Govt, NW Indian Tribes Sign $900M Deal to Protect Salmon

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Years of legal battle between the government and Northwest Indian tribes finally ended this week with the parties signing a 10-year, $900-million compromise.

Idaho Rivers United Executive Director Bill Sedivy said four Native American tribes in Washington and Oregon had agreed to remain silent for 10 years on the issue of the four hydroelectric dams on the lower Snake River.

In exchange, federal agencies would expand tribal efforts to protect endangered and threatened fish in the Columbia River Basin, spending up to $900 million on hatchery improvements, stream restoration work, screens to protect fish and additional spillways on some of the dams.

Ron Suppah, chairman of the Warm Springs tribe, told the Associated Press that the agreement will increase the health and number of salmon, steelhead and lamprey and focus the tribe's energy "where it must be now - on recovering fish, providing opportunity for our tribal fishers and on finding real solutions rather than blame."

Settlement talks were initiated two years ago by officials of the Bonneville Power Administration, a regional power agency running the hydroelectric plants in the area.

BPA said the public has until April 23 to comment on the agreement.