Upper Columbia River Tribes Report Progress To Re-Introduce Salmon Upstream

With a promised $200 million from the Bonneville Power Administration and nearly $100 million from other federal agencies and the state of Washington, Upper Columbia River tribes are moving into Phase II of a twenty-year effort to bring salmon back to blocked areas upstream of Grand Coulee and Chief Joseph dams.

Prior to the dams, millions of salmon migrated to the upper areas of the Columbia in the U.S. and in British Columbia, and some 4 million salmon migrated to Kettle Falls, where tribes would gather to fish, and is now on Lake Roosevelt that backs up behind the dam, according to Jarred-Michael Erickson, Chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. That huge run of salmon stopped dead in its tracks in 1942 when Coulee was completed without a fish ladder. Chief Joseph Dam, also without a fish ladder, was completed in 1979, depriving Tribal members from the Colville, Spokane and Coeur d’Alene tribes of the ability to exercise traditional ways of life, and fundamentally changed how Tribal members teach and raise children in the cultural and spiritual beliefs that center around these fish.

“Forty percent or more of Columbia River salmon production occurred upstream of Grand Coulee,” Erickson said. “These fish were the most impacted and least mitigated of all Columbia basin salmon.”

Erickson said that the tribes held a “Ceremony of Tears” at Kettle Falls when Lake Roosevelt first filled, but they are now looking forward to a “Ceremony of Joy” when the first salmon return.

Upper Columbia tribal leaders, along with Erickson, briefed the Northwest Power and Conservation Council at its May meeting on progress they are making in their efforts to reintroduce Chinook and sockeye salmon into the blocked areas upstream of the two dams.

Greg Abrahamson, Chairman, Spokane Tribes of Indians, said that reintroducing salmon will right a wrong. “As it is said by some of our elders, ‘bring salmon back, and it will heal our people.’”

Joining Erickson and Abrahamson at the Council meeting, May 15, were representatives from the Coeur d’ Alene Tribe, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Bonneville Power Administration, the Army Corps of Engineers and the State of Washington to discuss the recent agreement on the tribes’ Phase 2 Implementation Plan (P2IP) to investigate the feasibility of reintroducing salmon in the upper Columbia River Basin.

The three Upper Columbia United Tribes and the U.S. Government entered into an agreement in September 2023 that provides the tribes $200 million from BPA over 20 years for ongoing efforts to reintroduce salmon above Grand Coulee and Chief Joseph dams. In exchange, the Tribes agreed to a twenty-year pause to existing litigation while these actions are pursued, although they said at the Council meeting they would eventually need more money to complete the reintroduction.

The Department of the Interior will also provide $8 million over two years through Reclamation, including $1 million for an environmental compliance officer, Roland Springer of Reclamation told the Council. Springer is Reclamation’s Deputy Regional Director, Columbia-Pacific Northwest Region.

Following completion of the Phase 2 planning phase, the UCUT secured nearly $20 million for implementation from sources such as the State of Washington, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – Fisheries, the US Bureau of Reclamation, the Pacific Coast Salmon Recovery Fund, the US Geological Survey and Washington Department of Ecology’s Office of the Columbia River.

In early May this year, the Spokane Tribe of Indians and BPA signed a 10-year agreement that provides funding to protect and improve habitat for non-ESA listed salmon in blocked areas of the upper Columbia Basin, according to a BPA news release.

“In signing this 10-year agreement, BPA is memorializing its partnership with the Tribe and committing to funding a range of projects. These projects will protect and restore fish and wildlife and their habitat in the upper Columbia River Basin,” said John Hairston, CEO and President of BPA. “The projects also provide funding for anadromous fish hatchery upgrades. These actions will build on work that our partnership has accomplished through BPA’s Fish and Wildlife Program since the early 1990s.”

BPA said the agreement is closely related to the September 2023 agreement that provides $200 million for the tribes’ reintroduction of non-ESA listed salmon into blocked areas upstream of Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams.

Among the efforts by the tribes is to scientifically test the feasibility and, ultimately, to reintroduce salmon into areas upstream of Coulee over the next 20 years. They will establish sources of donor and brood stocks for reintroduction, test key biological assumptions, guide management actions, develop interim hatchery and passage facilities, and evaluate success, says a May 7, 2024 Council Memorandum Council (https://www.nwcouncil.org/fs/18719/2024_05_2.pdf).

Recently the tribes have been working on fish passage issues and are in the early stages of this in the fish passage design work group, said Tom Biladeau, Anadromous Division Lead, Coeur d’Alene Tribe. “The focus now in fish passage is trap and haul to move adult salmon up into blocked areas,” he said.

In addition, they are identifying upper Columbia River summer Chinook and sockeye donor stocks that they will eventually use in hatcheries to populate areas upstream of Coulee, he added. Currently, they are working with the Entiat Hatchery as a source, but hope in the future to be using the Chief Joseph Hatchery for rearing and for acclimating the juvenile fish in net pens before releasing them. One net pen will be at Lake Rufus Woods, backed up behind Chief Joseph Dam, and another will be at Sherman Creek near Kettle Falls.

“Sockeye are more difficult,” Biladeau said. “One of the only sockeye hatcheries in British Columbia, out of the country.”

Casey Baldwin, Salmon Reintroduction Division Manager, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, said the tribes already have a lot of data after several years of rearing Chinook eggs. In the first year they had reared 10,000 eggs and that increased in the second year to 53,000 eggs and now the total is up to 160,000 juveniles, which are being reared in the Wells Hatchery downstream of Chief Joseph Dam.

Partnerships are being formed with multiple net pen programs, including the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Pacific Aquaculture, and the Spokane Tribe. Baldwin pointed out that given the complex life cycle of salmon, it’s necessary to plan years in advance (see Council blog at https://www.nwcouncil.org/news/2024/05/21/reintroducing-salmon-upper-columbia/).

“Congratulations to the tribes and congratulations to the U.S.,” said Oregon Council member Louie Pitt, Jr. and Warm Springs Tribe member, speaking of the Phase 2 efforts by the tribes.

“Our tribes have stepped up and used our treaties to do what their people have done, our people have done for thousands of years: protect our way of life and take care of the gifts our Creator gave us. It’s a great day for me, because we’re growing as a nation, and this is one of the key things. And I’m hoping, I pray this is happening all through our nation.”

The process has been long in coming. The UCUT completed several studies before releasing a “Phase 1 Report on Fish Passage and Reintroduction Investigations Upstream of Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee Dams” in 2019, the Council memo says.

In its review of the Phase 1 Report, the Independent Scientific Advisory Board recommended that the tribes develop a strategy to advance reintroduction, which became the basis for the “Phase 2 Implementation Plan: Testing Feasibility of Reintroduced Salmon in the Upper Columbia River Basin.”

P2IP, as it is called, was finalized in 2022. The ISAB also reviewed the P2IP and confirmed its scientific merit, remarking that while many uncertainties remain, the memo says, “… efforts are consistent with the objective of the Fish and Wildlife Program to mitigate for the complete loss of anadromous fish and the losses to other fish and wildlife species in areas above Grand Coulee and Chief Joseph dams. The UCUT’s reintroduction efforts also generate important contributions to the science of salmon ecology and of fish passage at high head dams.”

If Phase 2 Implementation Plan studies confirm the feasibility of reintroducing anadromous salmonids in the blocked areas, then it likely will lead to Phase 3, the Council memo says. Phase 3 will include construction of permanent juvenile and adult passage and supporting hatchery facilities, as well as implementation of priority habitat improvements.

The Council’s 2014 Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program contains a strategy – “Anadromous fish mitigation in blocked areas” – and one of the measures under this strategy calls for a science-based and phased approach to investigating the reintroduction of anadromous fish above Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams, including juvenile and adult passage at the dams. The Program calls for a “collective approach.”

The inclusion of reintroducing salmon and steelhead into the Council Program goes as far back as 2003, when a Program Amendment said: “Evaluate the feasibility of reintroducing anadromous fish into blocked areas, including above Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams.”

Phase 2 will test the key assumptions used in the Phase 1 Life Cycle Model, test migratory survival, passage survival, behavior and productivity, establish sources of chinook and sockeye donor stocks, develop interim hatchery facilities to produce fish for feasibility studies, develop and test upstream and downstream interim passage facilities, and provide the data necessary for full-scale reintroduction and permanent passage (Phase 3).

For background, see:

— CBB, September 22, 2023, BIDEN ADMINISTRATION SAYS BPA TO PROVIDE $200 MILLION OVER 20 YEARS TO ADVANCE SALMON REINTRODUCTION IN UPPER COLUMBIA RIVER BLOCKED AREAS, HTTPS://CBBULLETIN.COM/BIDEN-ADMINISTRATION-SAYS-BPA-TO-PROVIDE-200-MILLION-OVER-20-YEARS-TO-ADVANCE-SALMON-REINTRODUCTION-IN-UPPER-COLUMBIA-RIVER-BLOCKED-AREAS/

— CBB, September 7, 2023, JUDGE APPROVES THIRD EXTENSION ALLOWING PARTIES IN LAWSUIT OVER COLUMBIA RIVER BASIN SALMON RECOVERY TO KEEP TALKING, HTTPS://CBBULLETIN.COM/JUDGE-APPROVES-THIRD-EXTENSION-ALLOWING-PARTIES-IN-LAWSUIT-OVER-COLUMBIA-RIVER-BASIN-SALMON-RECOVERY-TO-KEEP-TALKING/

–CBB, April 7, 2022, UPPER COLUMBIA TRIBES RECEIVE OVER $3 MILLION FROM WASHINGTON STATE FOR SALMON REINTRODUCTION ABOVE GRAND COULEE DAM, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/upper-columbia-tribes-receive-over-3-million-from-washington-state-for-salmon-reintroduction-above-grand-coulee-dam/

— CBB, Nov. 18, 2021, PHASE 2 REINTRODUCTION OF ANADROMOUS FISH ABOVE GRAND COULEE DAM: TRIBES SEEK SUPPORT FOR FUNDING ($176 MILLION OVER 21 YEARS), IMPLEMENTATION, https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/phase-2-reintroduction-of-anadromous-fish-above-grand-coulee-dam-tribes-seek-support-for-funding-176-million-over-21-years-implementation/

— CBB, November 15, 2019, “Council Hears Review Of Report On Salmon Reintroduction Above Grand Coulee: ‘Grand Experiment, No Guarantees,’” https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/council-hears-review-of-report-on-salmon-reintroduction-above-grand-coulee-grand-experiment-no-guarantees/

— CBB, November 7, 2019, “Science Panel Completes Review Of Report On Feasibility Of Reintroducing Anadromous Salmonids Above Grand Coulee Dam,” https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/science-panel-completes-review-of-report-on-feasibility-of-reintroducing-anadromous-salmonids-above-grand-coulee-dam/

— CBB, July 18, 2019, “Council Requests Independent Science Panel Review Upper Columbia Tribes’ Report On Re-Introducing Salmon/Steelhead Above Grand Coulee Dam,” https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/council-requests-independent-science-panel-review-upper-columbia-tribes-report-on-re-introducing-salmon-steelhead-above-grand-coulee-dam/

— CBB, May 11, 2018, “Draft Assessment Looks at Habitat Above Grand Coulee to Support Salmon and Steelhead Reintroduction,” https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/draft-assessment-looks-at-habitat-above-grand-coulee-to-support-salmon-steelhead-reintroduction/

– CBB, September 22, 2017, “Council Updated On Assessing Stock, Habitat For Potential Salmonid Reintroduction Above Grand Coulee,” https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/439607.aspx

— CBB, July 22, 2016, “Council Evaluates Fish Passage Systems That Might Be Used At High-Head Dams Blocking Salmonids,” https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/437176.aspx

— CBB, April 15, 2016, “Council Votes To Move Forward On Salmon/Steelhead Habitat Assessment Above Grand Coulee” https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/436490.aspx

–CBB, March 11, 2016, “Council FW Committee Moves Forward On Salmon Reintroduction Study Above Grand Coulee,” https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/436211.aspx

— CBB, Feb. 5, 2016, “Washington Legislature Considers Memorial For Salmon Re-Introduction In Upper Columbia Blocked Areas,” https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/435982.aspx

— CBB, December 18, 2015, “Council Moves Proposal For Evaluating Salmon Habitat Above Grand Coulee To Science Review,” https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/435731.aspx

— CBB, October 16, 2015, “Can Salmon, Steelhead Survive Above Grand Coulee Dam? Council Investigation May Provide Answer,” https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/435273.aspx

— CBB, September 18, 2015, “Council Moves Ahead With Plan To Assess Potential Salmon Habitat Blocked By Grand Coulee,” https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/435022.aspx

— CBB, Jan. 16, 2015, “Tribes Lay Out Process For Investigating Feasibility Of Salmon Reintroduction Above Grand Coulee Dam” https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/432935.aspx

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Upper Columbia River Tribes Report Progress To Re-Introduce Salmon Upstream

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