The Trump administration on Thursday pulled out of a $1 billion Biden-era plan to restore salmon and steelhead populations in the Columbia River Basin more than a century after overfishing and dams began decimating the prized Northwest fish.

President Donald Trump’s move to end the Resilient Columbia Basin Agreement is the latest in a decadeslong legal battle over the harm the river’s federally operated hydropower dam system inflicts upon endangered salmon and steelhead runs.

The 2023 agreement had paused that battle, landing on a compromise between the federal hydropower system operators, Native nations, environmental groups, sportfishing groups and clean energy advocates, as well as Washington and Oregon.

While it didn’t call for the removal of four Washington dams on the lower Snake River, it did create a pathway toward removal . That led to intense backlash from the hydropower industry and hope among salmon advocates.