Army Corps of Engineers dams and 140 miles of slack water reservoirs prevent salmon from migrating to and from the high-elevation spawning and rearing habitat in central Idaho, northeast Oregon, and southwest Washington. Threats and Opportunities Hells Canyon Dam on the Snake River, IDįour U.S.

The fish returning to the headwaters of Idaho’s Salmon River spawn at higher elevations than any other salmon and steelhead in the world. They then head out to sea, and after several years return to their natal rivers to spawn, an inland journey of more than 900 miles. Snake River salmon and steelhead begin their life’s journey high in the mountains of central Idaho, northeast Oregon, and southeast Washington. Today, these species are either extinct or threatened with extinction, as the most extensive freshwater salmon habitat in the lower 48 states is upstream of the four dams on the lower Snake. More than two million wild salmon and steelhead once returned to spawn in the Snake and its tributaries each year. The Snake River basin once produced about half of all spring chinook salmon returning to Columbia basin rivers. A rare salmon fishing season in 2001 generated $90 million in economic impacts in Idaho, an amount that would more than double if wild salmon and steelhead are restored to the population levels of the 1950s. It also supports a vibrant recreation industry. It is the Columbia’s largest tributary, an important source of irrigation water for potatoes, sugar beets, and other crops. The river then enters Washington and flows west to the Columbia River.

The Snake River originates in Wyoming and arcs across southern Idaho before turning north along the Idaho-Oregon border. A map of the Columbia River watershed with the Snake River highlighted in yellow and the Columbia River highlighted in blue Read more about how we propose to come together around solutions for the challenges facing the Pacific Northwest and the Snake River.

Snake vs block spawn points