HOT WATER REPORT 2019: #4 - July 26th
HOT WATER REPORT 2019: #5 - August 2nd
HOT WATER REPORT 2019: #6 - August 9th
HOT WATER REPORT 2019: #7 - August 16th
HOT WATER REPORT 2019: #8 - August 26th
HOT WATER REPORT 2019: #9 - August 30th
HOT WATER REPORT 2018: #1 - June 28
HOT WATER REPORT 2018: #2 - July 5
HOT WATER REPORT 2018: #3 - July 13
HOT WATER REPORT 2018: #4 - July 20
HOT WATER REPORT 2018: #5 - July 27
HOT WATER REPORT 2018: #6 - August 3
HOT WATER REPORT 2018: #7 - August 10
HOT WATER REPORT 2018: #8 - August 24
HOT WATER REPORT 2018: #9 - August 31
HOT WATER REPORT 2016: #4 - July 26
HOT WATER REPORT 2016: #5 - August 2
Steelhead Mean Business
ACT NOW: Help seize a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to protect steelhead from extinction, keep people fishing, and invest in our Northwest communities and economy!
Not long ago, more than a million wild steelhead would flood into the Snake and Columbia rivers to spawn before returning to the Pacific Ocean to do it all over again.
Not anymore.
Scientists are predicting this year’s return of wild Snake River steelhead will be among the lowest ever recorded. Unless we act quickly, one of nature’s recurring miracles in the Northwest will fade away for ever.
As a result of these devastating returns, fishing seasons are being curtailed and closed across the Snake and Columbia River Basin. Hundreds of businesses in scores of communities are paying the price.
Time is running out and we need urgent action - before steelhead, our livelihoods and our traditions go extinct forever.
Fortunately, earlier this year, Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson proposed a plan to invest big in the Northwest — to protect, restore and reconnect endangered fish populations and their habitats and to support agriculture, transportation, clean energy, and new, local jobs at the same time.
His groundbreaking proposal has launched a conversation about collaborative, regional solutions to restore the lower Snake River and its fish and invest billions of dollars into jobs, communities and infrastructure.
To seize this opportunity, we now need other public officials in the Northwest to step up as well.
Call and write your U.S. senators - in Washington State, Oregon and Idaho. Tell them we need bold, urgent leadership to protect Snake and Columbia river steelhead and salmon populations from extinction - and the businesses, communities and ways of life they support.
PLEASE ACT NOW:
CONTACT YOUR SENATORS IN WASHINGTON, OREGON AND IDAHO: "Time is running out. Now is the time to act!”
WRITE AND CALL:
Follow this link to send a pre-written, editable letter to our senators in Washington State, Oregon and Idaho.
SEND AN EMAIL TO YOUR SENATORS (in WA, OR, ID)
You can also pick up the phone and call your senators – let them know that we need their urgent leadership protect Snake and Columbia River steelhead from extinction, invest in our communities and economy, and preserve our region's special way of life.
WASHINGTON STATE:
Senator Patty Murray: (202) 224-2621 (D.C.)
Senator Maria Cantwell: (202) 224-3441 (D.C)
OREGON:
Senator Ron Wyden: (202) 224-5244 (D.C.)
Senator Jeff Merkley: (202) 224-3753 (D.C.)
IDAHO:
Senator Mike Crapo: (202) 224-6142 (D.C.)
Senator Jim Risch: (202) 224-2752 (D.C.)
Here are suggested message points:
- Introduce yourself and include where you live. Be polite and speak clearly.
- “I am calling to ask Senator _______ to use his/her leadership to work urgently with other public officials, Tribes and stakeholders to develop a comprehensive solution for the Columbia Basin's endangered steelhead and Northwest people and communities. I strongly support restoring the lower Snake River and its endangered native fish and investing in critical infrastructure to ensure more just and prosperous communities.”
- Share why steelhead/salmon/fishing/healthy rivers are important to you, your family, and your community.
- Emphasize the need for bold and urgent action this year, and how Snake River steelhead - and the jobs, businesses and communities and cultures they support - face extinction today.
KIVI TV: Steelhead bag limit reduced to one, conservationists say change needs to happen now (Sept. 5, 2021)
Field and Stream: Dismal Runs Force Oregon and Washington to Close World-Famous Steelhead Fisheries
Managers turn to emergency closures on the Snake, Deschutes, and John Day Rivers in hopes of saving wild steelhead (Ken Perrotte, Sept. 3, 2021)
Lewiston Tribune: Steelhead numbers bad, again (Eric Barker, Aug 24, 2021)
E&E News: A Republican wants to breach dams. Where are Democrats? (March 23)
Seattle Times: GOP congressman pitches $34 billion plan to breach Lower Snake River dams in new vision for Northwest (Lynda Mapes, Feb. 7, 2021)
Spokesman Review: Steelhead fishery closure on Clearwater and Snake rivers will take economic toll (Oct. 10, 2019)
Oregon Public Broadcasting: Northwest Salmon And Steelhead In Peril, And Efforts To Save Them Scale Up In Idaho (Jan. 23, 2020)
Visit these websites of allied business and non-profit organizations to learn about what they do, how you can support them - and how to get more involved.
Idaho Statesman: Acidic oceans and warm rivers that kill Idaho’s salmon might be norm in 50 years
By Rocky Barker
rbarker@idahostatesman.com
October 07, 2017
STANLEY, ID. What is the future of the Columbia River and its salmon? Look to 2015.
That year’s extraordinary combination of overheated river water and low flows killed hundreds of thousands of returning sockeye salmon, devastating a run that had rebounded from near-extinction.
Millions of new sockeye and steelhead smolts migrating the opposite way, to the Pacific, died throughout the river system; only 157 endangered sockeye made it back to the Sawtooth Valley this year.
By the middle of this century, scientists suggest, the temperatures we saw in 2015 will be the norm. The low snowpack and streamflows were examples of what the Pacific Northwest should expect at the end of this century due to rapid climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels, climatologists say.
“2015 will look like an average year in the (2070s) and there will be extremely warmer years than that,” said Nate Mantua, a NOAA atmospheric scientist in Santa Cruz, Calif.
Scientists, politicians and energy officials have argued for decades over the best way to restore troubled salmon runs along the Columbia and Snake. Their focus has largely been on the dams and human development that reshaped the rivers. But regardless of what other steps we take for the fish, climate change could catch up with them in the coming decades and pose a major threat.
Already, scientists have seen regional snowmelt reach rivers an average of two weeks earlier than historical records indicate. The average temperature of the Columbia River and its tributaries has risen more than 1 degree Fahrenheit since 1960.
Climate modelers at the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group predict <https://cig.uw.edu/resources/special-reports/> that the Pacific Northwest’s average annual temperatures will rise a total of 4 to 6 degrees Fahrenheit by 2050. High estimates suggest the increase could exceed 8 degrees, said Joe Casola, the group’s deputy director.
Salmon and steelhead that migrate in the summer and those that spawn and rear in lower-elevation tributaries to the Columbia may not survive these temperatures. In water of just 68 degrees, salmon will begin to die.
READ THE FULL STORY here.
About the Restoring the Lower Snake River Project
Save Our wild Salmon is leading a coalition of conservation, fishing, clean energy, orca and river advocates to protect and restore abundant, self-sustaining populations of wild salmon and steelhead in the Columbia-Snake River Basin for the benefit of people and ecosystems. Our coordinated legal, policy, communications and organizing activities focus on holding the federal government accountable by requiring Northwest dam agencies (Bonneville Power Administration, Army Corps of Engineer) and NOAA to craft and implement a legally valid, science-based Salmon Plan (or Biological Opinion/”BiOp”) for the Columbia-Snake Basin.
Since 1998, SOS has led a dynamic campaign to restore a natural, freely-flowing lower Snake River in southeast Washington State, expand spill on the federal dams that remain, and other necessary measures, based on the law and best available science.
Dam removal: Cornerstone of a lawful, science-based plan
The removal of the four lower Snake dams must be a cornerstone of any lawful salmon restoration strategy in the Columbia Basin. Lower Snake River dam removal will restore 140-mile river and 14,000+ acres of riparian habitat and bottomlands. It will cut dam-caused salmon mortality by at least 50% and restore productive access for wild salmon and steelhead to 5,500+ miles of contiguous, pristine, protected upriver habitat in northweast Oregon, central Idaho and southeast Washington State. Much of this immense spawning/rearing habitat found above the lower Snake River is high elevation and thus provides a much-needed coldwater refuge as a critical buffer against a warming climate. Restoring a freely-flowing lower Snake River will deliver tremendous economic, ecological and cultural benefits to the tribal and non-tribal people of the Northwest and the nation.
Climate change increases the urgency to remove these four dams and restore this river. High harmful water temperatures in the lower Snake River’s four reservoirs are now routine. Their frequency, duration and intensity have been steadily growing in the last several decades – with increasingly devastating impacts on out-migrating juvenile fish and adults returning from the Pacific Ocean to spawn. In 2015, for example, just 1% of 4000 adult Snake River sockeye that entered the Columbia’s mouth reached their Idaho spawning gravels; others perished in warm reservoir waters impounded by federal dams on the lower Snake and lower Columbia Rivers. A restored lower Snake will dramatically lower water temperatures and again offer diverse habitats found in living rivers, including additional coldwater refugia currently lost as a result of these reservoirs today.
Spill: A critical near-term measure to increase salmon survival
Increased spill at all federal dams is needed today as an immediate, interim measure to buy time for these endangered populations until a more effective and a lawful strategy is in place. Spill – water releases during the juvenile salmon out-migration to the ocean in the spring and summer - increases juvenile survival by reducing migration time, exposure to warm waters, predation and the overall numbers of barged (artificially transported) fish. Increased juvenile survival boosts adult returns in subsequent years – benefiting marine/terrestrial/freshwater wildlife and coastal/inland fishing communities.
These policies will substantially increase fish populations with corresponding impacts on the 125+ species that benefit from salmon. They will increase resilience for wild salmon and steelhead, the ecosystems they inhabit, and human communities they impact. And they will deliver critical economic, recreational and cultural benefits to the communities of the Northwest and the nation.
Salmon restoration requires community solutions
Our coalition recognizes that the removal of the four federal dams on the lower Snake River will affect the communities that currently use them – especially the communities of Lewiston (ID) and Clarkston (WA) and the energy, commercial and irrigation sectors. Based on the significant data on these dams, their modest services and the availability of efficient, cost-effective alternatives, salmon advocates are ready to sit down with both sovereigns and stakeholders to craft a responsible plan that removes these costly dams and replaces their services with alternatives.
The problem and the solution in five bullets:
- The federal government’s long-standing status quo approach to protecting wild salmon and steelhead populations in the Columbia-Snake Basin has failed – five consecutive federal salmon plans have been ruled inadequate and illegal by three different judges across more than twenty years.
- During this time, federal agencies have spent more than $10 billion of public money, but have yet to recover a single salmon or steelhead population.
- The economics of these four dams have been in question since even before their construction in the 1960s and 1970s. Their always modest services – especially energy and transportation, - have been in steep decline as the dams’ maintenance and operations costs rapidly rise. Their benefits can be easily, cost-effectively replaced with reliable, effective alternatives like wind, solar and rail.
- Removing these costly dams and restoring this historic river and its wild fish is our nation’s greatest river and salmon restoration opportunity today.
- A restored, resilient lower Snake River will protect endangered wild salmon and steelhead facing extinction; save American taxpayer and Northwest energy consumer dollars; create thousands of jobs regionally; benefit struggling fish and wildlife populations including endangered Southern Resident Orcas; and help ensure that we meet our Treaty obligations to Native American Tribes in the Columbia Basin.
Restoring the Lower Snake River
Dam removal must be the cornerstone of any lawful Columbia Basin Salmon Plan
A lawful federal salmon plan must restore a freely flowing lower Snake River by removing its four costly dams and increase water releases or ‘spill’ over the dams that remain.
In 2016, a federal judge rejected the federal dam agencies’ latest plan for protecting Columbia-Snake River salmon. This is the fifth plan rejected now by three judges over two decades. Our government has spent $15B+ but has yet to recover a single population. It’s past time for a new approach. A lawful, science-based plan must include the removal of the four costly federal dams on the lower Snake River. We need a Northwest plan that works for the region’s ecology and its economy, for fishermen and farmers, for taxpayers and energy bill payers.
Restoring the Lower Snake River Articles
About the Modernizing the Columbia River Treaty Project
Save Our wild Salmon co-leads the U.S. NGO Treaty Caucus – an alliance of Northwest-based civic, faith, energy and conservation organizations working for a modernized Columbia River Treaty that will better serve our region’s diverse needs now and into the future. The Caucus aims to sustain and restore the health and resilience of this international river system, support tribal and non-tribal communities, and recover its wild salmon and other fish and wildlife resources. Core members include Center for Environmental Law and Policy, Earth Ministry/Washington Interfaith Power and Light, League of Women Voters of Washington, Natural Resources Defense Council, Northwest Energy Coalition, Save Our wild Salmon Coalition, Sierra Club, and WaterWatch of Oregon.
Read more about the current work by the U.S. NGO Treaty Caucus and how you can take action at ColumbiaRiverTreaty.org
The Solutions We Need
A “modernized” Columbia River Treaty, under negotiation since 2018, must align with modern values of Indigenous sovereignty, economic and environmental partnership, and civic engagement, and the modern reality of climate change.
To do this, the Treaty must be updated to:
- Make ecosystem health co-equal to existing treaty purposes of power production and flood control, so river flows and reservoir operations support fish and clean water
- Reform treaty governance and implementation to include expert representation for ecosystems, like biologists working alongside engineers
- Develop a new agreement for coordinating flood control across the border, so there is a balanced system for all
- Ensure the modernized treaty respects the rights of tribes and Indigenous nations and honors their unique expertise
- Create ongoing mechanisms for public education and citizen involvement, starting right now with renewed engagement between federal agencies and the Northwest public.
How we got here
Indigenous people have stewarded the Columbia River, which draws water from a river basin larger than France, and depended on its salmon since time immemorial. When explorers Lewis & Clark and David Thompson first stepped into the watershed in the early 1800s, as many as 16 million salmon returned each year to natal streams flowing in forests, deserts, and mountains.
Since then dams have transformed one of the earth’s richest salmon rivers into the earth’s largest hydropower system. The resulting economic benefits have come with wrenching costs to both Indigenous and settler communities, fish and wildlife, and the river itself.
Part of this transformation came in the early 1950’s, Canada and the U.S. began negotiating the Columbia River Treaty, to coordinate the development of the river that straddles both nations. They excluded Indigenous people, and people of the basin generally, from the process. The resulting treaty, ratified in 1964, has only two purposes: maximizing hydropower generation and engineered flood control.
While treaty operations primarily concern three large upstream Canadian storage dams (plus Libby Dam in Montana), it has consequences everywhere. Only 15% of the watershed is located in Canada, but more than a third of the Columbia’s total flow originates there.
Canada is also the basin’s largest and most climate resilient source of cold water, which is critical for ensuring water quality for migrating salmon and other ecologically and culturally important aquatic species.
The problems we face
Since May 2018, the U.S. and Canada have been meeting to negotiate a “modernized” Columbia River Treaty. In July 2024, the two countries announced an “Agreement-In-Principle” (AIP).
Unfortunately, the AIP excludes the addition of Ecosystem Function as a third primary purpose of the modernized Treaty, as was called for in the 2013 U.S. Regional Recommendation and by Columbia Basin tribes and many stakeholders. Without formal recognition of Ecosystem Function as a new primary purpose, the health of the river and its fish populations will continue to remain a secondary issue in Treaty implementation. This concern is heightened because the water flow component of the AIP will not meet the needs of Columbia River salmon.
However, there are four actions that the Biden Administration act on as the “new” Treaty is finalized over the months ahead:
1. Support and help secure Congressional appropriations in FY2026 necessary for the ACOE to undertake the Flood Risk Policy Review called for in the 2013 Regional Recommendation. The Northwest urgently needs to understand options for managing flood risk while also identifying opportunities to provide fish flows and improve habitat. This study must consider changes to existing flood control rule curves and “green” infrastructure projects that can abate flood waters, reconnect the river to historic floodplains and reduce our reliance on Canada. It could also identify weaknesses in existing traditional flood infrastructure. Given that traditional flood control capacity in Canada seems poised to decrease under the AIP, now is the time to proceed with this long-delayed assessment.
2. Call on the Biden Administration to improve Treaty governance by adding expert representation for ecosystems to the Treaty’s governing bodies. The current membership of the Treaty’s governing bodies (U.S. Entity, Canadian Entity, Permanent Engineering Board, and committees) is currently unable to serve as an effective “voice for the river.” President Biden should amend Section 101 of Executive Order 11177 to appoint, for example, the Environmental Protection Agency and/or NOAA Fisheries to serve on the U.S. Entity alongside Bonneville Power Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Similarly, the U.S. should work with Canada to update Article XV of the current Treaty to add members with ecosystem expertise to the Permanent Engineering Board and supporting committees.
3. Call on the State Department to include language to the modernized Treaty that ensures a strong and effective voice for the Joint Ecosystem and Indigenous and Tribal Cultural Values Body (JEB). The AIP creates the JEB to help inform how Treaty operations can better support ecosystem needs and Tribal and Indigenous cultural values. Unfortunately, the AIP does not reflect any language that would require the bodies that currently govern the Treaty (U.S. Entity, Canadian Entity, Permanent Engineering Board, and committees) to implement the JEB’s recommendations. It is essential that the JEB’s input on Treaty implementation be prescriptive rather than merely advisory to fulfill U.S. commitments on Indigenous inclusion and ecosystem health, and avoid repeating past mistakes and perpetuating injustice.
4. Call on the State Department to include formal, regular meaningful public engagement mechanisms in the modernized Treaty. Many international watershed governance systems, both in North America and around the world, include tools to support ongoing public education, input and a sense of ownership. Incorporating real public engagement opportunities and expanded transparency into the Columbia River Treaty will enhance long-term success and outcomes, and public support and investment.
We need help encouraging politicians and federal officials to seize this once-in-a-generation window of opportunity to craft a treaty that will help, not hurt, the Northwest. Take action now.
Read more about the current work by the U.S. NGO Treaty Caucus and how you can take action at ColumbiaRiverTreaty.org
