Farley Eaglespeaker (center) reels in a hoop net while fishing for salmon on the Columbia River, in Skamania County, Washington, on, June 23, 2024. An agreement signed last year by Northwest tribes and the states of Washington and Oregon aims to restore the basin. (Jordan Gale/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
Imagine a not-so-distant future in which the Snake and Columbia River basins are again home to healthy and abundant populations of salmon and steelhead, and clean energy is also abundant, reliable and affordable.
This vision of a healthy and flourishing Northwest is worth fighting for – and closer than ever before to becoming reality.
The three of us come from different perspectives and places – we are a tribal leader, a sportfishing advocate and a clean energy champion – but together we share admiration for the courage and leadership shown by Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek on Columbia Basin restoration. This week, Kotek signed an executive order directing the state’s natural resources agencies to do all they can to restore abundant salmon, steelhead and other native fisheries to the Northwest.
The state of Oregon has long demonstrated a commitment to restoring abundant salmon and steelhead populations to the Northwest – and now with the governor’s order we’re entering a new era of optimism, solutions and action backed by state and federal commitments.
Kotek’s order will be implemented alongside President Joe Biden’s 2023 Presidential Memorandum that acknowledged a long history of inequities to tribes and directed federal agencies to use all their authorities and available resources to restore healthy and abundant native fish populations to honor tribal treaty obligations. The memorandum further directs federal agencies to help advance a clean and resilient energy future for the region, support local agriculture and invest in updates to Columbia River system operations to prepare for climate change.
Oregon’s order, like the memorandum, supports the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative, a comprehensive blueprint for basin-wide recovery developed by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Nez Perce Tribe and the states of Oregon and Washington.
Kotek’s order aligns Oregon’s natural resource agencies’ policies and programs with the restoration initiative and U.S. government commitments in the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement signed last year by federal agencies, the states of Oregon and Washington, tribes and non-governmental organizations.
With salmon on the brink of extinction and Columbia Basin rivers showing increasing signs of ecological distress with more frequent toxic algal blooms and other problems, this new path forward is both a necessity and an enormous opportunity for our region. The Columbia Basin agreement included federal commitments totaling $1 billion in federal funding. And now Oregon is pledging to do its part too.
Kotek understands the power of addressing the region’s failing fisheries, a reliable clean energy future and climate change together in a comprehensive manner that positions the Northwest for success. Her problem-solving approach is reflected in how she combined natural resource agencies with climate and energy policy into one cabinet that is better able to address these complex problems jointly.
Climate change is already affecting the reliability of energy and water resources in the Northwest, and Kotek has committed the state of Oregon to building a modern and resilient energy, transportation and irrigation future that includes salmon abundance that meets tribal treaty rights and supports salmon dependent communities hurting today.
This work could not be more important or serious. We’re literally fighting off the extinction of salmon and other aquatic species, as we also address energy, transportation and irrigation infrastructure in need of modernization. The loss of salmon and our fisheries has long taken a toll on Northwest tribes, as detailed in a recent federal report, and has cost our region billions of dollars in lost economic opportunities.
The Columbia Basin initiative calls for a comprehensive approach to restoring salmon, steelhead and other native fisheries that includes breaching the lower Snake River dams. As we investigate how to feasibly replace the services of these four dams, we have an opportunity to not only save salmon, but to make infrastructure upgrades using federal investments. These modernization efforts will benefit diverse stakeholders across the entire Columbia Basin region without costs being borne solely by utility customers or river users.
Solutions and enormous opportunities exist – if we work together. We’re ready for a different vision to guide our relationship with salmon – one guided by science, solutions and the deep wisdom of tribal nations who have lived with salmon as relations since time immemorial.
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