Now is the time to restore abundant salmon by removing the four Lower Snake River Dams
Sign our petition to help restore the Snake River.
The Snake River Should Be Home to Thriving Salmon
Historically, the Snake River produced between one-third and one-half of the Columbia’s salmon, including millions of Chinook, steelhead, coho, and sockeye. Certain headwaters of the Snake River, high in the Idaho mountains, remain some of the largest and best salmon breeding areas in the Lower 48.
Nevertheless, Snake River salmon and steelhead populations have collapsed. Scientists say they could go extinct in the next 20 years.
The Problem: Lower Snake River Dams
After leaving the Idaho mountains, the Snake flows roughly 150 miles through eastern Washington to join the Columbia near Tri-Cities. This stretch of water is called the Lower Snake River.
In the 1960s and 70s, the Army Corps of Engineers built four dams on the Lower Snake River to allow barging and generate a small amount of electricity.
As scientists, Tribes, and fishers all warned, these four dams decimated the Snake River’s salmon and steelhead.
The dams transformed the Lower Snake River into a series of warm, shallow lakes where predators, dam turbines, and hot water kill too many migrating salmon for populations to recover.
How We Can Restore the Lower Snake River
The situation is dire: Snake River salmon and Southern Resident orcas are close to extinction. But there’s still time to restore the Snake and Columbia rivers’ once-mighty salmon runs.
We must unite around solutions to remove the four Lower Snake River Dams and re-invest in regional transportation, irrigation, and energy infrastructure. Working together, we can have a future that includes salmon, agriculture, and clean energy.
