2024-2025 Annual Board Meeting Report: A bright future and a legacy of community building

September 8, 2025

Columbia River Chapter Hosts Annual Veterans Salmon Fishing Event

October 1, 2025

Word and images by James Adkins, with images from EcoFlight

The scale of the Columbia River and its largest tributary, the Snake River, can obscure a simple truth: recreational anglers in the Snake, Clearwater, Grande Ronde, and Salmon rivers are chasing the same salmon and steelhead as those at Buoy 10, 465 miles to the West. Which is why if you fish at Buoy 10, you should care deeply about the future of the Lower Snake River Dams.

The 4 dams, and their effects, are undeniably decimating migratory fish populations. Since the final construction of the Lower Snake River dams in the 1970s, 13 species of salmon and steelhead have been listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The Snake River fall Chinook salmon was listed as threatened in 1992. In 2022, the National Marine Fisheries Service’s 5-year review for Snake River fall Chinook salmon concluded that the species should remain listed as threatened. Despite decades of habitat recovery attempts at the cost of more than $24 billion, salmon returns have remained perilously low, with certain runs hovering at the threshold of extinction.

August 18th was opening day for Idaho’s Fall chinook season this year. At the mouth of the Snake River in Lewiston beginning at 4am, anglers were launching boats at Greenbelt park to fish for prized Fall chinook. WDFW personnel estimated nearly 200 boats were on the water by 10am. Just like in Astoria and countless other towns downstream, recreational angling matters immensely to the economy and culture in Lewiston. If these salmon runs were to go extinct, as they are predicted to if action is not taken, the impacts to these communities would be devastating.

To illustrate the interconnected nature of these rivers, fisheries, landscapes and communities, Idaho Wildlife Federation organized an aerial tour of the Snake, Clearwater, Grande Ronde, and Salmon rivers in partnership with EcoFlight. EcoFlight uses aerial perspective to educate and advocate for our remaining wildlands, watersheds, and culturally important landscapes. Kyle Maki (Idaho Wildlife Federation), Erik Weiseth (Idaho Outfitters and Guides Association), Phineas Pope (NW Public Radio), and Association of NW Steelheaders (ANWS) were along for the ride.

Boats fishing the confluence of the Snake and Clear Water rivers in Lewiston, ID

Instead of the boat ramp, our group met at the local airfield. After a discussion of the flight plan with Gary Kraft, our EcoFlight pilot, we squeezed into a 6-seat Cessna Centurion II and began taxiing for takeoff. Once airborne, we headed to the confluence of the Snake and the Clearwater rivers where we immediately spotted a large mass of boats already on the water.

The Grande Ronde river.

The confluence of the Grande Ronde and Snake rivers

Our flight path followed the Snake River to the confluence of the Grande Ronde, a 210 mile tributary treasured by recreationalists of all types. The tight snaking oxbows of the Grande Ronde laid in contrast with the dry, steep ridges of the rugged Blue Mountains. The Grande Ronde, flowing through Oregon and Washington, is premier habitat for spring and fall chinook, bull trout and summer-steelhead that must also pass the 4 dams on the Snake River. First as smolts on their journey to the sea, and again as adults returning to their spawning grounds.

The confluence of the Salmon and Snake rivers

Following the path of the Snake River, we passed over the confluence of the Salmon River, another tributary with invaluable habitat for ocean going steelhead and Chinook. The longest river in Idaho, it begins its journey an additional 425 miles upstream in the Sawtooth Mountains. The river is also a stronghold for cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, and mountain whitefish.

Wheat fields outside of Lewiston, ID

As we began our descent for landing, rolling fields of wheat extended as far as the eye could see. A reminder that any solution to the problems caused by the dams will need to be comprehensive as agriculture is still the main driver of this regional economy. Behind the last federal dam on the Snake River, Lower Granite Lake extends 39 miles (63 km) east to the confluence with the Clearwater River at Lewiston, Idaho. The creation of the lake, and the locks at the dams, have allowed Lewiston to become a port and gave farmers the ability to barge their goods to transportation hubs and commercial centers downstream, and even on to the ocean. In February 2021, Congressman Mike Simpson (ID-02) proposed a $33.5 billion framework that included critical river restoration measures regionwide. The framework was based on extensive community engagement across all three states and direct feedback from stakeholder groups. His proposal included investments to upgrade transportation and irrigation services that the lower Snake River dams currently provide, replace the energy produced at the dams, and increase the energy grid’s reliability. While the proposal has not moved out of Congress, it provided a framework for future negotiations.

In 2023, the US government made an historic agreement known as the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement with four tribes with treaty fishing rights in the Columbia River Basin: the Nez Perce, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs, the Yakama Nation, and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and the States of Oregon and Washington. Under the agreement, these entities are known as The Six Sovereigns. The agreement paused legal action related to ESA(Endangered Species Act) protections violated by the federal government related to the ownership and management of the dams and invested more than $1 billion in federal funds for fish restoration efforts over a decade.

In 2025, the federal government pulled out of the agreement, suspended federal funding for salmon recovery and reversed government-wide initiatives to restore healthy salmon runs. Legal action has resumed, expending more tax-payer dollars while the clock runs out and nearly a dozen salmon species move closer to extinction.

In addition to the Federal Government leaving the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement, Congress is considering a bill introduced by Dan Newhouse(WA-04) that would guarantee the end of Snake River salmon. H.R. 2073, the “Defending our Dams Act,” seeks to prohibit the use of federal funds to “allow or study the breach or alteration of the lower Snake River dams,” — despite repeated scientific studies determining that this is an essential, centerpiece action to restore imperiled Snake River salmon runs.

What can be done?

As an angler, you can do your part right now to continue the fight for a free-flowing Snake River by calling on your elected representatives in Congress to oppose HR 2073 and further attacks on salmon recovery.

Click the link below to send our customizable letter to your members of Congress.

OPPOSE HR 2073