Correction: A previous version of this article inaccurately stated that the Upper Columbia United Tribes’ Phase Two Implementation Plan (P2IP) is part of the Columbia Basin Restoration Agreement (RCBA). It is not. The Bonneville Power Administration provides funding for salmon reintroduction above Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams through the P2IP Settlement Agreement with the Coeur d’Alene, Colville, and Spokane tribes. This article has been updated for accuracy.
The Trump administration issued a memorandum this week that disrupts Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead recovery by rescinding a 2023 agreement that included the federal government, two states and four Columbia River tribes and funded that effort with nearly $1 billion.
Promising to stop “Radical Environmentalism to Generate Power for the Columbia River Basin,” President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order revoking the Biden Administration’s 2023 Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement.
The 2023 agreement, struck by the Biden Administration with six Northwest sovereigns and the U.S. government, was designed to restore Columbia River basin salmon and steelhead runs to “healthy and abundant levels.” Those who supported the agreement touted it as a long-awaited collaborative and funded effort that finally would give restoration of salmon runs in the basin a chance. They also promised to keep fighting to prevent extinction of the basin’s salmon and steelhead.
The agreement promised increased funding for fisheries projects and infrastructure, a federal-state partnership to analyze replacement of the energy, transportation, irrigation and recreation services provided by four dams on the lower Snake River, and investments in new tribal clean energy projects.
However, opposition to the agreement was also strong, with the state of Idaho, public power and commercial river users saying that the agreement would eventually lead to the breaching of the four lower Snake River dams, an action they have opposed.
In his memorandum of Thursday, June 12, Trump wrote that he is withdrawing the federal commitments that the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement had promised, saying that the agreement “placed concerns about climate change above the Nation’s interests in reliable energy resources.”
In supporting the President’s action, Rep. Dan Newhouse (WA-04) wrote:
“Throughout my time in Congress, I have stood firm in my support for the Lower Snake River Dams and the critical role they play in our region’s economy,” said Newhouse.
“Today’s action by President Trump reverses the efforts by the Biden administration and extreme environmental activists to remove the dams, which would have threatened the reliability of our power grid, raised energy prices, and decimated our ability to export grain to foreign markets. I want to thank the President for his decisive action to protect our dams, and I look forward to continuing to work with the administration for the benefit of the Fourth District.”
The Dec. 14, 2023 agreement is a memorandum of understanding between the states of Oregon and Washington, the Nez Perce Tribe, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, the National Wildlife Federation and the U.S. government.
It was a plan to “comprehensively restore Columbia River Basin salmon and other native fish populations to healthy and abundant levels, honor federal commitments to Tribal Nations, deliver affordable and reliable clean power, and meet the many resilience needs of stakeholders across the region,” said the Warm Springs tribes in a press release.
The agreement directed nearly a billion dollars to the restoration effort, including $530 million to fund restoration and mitigation efforts for 10 years, as well as continuing Bonneville Power Administration funding of Columbia River basin fish and wildlife mitigation programs and an additional $100 million over 10 years for basin fish restoration efforts. Funding was also provided for wind and solar power projects for Tribes to replace the power currently generated by the lower Snake River dams. The agreement, however, does not include removing the dams.
“The right to take fish from our traditional usual and accustomed fishing areas was reserved in our 1855 Treaty with the United States government,” a statement from the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation said. “We gave much, including millions of acres of our land, but reserved these rights to steward the Creator’s gifts: the fish we rely upon to feed our people and continue our culture, and the clean water to sustain them.
“The RCBA was a commitment from the United States government to honor its obligations to ensure healthy, thriving fish stocks through investing in hatcheries, improving fish passage throughout the Columbia River, and improving fish habitat and was the result of years of coordination and collaboration among the regions’ sovereigns and fish managers. We hope that the federal government recognizes the importance of these agreements and will work with our nations to identify new ways to collaborate to improve the health of our fisheries.
“The Columbia River Treaty Tribes’ very future depends on our salmon. While this decision will challenge our efforts, we remain committed to our efforts to restore these critical Treaty resources.”
Dams and salmon can co-exist, according to the Inland Ports & Navigation Group statement. The group said the Biden agreement had put the region on the path to breaching the lower Snake River dams, a path that failed to consider the “devastating economic impact such action would have on the region and the vital role the river system plays in supporting the Pacific Northwest and national economy.” The group also pointed out that river users had been left out of the Biden agreement.
“The divisive issue of dam breaching has prevented the type of partnerships necessary to work together on productive strategies and actions to improve salmon populations for the benefit of all Pacific Northwest residents,” said Neil Maunu, Executive Director of the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association (a part of IPNG). IPNG supports a comprehensive approach to salmon recovery in the region that focuses on projects that truly benefit salmon, such as reintroduction above Grand Coulee, habitat access and restoration, predator abatement, toxics reduction, and hatchery improvements. “We can have salmon and a robust economy at the same time,” he said.
In his memorandum, Trump said his administration is restoring American energy dominance by prioritizing the nation’s energy infrastructure over “speculative climate change concerns.” A Fact Sheet describing his memorandum says:
— President Trump recognizes the importance of ensuring the future of wildlife populations in the Columbia River Basin, while also advancing the country’s energy creation to benefit the American public.
— The MOU required the Federal government to spend millions of dollars and comply with 36 pages of onerous commitments to dam operations on the Lower Snake River.
— Dam breaching would have resulted in reduced water supply to farmers, eliminated several shipping channels, had devastating impacts to agriculture, increased energy costs, and eliminated recreational opportunities throughout the region.
— The dam breaches would have eliminated over 3,000 megawatts of secure and reliable hydroelectric generating capacity—which is enough generation to power 2.5 million American homes.
Northwest RiverPartners said the December 2023 agreement had been developed in secret negotiations that had excluded Idaho and Montana, as well as organizations representing river users.
The agreement and its implementation threatened to dramatically increase the chance of blackouts and customer electricity bills, RiverPartners said in a news release.
“Now is the time to come together and chart a sustainable path toward effective solutions that protect salmon and maintain affordable and reliable hydropower needed by millions of people in the Pacific Northwest,” says Clark Mather, executive director of Northwest RiverPartners. “This politicized agreement between the former administration and only a fraction of impacted sovereign entities, devalued hydropower, our region’s largest source of affordable, clean electricity. Northwest RiverPartners remains committed to working with all sovereign Tribes, state leaders and other stakeholders to identify science-based, durable solutions.”
Other river users agree:
“We appreciate the efforts of the Trump administration to ensure that the dams remain intact while protecting the integrity of the river system and salmon populations. Washington’s wheat industry relies on the continued operation of dams along the Columbia-Snake River System,” said Washington Association’s of Wheat Growers Executive Director Michelle Hennings. “Over 60 % of Washington wheat exports utilize the river system, which is essential for supporting a thriving overseas export market along with providing nearly 4,000 jobs in the region.”
The agreement was the outcome of a pause in litigation that initially challenged a 2020 Columbia River System Operations Environmental Impact Statement and a Record of Decision by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Bonneville Power Administration and the Bureau of Reclamation, as well as a biological opinion on the effects of the federal power system on salmon and steelhead by NOAA Fisheries, all released at the same time. The Columbia River power system BiOp had been litigated numerous times since 2001.
The litigation that was filed in the federal District Court of Oregon was stayed or administratively terminated in 2021, which allowed all parties to engage in mediated discussions.
Plaintiffs in the legal challenge were American Rivers, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Institute For Fisheries Resources, Sierra Club, Idaho Rivers United, Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association, NW Energy Coalition, National Wildlife Federation, Columbia Riverkeeper, Idaho Conservation League the state of Oregon and the Spokane Tribe of Indians. Attorneys were from Earthjustice.
The outcome of these discussions was a Memorandum of Understanding – the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement — with the Six Sovereigns and the National Wildlife Federation plaintiffs. The RCBA provided for a stay of litigation on the CRSO EIS, ROD and related biological opinions for up to 10 years and includes agreed upon operations at Columbia River dams. At the time, Earthjustice called the RCBA a “comprehensive plan to restore the basin’s native fisheries.”
Earthjustice in a news release said that when signed the agreement “was widely hailed as a turning point in the long-standing effort to protect and restore Columbia Basin salmon that could face extinction without urgent and bold action.”
“The Trump administration is turning its back on an unprecedented opportunity to support a thriving Columbia Basin — and ignoring the extinction crisis facing our salmon,” said Earthjustice Senior Attorney Amanda Goodin. “Unfortunately, this short-sighted decision to renege on this important agreement is just the latest in a series of anti-government and anti-science actions coming from the Trump administration. This administration may be giving up on our salmon, but we will keep fighting to prevent extinction and realize win-win solutions for the region.”
The Columbia River basin is the largest salmon-producing river in the lower 48 states, with a run of salmon and steelhead into the river that once tallied 10 to 18 million fish. Now the annual run is just 1 to 2 million, with only about 250,000 that are natural (wild) spawners. Of the historical runs, the Northwest Power and Conservation Council has estimated the hydroelectric system accounts for the loss of 5 to 11 million salmon and steelhead and Council’s interim goal is for 5 million salmon and steelhead to return to the river each year by 2025.
The Snake River is the largest tributary and contains the largest accessible amount of pristine, protected habitat remaining in the Columbia Basin, yet wild salmon and steelhead from the Snake River Basin are in dire straits, according to Jay Hesse, Director of Biological Services for the Nez Perce Tribe, speaking to the Council earlier this year.
As of 2021, 42 percent of Snake River spring/summer Chinook populations have natural origin spawner abundances at or below the Quasi-Extinction Threshold of less than 50 returning spawners per year; and 19 of Snake River steelhead are at or below the QET, he said.
Developing the RCBA was a response to the urgency of recovering these salmon, Hesse concluded.
See CBB, January 19, 2025, COUNCIL PANEL HEARS DETAILS ON $1 BILLION ‘RESILIENT COLUMBIA BASIN AGREEMENT,’ EXTENT OF ‘COLLABORATION’ QUESTIONED, HTTPS://COLUMBIABASINBULLETIN.ORG/COUNCIL-PANEL-HEARS-DETAILS-ON-1-BILLION-RESILIENT-COLUMBIA-BASIN-AGREEMENT-EXTENT-OF-COLLABORATION-QUESTIONED/
“This action tries to hide from the truth. The Nez Perce Tribe holds a duty to speak the truth for the salmon, and the truth is that extinction of salmon populations is happening now,” stated Shannon Wheeler, Chairman of the Nez Perce Tribe. “People across the Northwest know this, and people across the Nation have supported us in a vision for preventing salmon extinction that would at the same time create a stronger and better future for the Northwest. This remains the shared vision of the states of Washington and Oregon, and the Yakama, Umatilla, Warm Springs and Nez Perce tribes, as set out in our Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative. It is a vision we believe is supported, publicly or privately, by most people in the Northwest. And it is a vision underlaid by the treaties of our Northwest tribes, by the U.S. Constitution that protects those treaties, and by the federal statutes enacted by Congress to protect salmon and other species from extinction.”
“Withdrawing from this agreement that set the Northwest on a path to restore the Columbia Basin’s once fabled salmon and steelhead is wrongheaded and counterproductive,” said Sierra Club Snake/Columbia River Salmon Campaign Director Bill Arthur. “Commitments were made by the federal government in December 2023 to restore these salmon and honor tribal treaty rights. This decision sets all of that back, but the good news is that Northwest tribes and the states of Oregon and Washington will continue to lead these basin restoration efforts – and we will rally to support them.”
When completed in December 2023, Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement strategies included:
— Significantly increase funding for restoration to levels sufficient to address identified mitigation needs and obligations and support “healthy and abundant” fisheries recovery goals. That includes about $530 million in new fish restoration and mitigation funds for 10 years, beginning in fiscal year 2023, as well as a commitment from BPA to maintain current levels of funding for its fish and wildlife and fish accord programs.
— In addition, it includes an agreement to seek additional non-rate-payer funds from Congress to at least double available resources for native fish restoration projects in the Columbia Basin, and a government commitment to fund tribal clean energy production. BPA agreed to pay $100 million for 10 years for Columbia Basin fisheries restoration.
— Fully fund hatcheries. Address the significant backlog of authorized and recommended, but historically underfunded, actions necessary for the safe and effective operation of critical fisheries infrastructure, assets, and programs.
— BPA along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will fund $200 million for Lower Snake River Compensation hatchery programs.
— Replace the benefits of the lower Snake River dams with due urgency to enable breaching to move forward, and ensure interim fish measures are adequate to minimize additional generational decline of fish populations.
— Establish a long-term biological performance monitoring and reporting program to measure progress and support accountability towards the qualitative and quantitative recovery and abundance goals identified in the Columbia Basin Partnership Phase II Report.
However, the Trump memorandum reverses this by:
— Revoking the Biden Administration’s “Restoring Healthy and Abundant Salmon, Steelhead, and Other Native Fish Populations in the Columbia River Basin” Memorandum.
— Directing the Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works to withdraw from agreements stemming from Biden’s “misguided executive action, including the December 14, 2023 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) filed in connection with related litigation.
–Directing the specified agencies will coordinate with the Council on Environmental Quality to review and revise environmental review processes related to the matters in the MOU, save Federal funds, and withdraw from the MOU.
See the memorandum “Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Stops the Green Agenda in the Columbia River Basin” at https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/06/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-stops-the-green-agenda-in-the-columbia-river-basin/
See the President’s June 12 Memorandum at https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/06/stopping-radical-environmentalism-to-generate-power-for-the-columbia-river-basin/
For background, see:
CBB, January 19, 2025, Council Panel Hears Details On $1 Billion ‘Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement,’ Extent Of ‘Collaboration’ Questioned, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/council-panel-hears-details-on-1-billion-resilient-columbia-basin-agreement-extent-of-collaboration-questioned/
CBB, December 22, 2024, Agencies Taking Another Look At 2020 Eis Detailing Impacts Of Columbia/Snake River Federal Hydrosystem On Imperiled Salmonids, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/agencies-taking-another-look-at-2020-eis-detailing-impacts-of-columbia-snake-river-federal-hydrosystem-on-imperiled-salmonidsagencies-taking-another-look-at-2020-eis-detailing-impacts-of-columbia-snak/
CBB, December 22, 2024, Council Shows Total Salmon/Steelhead Return Numbers To Columbia River Through The Years Short Of Goal; Esa-Listed Fish Continue To Struggle, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/council-shows-total-salmon-steelhead-return-numbers-to-columbia-river-through-the-years-short-of-goal-esa-listed-fish-continue-to-struggle/
CBB, December 15, 2024, Despite Habitat Improvements Over 20 Years, Spring Chinook In Washington’s Tucannon River Still At Risk Of Extinction, Steelhead Doing Better, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/despite-habitat-improvements-over-20-years-spring-chinook-in-washingtons-tucannon-river-still-at-risk-of-extinction-steelhead-doing-better/
CBB, December 9, 2024, Shifting Currents In Columbia/Snake River Salmon Recovery: Efforts To Save Snake River Fish Runs Likely To Look Different Under Trump, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/shifting-currents-in-columbia-snake-river-salmon-recovery-efforts-to-save-snake-river-fish-runs-likely-to-look-different-under-trump/
CBB, October 18, 2024, Northwest Power/Conservation Council Issues Draft Annual Report To Congress On Council Progress With Fish, Power, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/northwest-power-conservation-council-issues-draft-annual-report-to-congress-on-council-progress-with-fish-power/
CBB, June 21, 2024, Administration Report Describes Harm Of Dams To Columbia Basin Tribes, White House Sets Up Task Force To Coordinate Basin Salmon Recovery, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/administration-report-describes-harm-of-dams-to-columbia-basin-tribes-white-house-sets-up-task-force-to-coordinate-basin-salmon-recovery/
CBB, Feb. 9, 2024, Federal Judge Approves Years-Long Pause On Basin Salmon Recovery Litigation So Parties Can Pursue Tribal-States-Feds Restoration Plan, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/federal-judge-approves-years-long-pause-on-basin-salmon-recovery-litigation-so-parties-can-pursue-tribal-states-feds-restoration-plan/
CBB, Dec. 15, 2023, Biden Administration, Two States, Treaty Tribes Reach MOU On Columbia River Basin Salmon Recovery, Litigation Paused For At Least Five Years, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/biden-administration-two-states-treaty-tribes-reach-mou-on-columbia-river-basin-salmon-recovery-litigation-paused-for-at-least-five-years/
CBB, July 15, 2022, White House Issues Reports On Basin Salmon Recovery, Costs; ‘Business As Usual’ Not Restoring ESA-Listed Salmon, Steelhead, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/white-house-issues-reports-on-basin-salmon-recovery-costs-business-as-usual-not-restoring-esa-listed-salmon-steelhead/
CBB, October 22, 2021, Parties Put Salmon/Steelhead BiOp Litigation On Hold, Commit To Working Together To Find ‘Comprehensive, Long-Term Solution’ https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/parties-put-salmon-steelhead-biop-litigation-on-hold-commit-to-working-together-to-find-comprehensive-long-term-solution/
CBB, February 5, 2021, “Conservation Groups File Complaint Against New Columbia River System Operations EIS, BiOp For Salmon, Steelhead,” https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/conservation-groups-file-complaint-against-new-columbia-river-system-operations-eis-biop-for-salmon-steelhead/