Deb Haaland Secretary at U.S. Department of Interior | Official website
WASHINGTON — As part of the Biden-Harris administration’s agreement to restore wild salmon in the Columbia River Basin, the Department of the Interior released a report today documenting the historic, ongoing, and cumulative impacts of federal Columbia River dams on Columbia River Basin Tribes. The report provides recommendations for how the federal government can further its treaty and trust responsibilities to Tribes by acknowledging and integrating these impacts in future actions. This marks the first comprehensive detailing by the U.S. government of the harms inflicted by federal dams on Tribes in the Pacific Northwest.
The report fulfills a commitment made by the Department as part of stayed litigation in National Wildlife Federation v. National Marine Fisheries Service, 3:01-cv-640-SI (D. Or.), and is part of a broader effort from the Biden-Harris administration to support Tribally led efforts to restore healthy populations of salmon and other native fish in the Columbia River Basin. In September 2023, President Biden issued a presidential memorandum advancing these efforts, followed by an agreement to restore salmon populations in both Upper and Lower Basins later that year.
“Since time immemorial, Tribes along the Columbia River and its tributaries have relied on Pacific salmon, steelhead, and other native fish species for sustenance and their cultural and spiritual ways of life,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “Acknowledging the devastating impact of federal hydropower dams on Tribal communities is essential to our efforts to heal and ensure that salmon are restored to their ancestral waters.”
Historically, up to 16 million wild salmon and steelhead returned annually to Pacific Northwest tributaries, providing food for over 130 wildlife species and sustenance for Tribal people. The construction of large multipurpose hydroelectric dams throughout the Columbia River Basin beginning at the turn of the 20th century blocked anadromous fish migrations into certain reaches of the Basin, flooded thousands of acres including sacred sites and ancestral burial grounds, fundamentally transforming ecosystems.
As a result, many Tribal communities lost access to anadromous fish in their regions. The report outlines how these losses have had traumatic impacts on Tribal communities by altering traditional diets, depriving members from exercising traditional ways of life, and changing cultural practices centered around these fish.
Federal dams have impacted all Basin Tribes significantly. Pursuant to commitments related to litigation, this report considers impacts from 11 specific dams across eight Tribal Nations most immediately affected: Coeur D’Alene Tribe of Indians; The Confederated Tribes and Bands of Yakama Nation; The Confederated Tribes of Colville Reservation; Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation; Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation; Nez Perce Tribe; Shoshone-Bannock Tribes; Spokane Tribe.
The report offers several recommendations for fulfilling federal trust responsibilities while achieving a resilient Columbia River Basin for future generations. These include fully considering unique inequities suffered by Tribes due to dam construction during future National Environmental Policy Act reviews; pursuing co-stewardship agreements; consolidating Tribal homelands; incorporating Indigenous Knowledge into decision-making processes.
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