The Northwest Power and Conservation Council (NWPCC) is currently taking comments for the 2025-2026 Fish and Wildlife Program revisions.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council (NWPCC) is currently taking comments for its 2025-2026 Fish and Wildlife Program revisions. It is essential that hydropower supporters across the Northwest participate in this process. The NWPCC is the policymaking body for the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS). The FCRPS provides power to the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), your Co-op’s wholesale power provider. The NWPCC’s Fish and Wildlife Program has major impacts on conservation and power generation efforts in the FCRPS. You can submit comments here through Thursday, July 3.
Why are your comments needed? Your Co-op believes that the NWPCC must continue to take a balanced and scientific approach to fish and wildlife management as it regulates the FCRPS dams. Current efforts to restore and protect fish populations are successful, with salmon returns in 2025 being three times what they were in 1938, the year the FCRPS first generated power. This successful fish restoration has occurred while the FCRPS provides affordable, reliable power to Flathead Electric Cooperative’s nearly 60,000 member-owners (and hundreds of thousands of other public power consumers across the Pacific Northwest). Please consider commenting on the following:
- Use 21st-century science to determine recovery objectives: The NWPCC should adopt recommendations encouraging the use of the best available science to reevaluate its recovery objectives. The current objectives are based on estimates nearly four decades old, which is harmful to the Fish and Wildlife Program’s credibility and contrary to the NWPCC’s legal obligations. The recovery objectives should be reviewed to ensure their accuracy and feasibility.
- Reduce spill in hydro system operations: The Northwest faces immense challenges in maintaining an affordable, reliable, clean electric grid. Increased spills (water passing over the dam, but not through the turbines, for fish management) reduce the output of the hydro system at a time when millions of people need electricity more than ever. Spills are not proven to benefit salmon or other fish species more than other alternatives, including juvenile barging. The NWPCC should instead explore opportunities to maintain or increase the generation of reliable, affordable, carbon-free hydropower while continuing to make impactful progress to mitigate the impacts of our multi-purpose foundational hydropower system.
- Lower Snake River dams: The Council should again reject recommendations to entertain dam breaching or the study of dam breaching. Dismantling the hydro system is not consistent with the purposes of the Northwest Power Act.
Again, comments can be submitted here and are due by Thursday, July 3rd. Individuals or organizations can submit comments. Your not-for-profit, member-owned Cooperative appreciates the strong support of our membership as we advocate for your continued access to affordable, reliable power.
