Washington Governor Issues Executive Order Aimed at Restoring Salmon Habitat in Columbia Basin

December 6, 2024 TruthUSA

The executive order enhances the Federal government’s collaboration with the states of Oregon and Washington along with four regional tribes.

On December 3, Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed an executive order designed to revive salmon and steelhead habitats in the Columbia River Basin, which have been suffering due to the construction of dams.

The executive order mandates state agencies to collaborate with Oregon and regional tribes—Yakama, Umatilla, Nez Perce, and Warm Springs—to execute the Columbia Basin Restoration Initiative (CBRI).

Inslee urged state agencies to promote science-driven solutions, rehabilitate habitats, and unite various stakeholders to safeguard the salmon population in the Columbia River Basin.

“Salmon have occupied waters in Washington for millions of years, but their existence is at risk. We must not falter for a second, now or in the future, in our efforts to revive these runs,” the governor stated in a statement.

The executive order highlighted the federal government’s dedication to restoring salmon and steelhead populations in the Columbia River Basin and Snake River, emphasizing a December 2023 agreement to halt litigation with the “Six Sovereigns,” consisting of Oregon, Washington, and the regional tribes.

The 2023 Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement includes federal pledges to support the CBRI. According to the White House fact sheet, the agreement will offer “a decade-long reprieve from prolonged litigation” against the federal government’s dam operations in the Pacific Northwest.

The agreement is projected to attract over $1 billion in new federal funding for wild fish restoration efforts in the coming decade and to support the creation of tribally-owned clean energy projects, as outlined by a White House fact sheet.

Inslee mentioned that the executive order would be re-evaluated either after the conclusion of the 10-year litigation suspension if a non-federal partner opts out of the agreement, or when the agreement itself comes to an end.

“The lifespan of this Executive Order is intended to reflect its purpose of recovering salmon habitats across the state and to ensure full enactment of the CBRI until salmon and steelhead populations are restored to healthy and plentiful levels,” the governor articulated in the order.

In announcing the order, Inslee’s team cautioned that the incoming Trump administration could face “a wave of litigation for violations of Tribal treaty rights affirmed by existing precedents” if it backed away from the agreement.

“We must regard our state and its waters as borrowed rather than inherited,” Inslee remarked. “We’ve set a course for salmon recovery, and this order keeps us on that path.”

Inslee has been in office since 2012, serving three consecutive terms. He announced in May of last year that he wouldn’t seek a fourth term when his current term concludes in January.

According to the State of Salmon in Watersheds, fourteen groups of steelhead trout and Chinook, coho, chum, and sockeye salmon in Washington are classified as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, reportedly.

Abby Tinsley, vice president for conservation policy at the National Wildlife Federation, expressed in a statement that the federation supports the governor’s executive order.

“With this executive order, Washington state follows Oregon in a significant move that creates the momentum necessary to rescue the region’s famous salmon runs from extinction and—most importantly—fulfill commitments to Northwest Tribes,” Tinsley said in a statement on December 4.

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