Monday June 23, 2025
Sierra Club —
Millions of salmon once migrated up the Snake River to spawn. Today, in some areas, habitat loss, climate change, and overharvesting have led to population crashes of up to 90 percent. At least 13 subspecies of salmon in the Pacific Northwest are federally listed as threatened or endangered.
Beginning in the 1990s, conservation groups waged a years-long campaign to compel federal agencies to bolster conservation efforts, often prevailing through court action. Finally, in December 2023, fish advocates and the Biden administration declared a truce, and the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement was forged. Conservation groups agreed to stop suing if the federal government committed to salmon recovery, a once-in-a-lifetime pact to save the region’s salmon and trout.
On June 12, the Trump administration withdrew from the agreement.
Citing “energy dominance,” the administration ordered federal agencies to abandon promises made under the agreement. President Biden’s memorandum “required the Federal government to spend millions of dollars and comply with 36 pages of onerous commitments to dam operations on the Lower Snake River,” stated a White House press release.