Photo credit: Conrad Gowell
How Columbia Riverkeeper brought change to the hydrosystem, and what it meant to salmon.
By: Miles Johnson, Legal Director
In 2025, Columbia Riverkeeper’s advocacy caused the federal government to change dam operations to cool the Lower Snake River, in an attempt to protect endangered sockeye salmon from hot water.
Read our report “Surviving 2025” to learn about how these changes affected water temperature and salmon survival in 2025 — and how Columbia Riverkeeper’s fight for cold water, based on factual research and grounded in the implementation of the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, is beginning to show tangible results.
One thing is clear: Bigger changes than those seen in 2025 are needed to protect water quality and recover healthy, abundant salmon. We look forward to continuing our advocacy for cold, clean water in 2026 and beyond to reduce the toll that federal dams take on salmon and cultures that depend on them.
