Honor Native Treaty Rights, Remove the Snake River Dams
Biden Administration and the U.S. Congress
We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to restore wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest’s Columbia & Snake Rivers and their tributaries, once the greatest salmon rivers in the world. We can do this by removing four outdated and expensive dams on the lower Snake River.
For too long these four dams have impeded the rights of Nez Perce and other Northwest First Peoples to exercise Traditional Fishing Treaty Rights. The federal government promised the Nez Perce People the right to hunt and fish in their usual and accustomed places as part of the 1855 Treaty. The promise was broken. It’s time to right this wrong.
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To:
Biden Administration and the U.S. Congress
From:
[Your Name]
We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to restore wild salmon in the Pacific Northwest’s Columbia & Snake Rivers and their tributaries, once the greatest salmon rivers in the world. We can do this by removing four outdated and expensive dams on the lower Snake River.
Wild salmon, steelhead and pacific lamprey have been used by the Nez Perce People for subsistence, trade and ceremonial purposes for centuries. They are dying by the thousands due to these four outdated dams: Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite.
There is no larger Indigenous-led conservation effort in the U.S. than the restoration of the Lower Snake River by breaching the four Lower Snake River dams. This June, 60 Tribal Nations of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians (ATNI) passed a resolution supporting the principles and funding of the Columbia River Initiative drafted by Representative Mike Simpson (R-ID).
We call on the Biden Administration and the U.S. Congress to secure funding at this critical ecological juncture for salmon and orca, to implement the bold actions for salmon and river restoration that are needed including restoring the lower Snake River by breaching the four Lower Snake River dams, and investing in salmon restoration in the Northwest.
It is time to commit fully to the restoration of the Snake River, the sacred salmon, and the culture of the salmon people of this land. Please honor the treaties and to work with the Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) and Pacific Northwest Tribal Nations to ensure the funding is acquired now to restore the Snake River and to help rebuild a stronger Northwest for all communities.