Powering Strong Communities
Environment

BPA Signs Agreement With the Spokane Tribe of Indians

Like What You Are Reading?

Please take a few minutes to let us know what type of industry news and information is most meaningful to you, what topics you’re interested in, and how you prefer to access this information.

After months of negotiation, the Bonneville Power Administration and the Spokane Tribe of Indians signed a memorandum of agreement that provides the Tribe with 10 years of fish and wildlife habitat funding for blocked areas of the upper Columbia River Basin.

At a ceremony May 3, BPA Administrator and CEO John Hairston and Tribal Council Chair Greg Abrahamson signed the agreement.

“In signing this 10-year agreement, BPA is memorializing its partnership with the Tribe and committing to funding a range of projects. These projects will protect and restore fish and wildlife and their habitat in the upper Columbia River Basin,” said Hairston.  “The projects also provide funding for anadromous fish hatchery upgrades. These actions will build on work that our partnership has accomplished through BPA’s Fish and Wildlife Program since the early 1990s.”

The Spokane Tribe of Indians agreement is closely related to the September 2023 memorandum of agreement the U.S. Government signed with the Spokane Tribe of Indians, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation.

BPA said that the substance of that agreement calls for the U.S. government to provide resources and support the tribes as they test the feasibility of reintroducing non-ESA-listed salmon into the blocked area of the upper Columbia River. That agreement was signed last September.

NEW Topics