The Biden administration, the governors of Oregon and Washington, and leaders of four Columbia River Basin tribes signed a formal agreement to launch a $1 billion effort to restore declining salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest. The signing ceremony, held at the White House in February 2024 C.E., marked what officials and tribal leaders called the most significant federal commitment yet to reviving a river system that once produced salmon at a scale unmatched anywhere on Earth.
At a glance
- Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative: The agreement formally pauses long-running litigation over federal dam operations and sets out a pathway to restore salmon and steelhead to healthy, abundant levels across the Columbia River Basin.
- Snake River dams: The plan stops short of ordering the removal of four controversial dams in eastern Washington but is designed to offset their hydropower, transportation, and agricultural benefits if Congress ever agrees to breach them.
- Tribal clean energy: The initiative strengthens tribal clean energy projects and provides economic and cultural benefits for tribes and other communities that depend on the Columbia Basin for food, agriculture, energy, and transportation.
Why this river system matters
The Columbia River Basin covers an area roughly the size of Texas and was once the world’s greatest salmon-producing river system. It supported at least 16 stocks of salmon and steelhead. Today, four of those stocks are extinct and seven are listed under the Endangered Species Act.
For the four tribes at the signing — the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and a fourth Columbia River tribe — salmon are not a resource. They are a foundation. “Since time immemorial, the strength of the Yakama Nation and its people have come from the Columbia River, and from the fish, game, roots and berries it nourishes,” said Yakama Nation Chairman Gerald Lewis at the ceremony. “Our fishers have empty nets and their homes have empty tables because historically the federal government has not done enough to mitigate these impacts.”
That history stretches back to the mid-19th century, when treaties guaranteed tribal nations the right to harvest fish from the Columbia system. Conservation groups sued the federal government more than two decades ago, arguing that dam operations violated both the Endangered Species Act and those treaty rights. Friday’s agreement pauses that litigation while the restoration work moves forward.
The dam question remains open
Federal fisheries scientists have concluded that breaching the four lower Snake River dams — the largest tributary of the Columbia — offers the best realistic hope for salmon recovery. Removing the dams would give fish access to hundreds of miles of pristine habitat and spawning grounds in Idaho. The $1 billion plan is built, in part, to make that option viable if Congress ever acts.
That is a significant political obstacle. Dams along the Columbia-Snake system provide more than one-third of all hydropower capacity in the United States. In Washington state alone, hydropower accounts for 70% of electricity consumed. Congressional Republicans have vowed to block dam removal, and Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington called the negotiations “secret” and argued the plan would harm farmers, shippers, and communities across Eastern Washington.
The tension is real. Dam breaching would be a wrenching change for agricultural communities that depend on Snake River navigation to move wheat and other crops to market. Any path forward will require genuine tradeoffs, not just celebration.
A socially just energy transition
One of the agreement’s most notable features is its explicit commitment to tribal-led clean energy development. Lewis made that connection directly: “We need a lot more clean energy, but we need to do development in a way that is socially just.” The initiative is designed to ensure that tribes are not simply consulted but are active partners in building the replacement energy infrastructure that would be needed if the dams come down.
Jonathan W. Smith, chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation, said the agreement “takes the interests of all the stakeholders in the Columbia Basin into account” and “lays out a pathway to restore salmon and steelhead to healthy and abundant levels.” Corinne Sams of the Umatilla Tribes called it a historic moment “not just for the tribes, but also for the U.S. government and all Americans in the Pacific Northwest.”
Brenda Mallory, chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, framed the initiative as a vision of coexistence: a restored Columbia River Basin “teeming with wild fish, prosperous to tribal nations, with affordable clean energy, a strong agricultural economy, and an upgraded transportation and recreation system.” Whether all of those goals can be achieved together — rather than traded against each other — is the central question the agreement leaves open.
For now, the tribes have something they have pursued for generations: a formal federal commitment, backed by $1 billion, to treat the salmon’s survival as a shared responsibility. The White House Council on Environmental Quality is overseeing implementation. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s West Coast fisheries office has long documented the salmon’s decline and will play a central role in measuring recovery. Environmental law organizations like Earthjustice, which led earlier litigation, are watching closely. And tribes like the Yakama Nation — who have stewarded this watershed for thousands of years — are now formal partners in its future.
Read more
For more on this story, see: Fortune
For more from Good News for Humankind, see:
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- The Good News for Humankind archive on Indigenous rights
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