The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation publicly took a step this week towards recovering $50 million in Columbia Basin Fish Accord funds from the Bonneville Power Administration after the federal power marketing agency had allowed the Accords to expire at the end of September.
In a Dec. 4 news release, the Tribes say that BPA had previously assured them that unspent funds from the Accords, which had been a 17-year partnership with Columbia River tribes and BPA, would remain available to the Yakama Nation after the Accords expired. The money is needed to support habitat and hatchery projects in the Columbia River basin.
The Tribes warned BPA that its decision to withhold the money “threatens critical salmon recovery work and undermines longstanding federal environmental commitments.”
The Columbia Basin Bulletin reported on the Yakama Tribes’ dispute with BPA last week, prior to the Tribes’ taking the dispute public this week and challenging BPA to pay out the unspent funds.
See CBB, November 22, 2025, “BPA’s Columbia Basin Fish Accords (Salmon Recovery Projects) With States, Tribes Expire; Future Agreements, Use Of Carryover Funds Uncertain,” BPA’s Columbia Basin Fish Accords (Salmon Recovery Projects) With States, Tribes Expire; Future Agreements, Use Of Carryover Funds Uncertain – Columbia Basin Bulletin
The Fish Accords are fish and wildlife projects implemented by tribes and states and funded by BPA revenues. The Accords account for nearly one-half the money the power marketing agency spends on its fish and wildlife programs, according to BPA. The other portion pays for the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s Fish and Wildlife Program.
According to the Yakama Nation, BPA said that the Tribes’ support for an unopposed procedural motion in September to lift a litigation stay in National Wildlife Federation v. National Marine Fisheries Service lawsuit was the reason, calling it an “adverse litigation action” that violated the Fish Accords.
“The Yakama Nation strongly disputes BPA’s interpretation and has asked the BPA Administrator to restore the Tribe’s access to withheld Accord funds,” the Yakama Nation news release says.
Oregon District Court Judge Michael H. Simon had approved the stay in the original and long-running lawsuit that challenged NOAA Fisheries’ 2020 biological opinion and the Corps’ Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision as long as the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement was in place.
However, the basis for the stay in the litigation ended when the Trump Administration terminated the agreement in June 2025. The motion to lift the stay was unopposed by the U.S. Department of Justice, which represents the federal defendants, and neither the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation nor the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (both defendants and Fish Accord signatories) raised any Accord-compliance concerns when reviewing the proposed filing.
“Lifting the stay wasn’t a litigation attack — it was a routine procedural step after the federal government withdrew from the RCBA,” said Councilman Jeremy Takala, Chair of the Yakama Nation Fish & Wildlife Committee. “BPA’s reaction mischaracterizes what happened and puts unnecessary strain on a partnership that has accomplished real work for salmon.”
The Tribes pointed out in its news release that the federal government withdrew from both major regional salmon recovery partnerships in 2025 – the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement and the Fish Accords.
The Tribes added that, although the terms of the Accords obligated BPA to negotiate successor agreements, BPA unilaterally decided to allow the Accords to expire on September 30, 2025 without replacements.
“The federal government—not the Yakama Nation—walked away from both the RCBA and the Fish Accords,” said Chairman Gerald Lewis. “BPA’s decision to pull back promised Accord funds is not only unfair, but harmful to decades of shared progress.”
In October 2025, following the expiration of the Accords and collapse of the RCBA, the Yakama Nation made what it said was “a principled decision” to align with Plaintiffs in NWF v. NMFS. However, this shift occurred after the Accords ended and did not violate the Accords’ terms.
The Accord funds that the Yakama Tribes are seeking to recover from BPA support hatchery operations, habitat restoration, and infrastructure investments that form part of the ESA mitigation baseline underlying NOAA’s 2020 Biological Opinion. That BiOp is being challenged in court in NWF v NMFS. “Failure to implement these actions could expose federal agencies to additional ESA risk,” the Tribes said.
The Tribe says it is also concerned about how BPA intends to handle the reclaimed funds – the $50 million – unspent from the Accords.
“Ratepayers have already paid for these mitigation dollars,” said Takala. “They must not be swept back into BPA’s general fund—they must be used as intended for fish restoration in key watersheds within Yakama Nation’s historic territory.”
Despite the dispute, the Yakama Nation says it remains committed to working with BPA to restore Columbia Basin salmon.
BPA spokesperson, David Wilson, confirmed a week ago that the agency is not currently negotiating with the lower Columbia River Tribes, but he did say that “BPA has continued to express interest in developing modernized versions of the Accords.”
“Whether through Accords, annual contracts, or other arrangements, BPA is fully committed to funding the projects that address its fish and wildlife mitigation responsibilities under the Northwest Power Act and other federal laws,” Wilson said. “BPA’s Fish and Wildlife Program is focused on mitigating for the effects of the dams on fish and wildlife and their habitat as well as meeting obligations under the Endangered Species Act. The expiration of Accords does not change BPA’s commitment to continued implementation of such work.”
The BPA budget for fish and wildlife includes both the Council’s Fish and Wildlife Program “direct expenses” and the Accords. During the 2024-25 fiscal year that was $285 million in direct expenses. The previous fiscal year, direct expenses were $256 million and BPA has budgeted $309 million in its FY2026-28 rate case. That’s an 11 percent increase over FY2025-26, according to information from BPA.
Parties with Fish Accords that expired at the end of FY2025 include the Yakama, Warm Springs, Umatilla, Colville, and Shoshone-Bannock tribes; the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission; and the states of Idaho and Montana.
Parties to the BiOp case followed lifting of the stay by filing in U.S. District Court a preliminary injunction seeking emergency operational changes at federal Columbia and Snake river dams to protect endangered salmon and steelhead from harms caused by dam operations. The changes include increased spill, which allows juvenile fish to pass over the dams instead of through turbines, and lowered reservoir elevations, which decreases the time salmon spend migrating through stagnant, overheated waters. They also asked the court approve a set of emergency conservation measures for Tucannon River spring Chinook, a population that is rapidly approaching extinction, as well as increasing federal efforts to control predators like invasive walleye and some birds that prey on salmon and steelhead.
For background, see:
— CBB, Oct. 19, 2025, Judge Denies Feds’ Request To Put Salmon BiOp Case On Hold Due To Shutdown, Plaintiffs Seek Changes To Dam Operations To Aid Fish, Judge Denies Feds’ Request To Put Salmon BiOp Case On Hold Due To Shutdown, Plaintiffs Seek Changes To Dam Operations To Aid Fish – Columbia Basin Bulletin
— CBB, September 26, 2025, Judge Sets Schedule For Continuing Litigation Over Columbia River Basin Salmon Recovery; Motions, Briefs Oct. 8 To Jan. 22, 2026, Judge Sets Schedule For Continuing Litigation Over Columbia River Basin Salmon Recovery; Motions, Briefs Oct. 8 To Jan. 22, 2026 – Columbia Basin Bulletin
— CBB, September 14, 2025, Plaintiffs Return To Federal Court To Continue Legal Battle Over Columbia Basin Salmon Recovery, Judge Lifts Stay, Plaintiffs Return To Federal Court To Continue Legal Battle Over Columbia Basin Salmon Recovery, Judge Lifts Stay – Columbia Basin Bulletin
— CBB, June 13, 2025, Trump Rescinds Biden’s Executive Order Aimed At Restoring Columbia Basin Salmon, Steelhead Runs, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/trump-rescinds-bidens-executive-order-aimed-at-restoring-columbia-basin-salmon-steelhead-runs/
— 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, Sept. 15, 2022, Bonneville Power Administration Having Good Financial Year; More Money Coming For Fish/Wildlife, Fish Accords To Be Extended, Bonneville Power Administration Having Good Financial Year; More Money Coming For Fish/Wildlife, Fish Accords To Be Extended – Columbia Basin Bulletin
— CBB, October 26, 2018, FEDS, TRIBES, STATES SIGN EXTENDED COLUMBIA BASIN FISH ACCORDS; $400 MILLION FOR FISH/WILDLIFE, HTTPS://CBBULLETIN.COM/FEDS-TRIBES-STATES-SIGN-EXTENDED-COLUMBIA-BASIN-FISH-ACCORDS-400-MILLION-FOR-FISH-WILDLIFE/