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Nez Perce Tribe Faces Uncertainty Over Funding for Vital Hatcheries

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

The Nez Perce Tribe is grappling with funding uncertainty for its critical fish hatcheries, which are crucial to maintaining Northwest salmon runs and the tribe's well-being. Nine months into the fiscal year, the tribe is still waiting for Congress-approved funds for contract-operated hatcheries, with the tribe's chairman, Shannon Wheeler, expressing deep concern that these funds may never arrive. The uncertainty is compounded by the potential cuts in federal funding for the hatcheries and other vital programs.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Nez Perce Tribe is waiting for Congress-approved funds for contract-operated fish hatcheries, which are essential for maintaining Northwest salmon runs and the tribe's well-being.
  • The tribe's chairman, Shannon Wheeler, is concerned that these funds may never arrive, as employees at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service have informed the tribe of potential funding cuts.
  • Funding for the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, may be reduced by as much as one-third, according to officials at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
  • The Nez Perce Tribe has routinely absorbed up-front costs for operating hatcheries and other federally funded programs when funds are late to arrive, but this can't be done for retroactive budget cuts, which leaves the tribe in a severe fiscal deficit.
  • The tribe operates the Kooskia National Fish Hatchery with a staff of four employees and will be unable to sustain fish production at the facility with a third of the budget being cut.
  • Chairman Wheeler has also expressed concern about potential cuts to funding from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which funds health care, law enforcement, and other vital services for the tribe.
  • The tribe's fisheries department is in the middle of breed stock collection, making the funding uncertainty especially problematic.
  • A 25% cut to Mitchell Act funding in Trump's budget request for the next fiscal year only adds to the uncertainty for Northwest hatcheries.

Statistics:

  • 33%: Reduction in funding for the Kooskia National Fish Hatchery.
  • 16%: Cut in funding under the Mitchell Act.
  • $8.8 million: Amount of funding the Nez Perce Tribe received from the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 2024.
  • $1 billion: Amount of federal funds aimed at restoring salmon and steelhead populations in the Columbia Basin, blocked by Trump administration.
  • $500 million: Amount of funding Congress had already approved for a fish passage project at Howard Hanson Dam, blocked by Trump administration.

Sources:

  • Chairman Shannon Wheeler to Rep. Mike Simpson and Rep. Chellie Pingree (July 2)
  • The Nez Perce Tribe operates fish hatcheries that receive funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service.
  • President Donald Trump's announcement on June 12 to withdraw from a Biden-era agreement with the Nez Perce and three other Northwest tribes.
  • The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.) article, "Nez Perce Tribe worries that Congress-approved funds for hatcheries may never arrive" (Orion Donovan Smith, July 7, 2025).

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