Tribes Slam Trump for Axing Deal for Salmon Recovery in Columbia River

Time is running out for wild salmon in the Columbia River Basin, where populations of salmon and other native fish have been declining for decades.

Negotiators have pledged to continue pursuing salmon restoration and fulfilling treaty obligations, even as the federal government pulls back.

Now, President Donald Trump has rolled back efforts to restore those runs, Marianne Dhenin reported for Truthout.

In June, Trump signed a memorandum rejecting consideration of dam removal on the lower Snake River, a Columbia tributary, and reneged on a landmark agreement that would have directed more than $1 billion over the next decade to Pacific Northwest tribes for renewable energy projects and salmon recovery.

The Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement, brokered under the Biden administration in 2023 after two years of negotiations, also included Oregon, Washington, tribal governments, and environmental advocates.

The Umatilla, Nez Perce, Warm Springs, and Yakama tribes, who signed treaties with the US in the 1850s ceding land but retaining fishing rights in the basin, condemned the reversal.

“This echoes the federal government’s historic pattern of broken promises to tribes,” said Yakama Nation Tribal Council Chair Gerald Lewis.

Despite the setback, other negotiators pledged to continue pursuing salmon restoration and fulfilling treaty obligations, even as the federal government pulls back.