Monday March 10, 2025
ICT News —
Last June, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operates a series of dams in Oregon’s Willamette River Basin, missed a deadline set by Congress to produce a report on how the dams are affecting endangered fish.
Eight months later, the report is nowhere in sight, with the Army Corps stating it remains under “administrative review.”
For tribal nations and others who want to save dwindling salmon and steelhead runs on the Willamette, the missed deadline came as no surprise. It’s the latest example of what they call a “shocking” and “egregious” pattern of delays by the Corps to address the fishes’ condition, and it comes even as a new federal study blames the Corps for jeopardizing the existence of the fish populations.
“It’s do or die for the salmon,” said Grace Brahler, wildlands director at Eugene-based conservation group Cascadia Wildlands.