Efforts to restore salmon populations in the Columbia and Snake rivers just lost valuable support. Four Native American tribes have withdrawn from a collaboration with the federal government and three Western states, charging that the process favors hydropower, not fish.
The tribes, members of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, had been participants in a forum set up by the federal National Marine Fisheries Service. The forum’s goal is a salmon recovery plan for the Columbia and Snake rivers. Commission spokesman Rick Taylor says the Nez Perce, Yakama, Warm Springs and Umatilla tribes became convinced that “salmon recovery is not the path the government is really trying to pursue.”
A central issue in the conflict is salmon migration, which is cut off by the rivers’ hydropower dams. The government relies on barges to carry fish around the dams, a method it says is scientifically proven to save fish. Taylor says pumping fish into barges is ineffective and impractical. The tribes favor spilling water and fish through the dams, though Taylor concedes this would be more costly to the hydropower industry.
The tribes’ pullout is not unique: Two months ago, Montana withdrew from the forum, also charging that its interests were being ignored in favor of hydropower. Oregon, Idaho and Washington have opted to remain.
In talking about the failed effort to work together to help salmon, Ted Strong, executive director of the inter-tribal commission, sounds angry and even bitter. He says federal officials included the tribes merely for show. An 1855 treaty recognizes the four tribes as sovereign nations that hold fishing rights along the rivers. The federal government is obligated to protect the Native American resources, such as salmon, he says, but refuses to act.
In a May editorial in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Strong concludes: “Among the federal agencies, the salmon have no advocates.”
Brian Gorman, Seattle spokesman for the National Marine Fisheries Service, says the tribes’ withdrawal from the talks is disappointing but not fatal to their progress. “They’re upset because we don’t agree with them,” says Gorman. “All we can do is base our decisions on sound science, even if it flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Sometimes that’s at odds with what the tribes want.”
* Emily Miller, HCN intern
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Tribes say count us out.
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