NOAA Funding Will Support Improvements to Nez Perce Tribal Hatcheries
Lapwai, ID- Today’s funding announcement from the Biden Administration to support fish hatcheries that produce Pacific salmon and steelhead is great news. The Nez Perce Tribe- along with Umatilla, Yakama, Warm Springs, and their consortium the Columbia River Inter-tribal Fish Commission- has worked hard to bring attention to the huge need of deferred maintenance with the aging and crumbling infrastructure of Columbia Basin hatcheries. There is currently a $1 billion backlog of fixes needed just at Columbia Basin hatcheries.
The salmon and steelhead hatcheries in the Columbia Basin were all built to mitigate the impacts of the Columbia River hydropower system. The Tribe operates three of the four anadromous fish hatcheries in the Clearwater Basin as well as 16 satellite facilities (acclimation sites and weirs) to collect broodstock; and produce, rear, acclimate, and release 13 million juvenile fish (spring Chinook, fall Chinook, Coho, and Steelhead) in the Snake Basin annually. While the dams are regularly fixed and repaired, the hatcheries have essentially been neglected for decades.
The Tribe submitted a plan to utilize $2 million of the non-competitive funds to repair and replace equipment at Kooskia and Dworshak hatcheries that will benefit spring Chinook, steelhead, and coho produced there. The Tribe will also be submitting proposals to the competitive fund source for high priority fixes at the hatcheries, like a backup water supply pipeline for Kooskia, repairing crumbling raceways, and installing shade covers over rearing ponds.
“The Nez Perce Tribe produces about 30% of the juvenile hatchery fish that are released in the Snake Basin. Due to the drastic decline of salmon and steelhead in Nez Perce homelands, the Tribe is reliant on salmon and steelhead produced from these hatcheries to support treaty fishing opportunities to feed our people,” said Shannon F. Wheeler, Chairman for the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee. “These infrastructure improvements will provide benefits beyond just fixing 60-year-old concrete, plumbing, and electrical systems- they will help us grow healthier fish, have improved work conditions, support local economies, and continue to provide salmon and steelhead for tribal and non-tribal fisheries from the Pacific Ocean, up the Columbia and Snake rivers, back to our local communities.”