NW Tribal Leaders from the Yakama and Lummi nations, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation and the Tulalip, Swinomish and Makah tribes under the umbrella of the Northwest Tribal Salmon Alliance wrote and sent a letter to Biden and members of Congress from ID, WA and OR. This article was originally published in the Lewiston Tribune.
By Eric Barker, of the Tribune Mar 26, 2021
A group of tribal leaders from the Pacific Northwest is calling on the region’s congressional delegation and President Joe Biden to breach the four lower Snake River dams.
In a letter to Biden and members of Congress from Idaho, Washington and Oregon, the 11 leaders, under the umbrella of the Northwest Tribal Salmon Alliance, say breaching the dams is needed to avoid extinction of Snake River salmon and steelhead and to honor treaties between tribes and the federal government.
“Congress and the president must act boldly and urgently to remove the lower Snake River dams and put into place a permanent solution to fix this crisis before it passes a point of no return,” they wrote.
The letter was signed by members of the Yakama and Lummi nations, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation and the Tulalip, Swinomish and Makah tribes. The signers do not necessarily represent the official position of their tribal governments.
Absent from the list were representatives from the Nez Perce and Shoshone-Bannock tribes of Idaho that have treaty rights on the Snake River and its tributaries. Both tribes have endorsed Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson’s proposal to breach the four lower Snake River dams, and the Nez Perce have long been involved in a legal battle over the dams and their effect on salmon and steelhead. The letter also lacked representation from the Warm Springs Tribe of Oregon.