TOPPENISH, Wash. – Governor Jay Inslee signed Washington Executive Order 24-06 to support and advance the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative (CBRI) that aims to bolster salmon recovery efforts.
The order directs several agencies including the Departments of Transportation, Ecology, Fish & Wildlife, Commerce and more, to work on salmon and riparian recovery strategies and funding efforts.
The initiative was initially made in 2023 by the Six Sovereigns, which includes the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Nez Perce Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and the states of Washington and Oregon.
“We came together because we all understand that preventing the extinction of wild salmon in the Columbia Basin is one of the most urgent and important conservation crises in the Nation,” said Yakama Tribal Council Chairman Gerald Lewis. “To restore healthy and abundant Columbia Basin salmon – especially in the face of climate change – we knew we needed an informed, comprehensive approach to fisheries restoration that also addressed related energy, water, and development issues. The CBRI was the historic result.”
The order comes nearly a year after the Biden Administration’s Dec. 14, 2023 entrance into the 10-year Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement with the Six Sovereigns that supports the stay of litigation on whether hydro-electric dams on the Columbia River are jeopardizing endangered salmon and steelhead.
With the Trump Administration coming into office in early 2025, Yakama Tribal Council Fish & Wildlife Committee Chair Jeremy Takala has hope the new administration will honor the previously-made commitments.
“We hope the Trump Administration will honor the Agreement,” said Takala. “It got us out of the courtroom. It provides stability and certainty for federal dam operators, for the Bonneville Power Administration, and ultimately for Pacific Northwest rate payers like our Yakama Tribal Members. If fully implemented, the Agreement will allow tribal and state fisheries managers to increase our salmon restoration efforts throughout the Columbia Basin, and help us finally put abundant numbers of fish back in our fishermen’s nets and on our families’ tables.”
Gov. Inslee released the following statement after the signing:
We’ve pushed salmon to the brink of extinction, and it’s on us to act decisively to reverse that damage. I signed an executive order yesterday renewing our efforts to protect our waterways and leave no stone unturned to save these ancient species.
We rely on our rivers for water, energy, commerce, agriculture, recreation, and fish. All of these interests inform our salmon strategy, as do our obligations to Tribal nations to preserve their right to fish. Smiles all around – especially for those salmon.
