STAND WITH TRIBES.

SAVE OUR SALMON.

For nearly a century, the Snake River, a sacred and living being to the Nez Perce tribe, has been decimated by industrialism. The window to save our sacred salmon is closing - the Biden Administration and Congress must take action before it’s too late.

 
 
A pink salmon swimming in the Snake River, with rocky sand floor beneath it.

Our fish species like the salmon, lamprey, and steelhead can’t afford any more delay.

We must ACT NOW to replace the lower Snake River dams, protect our sacred natural landscapes, and find solutions for all of those who interact with the Snake River across the Pacific Northwest.

Take one minute to join our cause and write the Biden Administration and Department of Interior. →

 
 

The Crisis:

Instead of a free flowing river, dams have transformed the Snake into a series of warm, slow-moving reservoirs.

The salmon’s journey to the ocean, which used to take them 2-4 days, now takes them 10-30 days.

Without intervention, the impact of the dams and of climate warming bring certain extinction for salmon.

Creating Tribal-led Solutions.

We don’t have to wait for the powers at be to provide real world solutions. Nimiipuu Energy is a tribally owned energy cooperative working toward energy self-reliance, with the goal of creating a cross country tribal network of alternative energy sources.

With Project 5311, they’ve set a benchmark goal to replace the energy Bonneville Power claims the dams provide. Learn more here.

 

A Real Solution is on the Table.

The Columbia Basin Initiative, proposed in Congress by Representative Mike Simpson (ID-2) outlines a comprehensive solution with complete resolution and mitigation of all interests and sectors. This proposal serves as a strong starting point for moving forward.

  • 1. Restored Lower Snake River

    To ensure a future for salmon, the orcas who depend on them, the region's ecosystem, and the tribes whose treaties secure their rights and relationship with these fish, the four lower Snake River dams must be removed, and its habitat restored.

  • 2. Fish & Wildlife Investments

    Significant investments should be made in Fish & Wildlife services, implemented by Tribes and States as co-managers. Placing Tribes as equal co-managers with the state will ensure conservation is prioritized and give the tribes their due responsibility in co-maintaining these lands.

  • 3. Reintroducing Fish

    Reintroduction of these populations back into the Upper Columbia and Upper Snake Basins is an essential step for revitalizing the region's ecosystem, ensuring the fish’s long-term survival and population growth to counter decades of prolonged species loss.

  • 4. Priority Salmon Investments

    Simultaneous to the habitat revitalization, population reintroduction, and tribal oversight, funding must be implemented to mitigate decades of underinvestment in items like addressing the hatchery infrastructure backlog, aiding lamprey passage, and increasing sturgeon protection

Rep. Simpson's Proposal

  • Chairman Shannon Wheeler, Nez Perce Tribe

    “We will support Congressman Simpson’s initiative and we respect the courage and vision he is showing the region. This is an opportunity for multiple regional interests to align with a better future for the Northwest: river restoration and salmon recovery; local and regional economic investment and infrastructure improvement; and long-term legal resolution and certainty,”

  • Chairman Delano Saluskin, Yakima Nation Tribal Coucil

    “Yakama Nation was on the front lines of the historic Treaty fishing wars that established tribal fishing rights through litigation.

    Today – in the face of aging energy infrastructure, depressed local economies, climate change, and ever-declining fish runs -- we must do something different to preserve our way of life in the Pacific Northwest. We invite and challenge our partners and our neighbors to take a hard look at how Congressman Simpson’s proposal could benefit… [us] all.”

  • Chairwoman Shelly Fyant, Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes

    “The Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes (“CSKT”) holds the water of our region as sacred life blood of our people. Water sustains us and the resources that we rely on for survival. As we utilize the water the creator provided for us all we must do it from these perspectives.

    CSKT is an owner of a portion of the Columbia Basin Hydropower system providing flood control and power to the region and sees clearly that the comprehensive proposal put forth by Rep Simpson is the most viable path for restoration of Columbia Basin Resources.

  • Chairman Rodney Cawston, Colville Business Council, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation

    “ Food and agriculture are needed to feed the world. Hydropower is a cheap and reliable form of renewable energy. Yet, hydropower impacts salmon spawning beds, causes low water levels, and warmer water temperatures, all of which devastate anadromous fish species. It is imperative that we all work together to look for different ways for all operations on the Columbia River and its tributaries that addresses everyone’s needs.”

  • Chair Kat Brigham, Board of Trustees, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation

    “Representative Simpson’s proposal is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to set aside past differences and chart a new course for the survival of the Columbia River Basin - including salmon, farmers, and many others.”

Catch us online

“The [Nez Perce] Tribe’s policy position to breach the Lower Snake dams includes the reality to keep local communities and all impacted groups whole.” - Jay Hesse, Nez Perce Tribe, director of biological services
In 1855 the federal government guaranteed fishing access at “usual and accustomed grounds” to the Nez Perce Tribe. But the Lower Snake River dams have driven our salmon to near extinction, After generations of broken promises we are simpl
Our move to renewable energy is paramount, and so is putting tribal voices at the forefront of that shift! We’re exclusively inviting tribes to the Renewable Energy Conference from Dec 8 -9. If our energy future is to be just, we must be the ar
Most salmon restoration efforts, like the Endangered Species Act, fail because they’re only implemented after the salmon population is on the precipice of extinction. Don’t let us get to that point! Breaching the four Lower Snake River da
Deprived of nutrients, an intentionally clogged aorta, and starved of oxygen… Thank goodness we don’t treat our bodies like we treat our rivers. Let’s resuscitate them back to health and of course BREACH the dams!
To put a fine point on our wishes for the Lower Snake River Dams...
Dams have the same effect on watershed health as buffalo wing-flavored soda has on most appetites. Stop letting our rivers gag on degraded water and let’s breach the four Lower Snake River Dams. #ItCanBeDone #SaveOurSalmon
No animal has been more critical to the Pacific Northwest experience than salmon. More than 130 species depend on their marine-rich nutrients for sustenance, their annual migrations are wonders of nature, and their presence proclaims river health. Sa
Generations from now people will ask what you did to stop the extinction of our salmon and better prepare us for climate change. Tell them you helped breach the dams! #ItCanBeDone
Our movement isn’t dependent on who’s in office. It’s dependent, as it’s always been, on the voices, energy, and solidarity between our tribal community and their allies! #itcanbedone #saveoursalmon
Dam breaching has already resurrected fish populations in California’s Butte Creek, Maine’s Souadabscook River, and Idaho’s Clearwater River. It’s all that’s standing in the way of revitalizing them here in Washington!

Spotted in the News

 

Press Release
Indian Country Today, July 2021

“The Tribes of the Northwest have spoken with one voice, Mr. President. We must secure funding now, at this critical ecological juncture for salmon and orca, to implement the bold actions for salmon and river restoration that are needed including restoring the lower Snake River by breaching the four Lower Snake River dams, and investing in salmon restoration in the Northwest. The time to act is now,” said Nez Perce Tribe Chairman, Mr. Samuel Penney.

Photo credit: US Army Corps of Engineers

 

Lynda Mapes
The Seattle Times, November 2020

“In many tribal members’ lifetimes, dams have transformed the Columbia and Snake from wild rivers to a hydropower behemoth and shipping channel — despite fishing rights reserved by their ancestors guaranteed in the treaty of 1855.”

Photo credit: Steve Ringman / ST

 

Brian Bennett
Time Magazine, October 2021

”In the creation story passed down from generation to generation among the Nez Perce, the salmon in these waters used to speak, but they gave their voices to humans. “Now,” says Wheeler, the tribe’s vice chairman, “we need to speak for the fish.”

Photo credit: Kiliii Yuyan for Time