Bringing a 60 year old treaty into the 21st century
The Solutions We Need
A “modernized” Columbia River Treaty must align with modern values of Indigenous sovereignty, economic and environmental partnership and civic engagement, and the modern reality of climate change.
To do this, the Treaty must be updated to:
- Make ecosystem health co-equal to existing treaty purposes of power production and flood control, so river flows and reservoir operations support fish and clean water
- Reform treaty governance and implementation to include expert representation for ecosystems, like biologists working alongside engineers
- Develop a new agreement for coordinating flood control across the border, so there is a balanced system for all
- Share hydropower and other benefits produced by the treaty fairly between the two countries, in keeping with its original principle
- Ensure the modernized treaty respects the rights of tribes and Indigenous nations and honors their unique expertise
- Create ongoing mechanisms for public education and citizen involvement, starting right now with renewed engagement between federal agencies and the Northwest public.
How we got here
Indigenous people have stewarded the Columbia River, which draws water from a river basin larger than France, and depended on its salmon since time immemorial. When explorers Lewis & Clark and David Thompson first stepped into the watershed in the early 1800s, as many as 16 million salmon returned each year to natal streams flowing in forests, deserts, and mountains.
Since then dams have transformed one of the earth’s richest salmon rivers into the earth’s largest integrated hydropower system. The resulting economic benefits have come with wrenching costs to both Indigenous and settler communities, fish and wildlife, and the river itself.
Part of this transformation came in the early 1950’s when Canada and the U.S. began negotiating the Columbia River Treaty to coordinate river development across the border. They excluded Indigenous people, and people of the basin generally, from the process. The resulting treaty, ratified in 1964, has only two purposes: maximizing hydropower generation and engineered flood control.
While treaty operations primarily concern three large upstream Canadian storage dams (plus Libby Dam in Montana), it has consequences everywhere. Only 15% of the watershed is located in Canada, but more than a third of the Columbia’s total flow originates there.
Canada is also the basin’s largest and most climate resilient source of cold water, which is critical for ensuring water quality for migrating salmon and other ecologically and culturally important aquatic species.
There are over sixty large dams in the Columbia River Basin, which together form a system operated for a mixture of priorities.The Problems We Face
Since May 2018, the U.S. and Canada have been meeting to negotiate a “modernized” Columbia River Treaty.
Northwest people have no way of participating in the Columbia River Treaty negotiations. In fact, the U.S. Negotiating Team (led by the State Department with support from Bonneville Power Administration, the Army Corps, and other federal agencies) has kept the entire process all but closed to the public.
The 1964 Columbia River Treaty was ratified before the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Boldt Decision and other key frameworks designed to protect ecosystems and honor the rights of the watershed’s tribal nations. Standards for meaningful public engagement were also much lower than they are today. So, it’s no surprise that the treaty ignores ecosystems, contains no formal role for tribes, and fails to involve the affected public.
Further, the current Treaty ignores climate change, leaving Columbia Basin communities unprepared for that immense challenge. On top of this, in September 2024, the flood control portion of the treaty will change unless the two countries reach a new agreement first. This change is not yet well defined but will shift responsibility for flood control from Canada to the U.S.
Without a solid plan, this may sow chaos for the hydrosystem’s precariously balanced priorities. The U.S. NGO Treaty Caucus is gravely concerned that federal agencies will further de-prioritize the health of fish and wildlife in response. Detailed planning for this potential shift must begin approximately one year in advance, which is only one year away from now. Advance planning is four years overdue.
Northwest people know we need to do better. Federal agencies must involve us in charting a course for the future.
Grand Coulee (WA) is the only American dam on the mainstem Columbia with major storage capacity and so is largely dependent on upstream operations in Canada. Other storage dams whose operations could shift under a new treaty include John Day (OR/WA), Libby (MT), Hungry Horse (MT), Seli’š Ksanka Qlispe’ (MT), Dworshak (ID), Brownlee (ID), and Alberni Falls (ID).
