Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Solicitor Bob Anderson: Pacific Northwest tribes are key to restoring salmon in the Columbia River Basin

By Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Solicitor Bob Anderson

The Columbia River Basin once supported the largest salmon runs on earth. Today, the future of salmon hangs in the balance. As Native leaders, we recognize the importance of Indigenous knowledge to help solve our nation’s ecological challenges. That’s why we’re partnering with tribes in the Pacific Northwest to invest in solutions that will serve everyone, for generations to come.

Tribes in Washington and throughout the basin consider the salmon a sacred and foundational part of their lifeways. For countless generations, they passed down traditions – honoring salmon and other critical species in First Foods ceremonies and participating in activities that connected their peoples inextricably with the river and land. Since time immemorial, Northwest tribes have stewarded these native species and relied on their abundance as staples for their daily diets and cultural vitality.

At the turn of the 20th century, large, multipurpose hydroelectric dams were built on the Columbia River and its tributaries. These structures fundamentally changed natural river flows and blocked anadromous fish, like salmon – which travel from the sea to riverbeds to spawn – from migrating into important areas of the basin. This profound transformation landed 13 salmonid species on the Endangered Species list and devastated tribal communities and homesites in the process by flooding thousands of acres of land, sacred sites and ancestral burial grounds. We recently released a report, which – for the first time by the U.S. government – documents that the federal dams in the Columbia River Basin disproportionately harmed tribes by destroying and disrupting cultural resources, harming tribal lands, treaty fisheries and economies.

For more than a century, tribal members have fought to protect the salmon and their protected rights to fish, including sounding the alarm following construction of the first federal dam on the Columbia River in 1938. Today, the number of fish returning each year to the basin continues to be only a portion of historical averages and is too low to support tribal subsistence practices or commercial trade – a reality that threatens the ecosystems that Washingtonians cherish and depend on every day.

It is imperative that we restore these precious resources and empower the tribal communities who have led this work and call both Washington and this entire region home.

The Biden-Harris administration has made significant strides over the past several years to get this urgent work done. This has meant inviting tribes, states and community members who rely on this river to participate in a collaborative and constructive process.

In 2023, our conversations bore fruit when we finalized two historic agreements to support tribally led efforts and work with the affected states and regional stakeholders to achieve shared goals for the basin. In September, the administration signed an agreement with three Upper Columbia River tribes to support tribally led efforts to study the feasibility of reintroducing salmon to blocked habitats in the Upper Basin – areas that have not seen salmon for 80 years. Then in December, we signed a second agreement with four Columbia River Treaty tribes and the states of Washington and Oregon, and formed a partnership to work on solutions that will strengthen the basin, including efforts to restore native fish and their habitats and invest in tribally sponsored clean energy. Together, these agreements will honor federal commitments to tribal nations, deliver affordable and reliable clean power, and meet the many economic needs of the region.

The Biden-Harris administration is investing a historic $1 billion to implement these agreements and restore Pacific Northwest salmon populations. As part of this, we’re also funding studies to address transportation, irrigation and recreation uses of the lower Snake River if four hydropower dams were removed – an action only Congress can authorize.

But while our administration’s actions signify important steps toward the healing and empowerment of tribes in the region, we know there is more work ahead to safeguard and sustain Indigenous lifeways in the Pacific Northwest.

When salmon are healthy and abundant, tribes and other people of the region benefit beyond measure. We are committed to advancing this mission together, with Tribal voices leading our path forward.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary. She is a member of the Pueblo of Laguna. Bob Anderson, solicitor for the Department of the Interior, is an enrolled member of the Bois Forte Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.