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SOS Blog

Save Our Wild Salmon

Biden Administration Releases 'Tribal Circumstances Analysis' Highlighting Historic and Ongoing Negative Impacts of Columbia River Dams to Tribal Communities

Photo by Greg Stahl, Western Perspective Press (www.westernperspective.com)© Wingspan Media ProductionsOn June 18th, the Department of the Interior, in collaboration and coordination with the Columbia Basin Tribes, released a comprehensive “Tribal Circumstances Analysis” that outlines the historic, ongoing, and cumulative damage and injustices that the federal dams on the Columbia-Snake River have caused and continues to cause to Tribal Nations, and provides critical recommendations for upholding the federal government’s Treaty and trust responsibilities.

“The United States – by telling the truth about the historic and ongoing injustices the federal dams have imposed on our people and by embracing its Treaty and trust obligations – is upholding the rule of law and highlighting the urgency to act to prevent salmon extinction. The Tribal Circumstances Analysis is a stark reminder that the federal dams were built on the backs of our Tribal Nations and our people, and continue to decimate our salmon populations and our culture, sovereignty, and way of life,” said Chairman Shannon Wheeler of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee.

The Tribal Circumstances Analysis concludes: "Understanding, documenting, and better analyzing that history, much of which continues today, is only one part of the work that needs to be done. The next step is using this understanding to advance results on the ground." We must uphold treaties and commitments made to Tribes and urgently act to restore healthy and abundant Columbia-Snake River salmon and steelhead by replacing the services and breaching the four federal dams on the lower Snake River.

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