The Bureau of Indian Affairs is investing nearly $10 million in tribal treaty fishing sites along the Columbia River.

Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland traveled to the Columbia River last week to announce the funding. He said the money will ensure the Nez Perce Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation and the Yakama Nation can continue to exercise their treaty rights.

“These fishing sites are critical to supporting traditional fishing and ways of life here along the Columbia River,” Newland said in an October 1 news release. “This investment is part of our ongoing work to ensure that Native people have the right to continue to exist, as Native people, in their Tribal communities.”

The four tribes guaranteed their fishing rights by signing a treaty in 1855 with the United States. The federal government subsequently broke the agreement by constructing dams along the Columbia River for a major hydropower system.

The U.S. Congress later designated In-Lieu and Treaty Fishing Access Sites to provide access to sites that were lost to the hydropower project. However, the federal government has allowed the sites to fall into disrepair, with tribal fishers living and working in substandard conditions along the Columbia River.

The situation has began to change following the enactment of the Columbia River In-lieu and Treaty Fishing Sites Improvement Act by Congress in 2019. The BIA provided funding to the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission to study conditions at the 31 sites, resulting in nearly $20 million so far being approved in upgrades, according to the tribal organization.

During his visit to the Columbia River last Tuesday, Newland took part in a groundbreaking at Cascade Locks in Oregon. A total of 15 sites are benefiting from the latest round of funding, most of which comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the BIA said in its news release, the text of which appears below.

The following is the text of an October 1, 2024, news release from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

CASCADE LOCKS, Oregon — The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs today announced a nearly $10 million investment from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to provide critical rehabilitation at Tribal fishing sites along the Columbia River.

In-Lieu and Treaty Fishing Access Sites were set aside by Congress for Tribal members of the Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs, and Yakama Tribes to exercise their rights to fish in the Columbia River. Many of these sites are currently in poor shape, needing improvements to ensure the health and safety of Tribal fishers and their families.

The funding, which comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, was announced by Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland during a groundbreaking event for new water and sewer system upgrades at the Cascade Locks Treaty In-Lieu site in Oregon, one of the locations to benefit from this announcement. Today’s investment will help build restrooms and showers, fish cleaning and waste management stations, dish washing facilities, fire hydrants, as well as make lighting and safety upgrades.

“These fishing sites are critical to supporting traditional fishing and ways of life here along the Columbia River,” Assistant Secretary Newland said. “This investment is part of our ongoing work to ensure that Native people have the right to continue to exist, as Native people, in their Tribal communities.”

The Bureau of Indian Affairs funded a comprehensive condition and needs assessment for all 31 Columbia River in-lieu and treaty fishing access sites, which identified $16 million in needed improvements. In the past three years, Indian Affairs has provided $6.6 million to begin engineering and design for projects at sites with the greatest infrastructure needs, including rehabilitation of water and wastewater systems. Today’s announcement, which includes $9 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and $928,080 from annual appropriations will further provide funding to assist in addressing project needs identified by the needs assessment.

Projects from today’s announcement will be funded at the Lone Pine, Cascade Locks, Lyle Maryhill, Celilo, Dallesport, Stanley Rock, White Salmon, Roosevelt, Wyeth, Le Page, Pasture Point, Underwood, Preachers Eddy, Faler Road, and Crow Butte in-lieu or treaty fishing access sites.

These investments build on a broad effort by the Biden-Harris administration to support Tribally led efforts to restore healthy and abundant populations of salmon and other native fish in the Columbia River Basin. In September 2023, President Biden issued a presidential memorandum to advance these efforts, and the Administration announced an agreement to restore salmon populations in the Upper Basin. In December 2023, the Administration also announced an historic agreement to restore salmon populations in the Lower Basin, expand Tribally sponsored clean energy production, and provide stability for communities that depend on the Columbia River System for agriculture, energy, recreation and transportation.