Our History and Accomplishments

Following are just some of our selected accomplishments in the Northwest:

Restoring Rivers 

• Negotiating the world’s largest dam removal on the Klamath River.
• Restored access to over 600 miles of salmon and steelhead habitat: Negotiated landmark agreements to provide fish passage at large dams on some of the Northwest’s most important salmon and steelhead rivers including the Cowlitz, Deschutes, Lewis and Clackamas.
• Negotiated agreements with utilities to remove dams on Washington’s White Salmon River and on Oregon’s Sandy, Little Sandy, and Hood rivers to provide fish passage, improve habitat and increase recreational opportunities. Awarded $200,000 in pass-through grants to local communities for dam and culvert removal projects.
• Secured a $30 million congressional authorization to restore 10,000 acres of critical salmon habitat in the Columbia River estuary.

Protecting Rivers

• Spearheaded the campaign to pass the second largest Wild and Scenic package in history to safeguard more than 1,000 miles of rivers, including rivers in Oregon and Idaho. 
• Worked with local partners and businesses to achieve Wild and Scenic River protection for 20 miles of Washington’s upper White Salmon River and Cascade Creek.
• Helped lead the coalition that obtained National Monument designation for the Columbia River’s Hanford Reach.
• Successfully opposed the construction of proposed new hydroelectric dams on the Snake River in Idaho and in the Nooksack and Skagit river basins in Washington.
• Helped defeat the New World gold mine that threatened the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River, and Yellowstone National Park.

Water Supply

• Negotiated with irrigators to craft a landmark water management agreement that protects stream flows on the Columbia River.
• Increased river flow in the Skagit, Naches, Walla Walla, Skykomish, Deschutes, Lewis, Cowlitz, and Snake Rivers through dam licensing processes and negotiated agreements.