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Yakama Nation Urges BPA to Restore Funds for Salmon Recovery by Robert Desaulniers Apple Valley News, December 4, 2025

Yakama Nation's support for a procedural motion in a lawsuit earlier this year
was an "adverse litigation action" that violated the fish accords.

TOPPENISH, Wash. -- Yakama Nation officials are calling on the Bonneville Power Administration to release more than $50 million in funds that the BPA withheld from a salmon recovery partnership which expired in October.

The Columbia Basin Fish Accord is a partnership between the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation and Bonneville Power District that helps maintain salmon recovery work and federal environmental commitments, and expired in October of this year. Yakama Nation officials said the partnership has been in place for 17 years. Yakama Nation officials said that BPA officials had assured them that unspent funds from the partnership would be available for the nation's use after the Accord expired.

Yakama Nation officials said the BPA has withheld more than $50 million in funds from the Columbia Basin Fish Accord, after claiming the Yakama Nation's support for a procedural motion in a lawsuit earlier this year was an "adverse litigation action" that violated the fish accords. The Yakama Nation disputes the BPA's interpretation, and has asked the BPA to restore their access to the withheld funds.

"Lifting the stay wasn't a litigation attack -- it was a routine procedural step after the federal government withdrew from the RCBA," said Councilman Jeremy Takala, Chair of the Yakama Nation Fish & Wildlife Committee, in a written statement. "BPA's reaction mischaracterizes what happened and puts unnecessary strain on a partnership that has accomplished real work for salmon."

Yakama Nation officials said they are also concerned about how the BPA intends to use the funds, saying the money is intended for fish restoration in the Nation's territory.

"Ratepayers have already paid for these mitigation dollars," said Takala in a written statement. "They must not be swept back into BPA's general fund--they must be used as intended for fish restoration in key watersheds within Yakama Nation's historic territory."

Related Pages:
Canceling Columbia River Deal Washes Away Years of Work by Editorial Board, Yakama Herald, 6/21/25
Snake River Dam Debate at the Capitol, Yakama Nation Warns of 'Misinformation' by Orion Donovan-Smith, Spokesman-Review, 1/31/24