US Army Corps of Engineers ®

News Release

On a sunny spring day along the Columbia River, surrounded by basalt cliffs, and watched over by a prehistoric rock drawing with large, watchful eyes, an historic agreement for fish recovery was signed by four Indian Tribes and three federal agencies on an elk hide.

The site for the ceremony was chosen with care by the Tribes. The Wishram band of the Yakama Indian Nation tell the story of Chief Tsagaglalal (She Who Watches) who was said to have lived on the basalt cliffs overlooking her village and the Columbia River. The Coyote changed her into a rock so that she could watch over her people and the river forever.

In the May 2 tribal ceremony, four Northwest Tribes signed agreements with the federal agencies that include many new actions and funding certainty for fish recovery in the region. The event was attended by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Northwestern Division and the Pacific Northwest Region of the Bureau of Reclamation that operate dams in the basin, and Bonneville Power Administration that markets the power generated at this dams. NOAA Fisheries also attended to show its support for the agreements.

The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, developed one Memorandum of Agreement and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation negotiated a separate agreement.

The agreements address the direct and indirect effects of construction, inundation, operation and maintenance of the Corps and Reclamations’ Federal Columbia River Power System Projects, and Reclamation’s Upper Snake River Projects, on the fish resources of the Columbia River Basin.

The Federal Columbia River Power System consists of multipurpose Corps and Reclamation dams and reservoirs along the mainstem Columbia and Snake, rivers as well as Corps and Reclamation storage projects in Idaho, Washington and Montana. These dams are operated for flood control, navigation, power generation, irrigation, recreation, and fish and wildlife.

Called the “Columbia Basin Fish Accords of 2008,” the unprecedented 10 year agreements set aside decades of litigation challenging the federal projects Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act compliance, and benefit all parties by refocusing efforts to improve conditions for fish in a basin that includes Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Canada.

The actions in the Accords support a NOAA Fisheries’ 2008 Biological Opinion for the operation of the Federal Columbia River Power System for Endangered Species Act-listed salmon and steelhead. The Accords also include provisions to protect non-listed stocks, such as lamprey, from further decline.

At a cost of nearly a billion dollars, funded mostly by rate-payers of the electricity produced by the dams, the actions include hundreds of habitat projects with demonstrated biological benefits for ESA-listed fish. Some projects are already under way, such as reconditioning of kelts -- steelhead that have spawned and will return to the ocean. Also of cultural significance to the Tribes is improved survival of the Pacific lamprey. Under these Accords, the Corps plans to work to implement adult and juvenile passage improvement measures at Corps dams for lamprey. The Accords firm up and extended commitments to projects that have been identified in regional fish and wildlife programs and in the 2008 BiOp. Included are new hatchery actions to promote recovery and regional fisheries, without impeding recovery of listed fish.

“In contrast to 10 years ago, the Northwest can be proud of these multi-year, multi-party accords that put the focus on recovery strategies, not the courtroom,” said Witt Anderson, Programs Director, Northwestern Division.

“Our mutually agreed strategy is based on collaboration, good science, and good sense. It acknowledges that sustainable changes must be comprehensive with basinwide improvements to habitat, hatcheries, harvest and hydro,” said Anderson.

For the Tribes involved, signing the agreement takes breaching of the four lower Snake River dams, a regional and national controversial issue, and it is held in abeyance. It does not ignore the dams, but acknowledges the improvements made at the dams in the past 15 years, and the commitment of the federal agencies to further structural and operational changes to the federal hydro system over the next 10 years.

“We know the importance of the actions and the signal they send of a new and revitalized partnership,” said Col. Steven Miles, the commander of the Northwestern Division in May 2008.

“Today we set aside litigation and opt for cooperation with our federal partners. We have been in the courts for ten years and have not gained the resources needed to protect these creations. Now, working towards recovery, we will focus our efforts and energy on the task of fish recovery instead of continually girding ourselves for litigation. Cooperation will be the nature of our relationship recognizing that both fish and hydroelectric power are important to the Yakama Nation and to the people of the Northwest," said Chairman Ralph Sampson, Jr., Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, on day of the signing.

“Collaboration was the conduit to move beyond the traditional federal interests and embrace solutions that reflect the full range of interests in the region that includes fish recovery, hydropower, navigation, flood risk management, and other authorized purposes,” said Anderson.

As a silent rock with the ancient drawing of “She Who Watches” overlooks the Columbia River looks, actions to recover the salmon are taking place.

“Our job is to be good partners, to balance the competing demands, and do our best to manage the resources we have been entrusted with in accordance with the law,” said Brig. Gen. William E. Rapp, commander of Northwestern Division. “We are committed to working with all of the stakeholders to bring these very important agreements to fruition,” Rapp said.