U.S. Government Publishes First Thorough Analysis of Harm Done to Indigenous Groups by Columbia River Dams

A new United States federal government report has found that the hydropower dams on the Columbia River have flooded villages and disrupted ways of life, while continuing to harm Indigenous Peoples of the Pacific Northwest.

The report, Historic and Ongoing Impacts of Federal Dams on the Columbia River Basin Tribes, was released by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI). It is part of an agreement made by the Biden-Harris administration to acknowledge the harms inflicted upon Pacific Northwest Native American Tribes and restore wild salmon to the Columbia River Basin, a press release from the DOI said.

“Since time immemorial, Tribes along the Columbia River and its tributaries have relied on Pacific salmon, steelhead and other native fish species for sustenance and their cultural and spiritual ways of life. Acknowledging the devastating impact of federal hydropower dams on Tribal communities is essential to our efforts to heal and ensure that salmon are restored to their ancestral waters,” said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland in the press release.

The report details the historic, cumulative and ongoing impacts 11 dams constructed on the Snake and Columbia Rivers have had on eight Columbia River Basin Tribes, reported The Seattle Times.

The federal report also gives recommendations for ways the U.S. government can further its responsibilities to Tribes through the acknowledgment and integration of these damaging impacts into future actions, the press release said. It is the first time the federal government has provided a comprehensive analysis of the ongoing harms caused by the dams to Pacific Northwest Tribes.

As part of the agreement made last year between the U.S. and the Tribes, the federal government pledged $1 billion for the restoration of wild salmon and the facilitation of green energy production, but did not provide for dam removal, The Seattle Times reported.

The report “fulfills a commitment made by the Department as part of stayed litigation in National Wildlife Federation v. National Marine Fisheries Service,” the press release said. “In December 2023, the Administration also announced an historic agreement to restore salmon populations in the Lower Basin, expand Tribally sponsored clean energy production, and provide stability for communities that depend on the Columbia River System for agriculture, energy, recreation and transportation.”

The report looks at how, in less than 100 years, Native Americans in the Columbia River Basin — and the river itself — were tragically changed by the dams, reported The Seattle Times. It also asks federal agencies to recognize Tribal expertise in the restoration of wild salmon runs while taking immediate and substantial next steps.

“To have the recognition of not just historical traumas but also present has been personally impactful,” said Jeremy Takala, Yakama Nation councilmember, as The Seattle Times reported. “I live over here in Goldendale, like lots of [T]ribal folks living along the river and still dealing with the impacts… There are still unfulfilled obligations.”

As many as 16 million wild steelhead and salmon once made their return journey to Pacific Northwest tributaries annually, providing sustenance for Tribal members and more than 130 species of wildlife.

“Since time immemorial, members of these Tribes and their ancestors stewarded these native species and relied upon their abundance as the staples of their daily diets and ceremony,” the press release said. “The construction of large multipurpose, hydroelectric dams throughout the Columbia River Basin beginning at the turn of the 20th century blocked anadromous fish from migrating into certain reaches of the Basin, flooded thousands of acres of land, sacred sites, and ancestral burial grounds, and transformed the ecosystem. As a result, many Tribal communities lost access to anadromous fish in their communities.”

The report specifies how the traumatic effects of the dams have altered traditional diets and taken away the ability of Tribal members to fully exercise their ancient ways of life, while fundamentally changing how they teach and raise their children with the cultural and spiritual traditions centering around these fish.

Recommendations for how the federal government can further its trust responsibility while making the Columbia River Basin healthy and resilient for future generations include fully taking into consideration and integrating the inequities suffered by the Tribes into future reviews of the National Environmental Policy Act; continuing to pursue co-management and co-stewardship agreements; moving forward with the consolidation of Tribal homelands; and integrating Indigenous knowledge into federal decision making.

“As part of our ongoing commitment to honoring our federal commitments to Tribal Nations, the Interior Department will continue to pursue comprehensive and collaborative basin-wide solutions to restore native fish populations, empower Tribes, and meet the many resilience needs of communities across the region,” Haaland said in the press release.