The Cowlitz Tribe of Washington is opposing an U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project on the Toutle River.

The Army Corps wants to raise the spillway at a dam to address sediment on the river. The tribe says the proposal could hurt runs of endangered salmon and steelhead.

"We are a salmon tribe," Shannon Wills, a biologist for the tribe, told The Longview Daily News. "This is our cultural heritage. How can you be a salmon people if you don't have a salmon?"

The Army Corps released a draft environmental assessment of the proposal in February. The tribe wants the agency to prepare a more thorough environmental impact statement.

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Cowlitz Indian tribe opposes Toutle River sediment project (The Longview Daily News 4/4)