Corinne Sams, second from left, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation board member at large and chair of Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, signs an agreement Feb. 23, 2024, in Washington, D.C., between the Biden-Harris administration and the CTUIR, Nez Perce Tribe, Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation, Yakama Nation and states of Oregon and Washington. The agreement lays the groundwork for the federal government, the states and tribal governments to protect and restore salmon, steelhead and native fish to the Columbia River Basin.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The governors of Washington and Oregon and four American Indian tribal leaders gathered Friday, Feb. 23, at the White House to celebrate last year’s agreement to avoid litigation over dams in the Columbia River Basin.

The agreement, which was announced in December and resulted from years of negotiation among the states, tribes in the region, environmental groups and federal agencies, established a path to reviving the area’s salmon and steelhead populations and called for a 10-year pause in legal fighting.

The governors, tribal leaders and a handful of administration officials held a White House signing ceremony, though the deal has been in effect since the parties signed a memorandum of agreement in December 2023.

Representing the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation were board of trustees member Corinne Sams and Garrett Brown of the tribes’ Office of Legal Counsel.

“My heart is big today,” Sams said at the ceremony. “This is a historical moment for all of us, not just the tribes or the sovereigns, but the United States government and all Americans in the Pacific Northwest. We are Wykanish-Pum, the Salmon People, and in our creation story Salmon gave up himself so we can have nourishment. And in return, we promised to speak on behalf of our resources.”

The agreement was a necessary condition required under treaties with tribes to address the ailing fish populations and to restore the health of the river basin, but it marks the beginning of a long process, not the end, administration representatives and others said.

“There’s much to do in order to live up to our commitments and to live up to the president’s memorandum of agreement,” White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory said. “But I think the partnership that we have worked to develop will ensure that we are able to be successful.”

Sams in a press release from the CTUIR said historic salmon runs exceeded 20 million, but now estimates peg the run for 2024 at 124,000.

“We are on the brink of extinction, and the status quo is unacceptable,” she said. “This work isn’t new. All we are doing is collaborating and partnering, which we should have been doing all along. So I thank the United States government. I thank all of you here today because it’s going to take all of us to implement and ensure we restore our salmon to healthy and abundant levels.”

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek called on the federal government, tribes and states that were parties to the deal to “stay true to the framework” of the compact. Reaching the agreement was a major milestone, she said, but more work would be needed to follow through on the commitments outlined in the deal.

“This is a happy moment,” Kotek said. “But just the beginning.”

Federal commitment to Native American tribes

Part of the agreement is meant to address federal commitments to tribes — the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the CTUIR, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation and the Nez Perce Tribe — that promise plentiful fishing in perpetuity.

“The United States owes a trust responsibility to the CTUIR through its treaty relationship, and the CTUIR reserves the right to fish at usual and accustomed places throughout the Columbia River Basin,” CTUIR Chairman Gary I. Burke said in a press release. “This agreement aims to restore salmon and steelhead populations to healthy and abundant levels so the tribes may continue to exercise their right to fish as they have since time immemorial.”

Jonathan W. Smith, chair of the CTWS, said the 19th-century treaty ceding much of the tribes’ land to the federal government promised indefinite fishing rights and that fish would always be available in the tribe’s traditional areas. But that has not been the case in recent decades, he said, as the longhouses that host tribal ceremonies have “had empty tables.”

“For too long, we have not had fish to sustain ourselves, let alone teach our youth the ways of our culture,” he said.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee thanked tribal members for acting “as a guardian for the salmon.” He said the Columbia River was significant to Native and non-Native residents of his state and called for making the river basin’s health a continued priority.

“This is personal with me and 8 million Washingtonians,” he said. “That is the artery of our state. It needs to be brought to health.”

The agreement remains more controversial, though, in more rural and Republican areas of the state.

Inslee, who is well known as a climate advocate, also framed the agreement as part of a wider effort to address climate change impacts.

Dam removal possibility worries Republicans

Republicans in the region have largely been skeptical — if not downright hostile — to the agreement, seeing it as a precursor to removing dams on the Snake River.

U.S. House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state held a hearing in January blasting the “secret deal” that she said excluded utilities, hydropower users, agriculture and other affected industries in the area.

Removing four Snake River dams — Ice Harbor Dam, Lower Monumental Dam, Little Goose Dam and Lower Granite Dam — would harm the area’s clean-energy production, flood control capability and overall economy, Rodgers said at the hearing.

Mallory testified the agreement leaves a decision on dam removal to Congress.

— This article first appeared at the Idaho Capital Sun. The East Oregonian contributed to this report.