The Trump administration has cut tens of millions of dollars from a key Columbia Basin salmon-restoration program run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Environmental groups claim that the National Marine Fisheries Service delayed deciding on the salmon’s protections for over two years, increasing their risk of extinction.
Officials are still not close to reaching their goal of returning at least 5 million salmon and steelhead to the Columbia River Basin. However, new data shows a positive trend in total abundance of fish in the basin.
The settlement prevents two conservation groups from suing the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife for hatchery-related environmental law violations through 2027.
The Klamath River was once a major habitat for salmon, but hydroelectric dams along the Oregon-California border region caused their population to plummet.