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Spring Fish Operations Begin on Snake, Columbia Rivers by Matthew Weaver Capital Press, April 14, 2026

Spring fish passage operations began April 3 at federal dams on the lower Snake River and April 10 on the lower Columbia River, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The timing follows requirements in NOAA Fisheries' 2014 Supplemental Biological Opinion and "recent U.S. District Court orders," according to a Corps press release.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon in February ordered increased spill over dams and lowered reservoir levels. The actions are intended to decrease the time it takes juvenile salmon and steelhead to move through the system of dams to the Pacific Ocean as well as provide a non-turbine passage route past the dams, according to the Corps.

The federal government and several dam stakeholder groups have filed appeals and seek a stay of the order. The stakeholders say the order increases the risk of harm to infrastructure, listed species, and public safety while failing to provide substantiated evidence that there will be benefits to endangered salmon and steelhead.

This year's operations call for increased spill, sending more water over dam spillways -- up to 125% of state water quality limits in Oregon and Washington for total dissolved gas, according to the Corps.

Additional actions to support salmon and steelhead will continue under current biological opinion requirements, the Corps stated.

Water supply forecasts for 2026 show "near-normal" conditions in the Columbia River Basin and "below-normal" conditions in the Snake River Basin, according to the Corps.

The April-through-August forecast is 93% of normal at The Dalles Dam and 73% of normal for April through July at Lower Granite Dam, according to the Corps.

Potential impacts

As the Corps stated in court filings, "there is a potential for impacts to Endangered Species Act-listed species, including bull trout and adult salmonids migrating upstream, due to the duration and level of spill depending on the conditions in the river over the next few months," said Matt Rabe, regional director of public affairs for the Corps' Northwestern division.

In Simon's February order, the judge called the record about potential impacts to bull trout "limited, deeply contested and less well-established."

"Simply weighing the number of species, the lone bull trout to the 14 listed species weighs in favor of protecting the many over the one," Simon wrote in the order. "More importantly, the relief sought for the salmon and steelhead tracks the best practices articulated in this case's quarter-century-long record."