Biden memo directs US agencies to restore ‘healthy and abundant’ salmon runs in the Northwest

By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has directed federal agencies to use all available authorities and resources to restore “healthy and abundant” salmon runs in the Columbia River Basin, a move that conservationists and tribes call a potential breakthrough. Biden’s order on Thursday stops short of calling for the removal of four hydroelectric dams on the Lower Snake River in Washington state, an action that tribes and conservation groups have long urged to save threatened fish populations. But it directs a host of federal agencies to do all they can to restore salmon and honor U.S. treaty obligations with Pacific Northwest tribes. Removal of the dams would require congressional approval and could raise electric rates for millions of customers in the Northwest who rely on hydropower.