In the 1960s and 1970s, four dams were built along the Lower Snake River in Washington State. They were advertised as a source of cheap, clean energy. Some conservation groups and tribe members nearby said the dams would have a negative impact on the regional environment. Decades later, the controversy has come to a head as the Biden administration has agreed to work alongside those groups to develop a plan to save the fish.
“The importance of salmon to our people has dated back to our beginning,” Nez Perce Chairman Shannon Wheeler said. “I think that’s the relationship today that we’re here to speak for the salmon that have lost their voice.”
The Nez Perce tribe is one of four Columbia Basin tribes who have long relied on the salmon in the region.
“For them to be able to return to their native waters, where they originate from, there’s a way of life that’s associated to that,” Wheeler said.
BIDEN ADMIN CREATES PATHWAY WITH ECO GROUPS TO SHUTTER ENERGY SOURCE SERVING MILLIONS OF…