U.S (NATIVE ORGANIZERS ALLIANCE ACTION FUND): The BIDEN ADMINISTRATION must HONOR TREATIES and SAVE SALMON from extinction !

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friend, 

 

We just joined Northwest Tribal leaders, faith groups, and environmental justice groups for a seven-city journey along the Snake River.

During actions and community gatherings, we brought more grassroots political pressure on the federal government, which operates four dams on the lower Snake River.

These dams have brought sacred salmon to the brink of extinction, violating the federal government’s legally-binding commitments to Northwest Tribes.

So Nez Perce Nation and other Tribes are calling on the Biden administration to remove the dams immediately and restore salmon to abundance. In a sign of progress, during the recent journey President Biden announced a step in the right direction by investing federal resources in restoring the salmon in the Columbia River Basin. But to assure the health, safety, and abundance of wild salmon in the Snake River, the river must flow freely.

We need to build on this commitment to the Columbia River Basin and salmon. Now is the time to keep the pressure on to make sure the Biden administration follows through by removing the dams and assuring the right to fish for the Nez Perce and other salmon Tribes who live along the Snake River.

Sign and send an email now to key leaders in the Biden administration: Save salmon from imminent extinction and honor the federal government’s treaties with Northwest Tribal Nations by removing Snake River dams without delay.

SIGN & SEND

^{(Photos from the journey, taken by Megan Mack)}

At the closing event to the All Our Relations journey, I joined a panel with Nez Perce Chairman Shannon Wheeler, former Chairman of the Lummi Nation and Se’Si’Le Executive Director Jay Julius, Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous, and former Secretary of the Interior during the Obama administration Sally Jewell.

Julius noted that the relationship with the river and the salmon is a critical part of his people’s existence : “Without salmon, we cease to exist as a people.”

Wheeler spoke about the obligation we have to salmon, to the river, and to the land itself -- and how that relationship has been passed on from generation to generation.

Ben Jealous talked about this critical moment in history as the moment to do the right thing, protect the salmon from extinction, and recognize the sovereign right of Tribes by heeding their call to breach the dams for the sake of the salmon.

This recent journey was about restoring the relationship between the Snake River and all of the peoples who live up and down it, to help people understand their responsibility to that river and therefore the salmon.

All of our relatives, including salmon at risk of immediate extinction, endangered orca who rely on salmon, and the Snake River itself, are depending on us to finally take long-overdue action.

The dams have played their role, and now it is time to adjust to the crisis of climate change and remove them !

Join our call to action by sending a message to key leaders in President Biden’s administration: Honor Tribal treaties and save salmon from extinction by removing Snake River dams as soon as possible.

Hawwih (thank you) for taking action to protect salmon and sovereignty, 

 

Judith LeBlanc (Caddo)
Executive Director.

 

 

 

 

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