Utoo Radio with Other News Sources, June 19, 2024 - A federal report in the U.S. has revealed the devastating impacts of hydropower dams on the Columbia River, affecting eight Columbia Basin tribes and disrupting their economies and ways of life.
The report, produced as part of a major agreement last year between tribes and the US, promised $1 billion to restore wild salmon and produce clean energy. However, the federal government stopped short of dam removal, a controversial subject. The report evaluates the dramatic alteration of the Columbia River Basin and the Indigenous people intrinsically tied to it in less than a century after the construction of dams.
The report calls for federal agencies to recognize tribes' expertise in restoring salmon runs and take immediate next steps. The Columbia Basin agreement, announced in December, involves tribes helping restore wild fish and leading in the construction of clean energy production.
Indigenous people in the Columbia River ecosystem have lived in harmony for thousands of years, with salmon being a sacred gift to them. Treaty tribes harvested 2.5 million to 5.6 million pounds of salmon annually before settlers arrived. However, as the Columbia and Snake rivers were transformed, the annual returns of salmon to the basin dwindled.
The report focuses on 11 dams that severed salmon and steelhead from their historic habitat, including the four lower Columbia dams, two upper Columbia dams, four lower Snake dams, and Dworshak dam.
Salmon once ran hundreds of miles to the Shoshone-Paiute people of the Duck Valley Reservation before the Owyhee Dam cut off their historic habitat.
The report states that early mitigation efforts for the impacts of dams were centred around raising the fish in hatcheries, but not a single run has recovered. The failure to meet abundance goals contributes to salmon harvest deficits, and tribal fishers have been able to harvest more than a fraction of their historic share of salmon returns since the beginning of Columbia River Basin development.
The report highlights the importance of the government supporting actions that achieve healthy and abundant populations of salmon, other fish, and wildlife throughout the Basin. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration stated that dam removal on the Lower Snake will be necessary along with other actions to boost salmon abundance.
