Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement Broken by Feds

Yesterday (Thursday, June 12, 2025), the Trump administration announced through a Presidential Memorandum, that the federal government would be withdrawing its commitments from the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement (RCBA), a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the states of Oregon and Washington, the Nez Perce Tribe, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, the National Wildlife Federation and the U.S. government.

This MOU, signed on Dec. 14, 2023, led to the court ordered stay of over 30 years of litigation in the Columbia Basin.  It was a plan to comprehensively restore Columbia River Basin salmon and other native fish populations to healthy and abundant levels, honor federal commitments to Tribal Nations, deliver affordable and reliable clean power, and meet the many resilience needs of stakeholders across the region.

Please consider the following statement from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs:

“The right to take fish from our traditional usual and accustomed fishing areas was reserved in our 1855 Treaty with the United States government.  We gave much, including millions of acres of our land, but reserved these rights to steward the Creator’s gifts: the fish we rely upon to feed our people and continue our culture, and the clean water to sustain them.  The RCBA was a commitment from the United States government to honor its obligations to ensure healthy, thriving fish stocks through investing in hatcheries, improving fish passage throughout the Columbia River, and improving fish habitat and was the result of years of coordination and collaboration among the regions’ sovereigns and fish managers. We hope that the federal government recognizes the importance of these agreements and will work with our nations to identify new ways to collaborate to improve the health of our fisheries.  The Columbia River Treaty Tribes’ very future depends on our salmon. While this decision will challenge our efforts, we remain committed to our efforts to restore these critical Treaty resources.”