Lawmakers in Olympia have begun considering a memorial that asks the federal government to back a plan to reintroduce salmon and steelhead in blocked areas upstream of Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams on the Columbia River.

This is the time to approach the federal government, the memorial says, as the government works its way through renegotiations of the Columbia River Treaty with Canada and as the Northwest Power and Conservation Council moves ahead on researching the feasibility of introducing salmon and steelhead into over 500 miles of mainstem and tributary waters in the upper reaches of the river.

Rep. Derek Stanford, D-Bothell, the lead sponsor of Joint House Memorial 4014, introduced the memorial January 28, at which time it was assigned to the House Agricultural and Natural Resources Committee.

The memorial asks that the “federal government and the region pursue the reintroduction of salmon and steelhead above the Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams through a pragmatic and science-based phased approach, such as the plan proposed by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, that can lead to fish passage and reintroduction featuring careful and coordinated planning, research, testing, and construction followed by monitoring, evaluation, and adaptive management.”

The memorial’s first hearing was Feb. 2, but committee chairman Rep. Brian Blake, D-Aberdeen, said it will allowed germinate until next year.

“We’re going to let this one cook and come back next January after folks have started to talk.” Blake was quoted in Spokane’s Spokesman-Review newspaper.

If approved, the recipient list is quite extensive and includes the President of the United States, the Speaker of the House, Senate Majority Leader, Secretary of State, Secretary of Energy and Secretary of the Interior, as well as to House and Senate representatives from Washington.

The memorial’s preamble describes the Columbia River as once home to 10 million to 16 million salmon returning to spawn, some as far up the river as Arrow, British Columbia where sockeye salmon once spawned and Canal Flats, BC near the river’s origins where chinook salmon once spawned. However, human activity, particularly dams on the mainstem Columbia River, have blocked passage for these fish.